LITERARY TERMINOLOGY #1

ENG200.001 -- Introduction to Literary Study

Prof. Eileen Joy

Spring 2005

Figure 1. Antigone entering cave under Theban guard

CATHARSIS: The emotional effect a tragic drama has on its audience. Aristotle introduced this term (which can mean either "purgation" or "purification" in Greek) into literary criticism in the Poetics (c. 330 B.C.E.). He sought to explain the feelings of exaltation or relief (rather than despondency) that playgoers commonly experience during and after the main catastrophe of the plot (which invariably foregrounds suffering, defeat, and even death). Aristotle argued that while viewing such a work, the audience experiences a purging or cleansing of the emotions (specifically, fear and pity), which in turn produces the resulting, beneficial sensation of relief or exaltation. The final line of John Milton's long poem Samson Agonistes (1671) provides an apt poetic description of the cathartic state: "Calm of mind, all passions spent." For a fuller explanation of and excerpts from Aristotle's Poetics, go here.

CHORUS: In Greek drama, a group of people who sang and danced, commenting on the action of the play. A chorus was also used to chant odes. The chorus has its origins in an ancient Greek religious event and was later used in Greek tragedies and Roman plays. The chorus often performs a critical function within the drama, commenting upon the action in such a way as to call it into question. There are various moments in Antigone, for example, when it appears as if the chorus is simply affirming Creon's position, but if you look more carefully, you can see some of the subtle ways in which they are also critiquing him. See, for example, the chorus's speech just before Antigone is brought in to see Creon (pp. 2021-22 in our textbook).

HUBRIS: Greek for "insolence," excessive pride that constitutes the protagonist's tragic flaw and leads to a downfall. Disastrous consequences result when hubris causes the protagonist to ignore a wise warning from a god or other important figure, to violate some moral rule, or to try to transcend ordinary limits. Creon is commonly cited as a hubristic character because he explicitly rejects the prophet Tiresias's warning of impending death should he unjustly condemn Antigone. But what about Antigone herself? Would you say that she exhibits insolence and excessive pride? Why, or why not?

PROTAGONIST: The most important person or leading character in a work; usually identical to the hero or heroine, but not always. The term comes from the Greek for "first combatant" and referred to the first actor (the person with the leading role, supported by the chorus) in classical Greek tragedy. If the protagonist is in a primary conflict with another character, that character is the antagonist; an evil antagonist is called a villain. Whatever the source of the conflict with which the protagonist struggles, that conflict sets the plot in motion.

TRAGIC DRAMA: a serious and somber drama, written in prose or verse, that typically ends in disaster and that focuses on a character who undergoes unexpected personal reversals. From the Greek "tragoidia" (for "goat song"), tragedy is thought by many scholars to have originally referred to an ancient Greek ritual, accompanied by a choral hymn, in which a goat was sacrificed to Dionysius, the god of wine and fertility. The Greek tragedian Thespis is usually credited with transforming these choral hymns honoring Dionysius into songs that told a story about a famous hero or god. In the Poetics, Aristotle defined tragedy as a dramatic imitation of a serious, complete action of some magnitude that evokes both fear and pity in the audience. Despite the cataclysmic events that befall tragic protagonists, tragedy often ultimately celebrates the dignity of the human spirit in confronting such overwhelming misfortune and in accepting the consequences of actions.

The definitions above have been partly pilfered from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (2nd edition). Other additions are the work of the fevered mind of Prof. Joy.