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GCSE English Literature · key term
The emotional release or clarification associated with experiencing pity and fear through tragedy.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
Revise: ContextCatharsis describes the emotional release or clarification associated with pity and fear in tragedy. Spectators may fear the destructive potential of ambition and feel pity for the waste of Macbeth’s former greatness. However, his cruelty may limit that pity.
The emotional release or clarification experienced by an audience through a tragedy, especially through pity and fear.
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Paper 1
The release or cleansing of emotions, particularly pity and fear, that an audience may experience through tragedy.
Revise: ContextCatharsis describes the emotional release an audience may experience through pity and fear. Macbeth’s losses and death in Act 5 can produce pity for a once-admired man who destroys himself, alongside relief at the end of his tyranny. Others may feel stronger condemnation because of his victims.
Paper 2
The emotional release associated with the pity and fear aroused by tragedy.
Revise: ContextTragedy can produce catharsis, an emotional release through pity and fear. An audience may pity Macbeth’s wasted potential and fear the destructive possibilities of ambition, without excusing his crimes. Alternatively, spectators may feel greater relief at his defeat because of Scotland’s suffering.
Component 1
The emotional release or cleansing associated with experiencing pity and fear through tragedy.
Revise: ContextCatharsis describes the emotional release associated with experiencing pity and fear through tragedy. An audience may fear Macbeth’s violence while also pitying the ruin of his former greatness. His death can bring relief from tyranny, but that relief is complicated by the suffering already caused.
