<P> Catharsis (from Greek κάθαρσις katharsis meaning "purification" or "cleansing") is the purification and purgation of emotions--particularly pity and fear--through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration . It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics, comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind of a spectator to the effect of a cathartic on the body . </P> <P> Catharsis is a term in dramatic art that describes the effect of tragedy (or comedy and quite possibly other artistic forms) principally on the audience (although some have speculated on characters in the drama as well). Nowhere does Aristotle explain the meaning of "catharsis" as he is using that term in the definition of tragedy in the Poetics (1449b21 - 28). G. F. Else argues that traditional, widely held interpretations of catharsis as "purification" or "purgation" have no basis in the text of the Poetics, but are derived from the use of catharsis in other Aristotelian and non-Aristotelian contexts . For this reason, a number of diverse interpretations of the meaning of this term have arisen . The term is often discussed along with Aristotle's concept of anagnorisis . </P>

Who said the function of tragedy is to produce the katharsis of pity and fear