What term describes the emotional release or cleansing experienced by the audience at the culmination of a classic tragedy?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Catharsis
- Step 1: Recall classical dramatic terminology formulated in Aristotle's Poetics. Terms like hamartia represent the tragic error or flaw, hubris is overweening pride, and peripeteia is the sudden reversal of fortune.
- Step 2: Identify the psychological and aesthetic culmination of tragedy: Aristotle defined catharsis as the purging, purification, or release of intense emotions, specifically pity and fear (eleos and phobos), leaving the spectator with a sense of renewal and emotional balance.
Answer
Catharsis.
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