Why Nietzsche Said No to Aristotle: “Catharsis”

Why Nietzsche Said No to Aristotle: ‘Catharsis’

The Greek philosopher Aristotle in his  Poetics used the word ‘catharsis’ which means the ‘purging’ of emotion. Aristotle says: “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete (composed of an introduction, a middle part and an ending), and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions “.

           Aristotle’s meaning is quite clear that our emotions get purified through pity and fear as we see the tragedy performed by the actors. As we watch Shakespearean tragedy, our emotions are purged and purified.

          Lessing aptly says: “In real life men are sometimes too much addicted to pity or fear, sometimes too little; tragedy brings them back to a virtuous and happy mean.” Tragedy provides ‘catharsis’, a healthy outlet to our emotions of pity and fear…”.

There seems to be little ground to reject Aristotle’s theory. Against this view, Nietzsche raises the objection.

            The German philosopher does not agree with Aristotle’s theory of ‘catharsis’.  Nietzsche says that tragedy doesn’t purify our emotion by creating fear or pity, “Not in order to be liberated from terror and pity, not in order to purge oneself of a dangerous affect by its vehement discharge — which is how Aristotle understood tragedy — but in order to celebrate oneself the eternal joy of becoming, beyond all terror and pity — that tragic joy included even joy in destruction” (Nietzsche).

Thus, we see that  Nietzsche quite differs from Aristotle’s view about ‘catharsis’. The tragic hero’s indomitable will to live even in the most desperate situation creates in the audience a ‘tragic joy’, which transcends the emotions of pity and fear.