Pathos

Pathos is the experience or suffering of a character in a work of art which appeals to the emotion of the audience. It evokes the feeling of the audience concerning a character who may be passing through a tragic situation in a story.

Catharsis
Catharsis simply refers to the purgation of the audience’s emotion. It is a Greek word that means cleansing. Catharsis can only be found in tragedy, which often attracts pity, fear and sadness. It involves an emotional release in which the audience will experience renewal in certain aspects of their lives.

For instance, in Othello, Othello trusts Iago that he believes everything that Iago says. This makes him kill his wife, and later kill himself. At first, you will PITY Othello. At a point, you have FEAR that he will do the unthinkable. He later kills his wife. Then, you will be sad about the tragic end of the play. However, the catharsis is that the play has cleansed you from acting on someone’s words without having any concrete evidence.

So after watching a tragedy, its application to your life is catharsis. It brings the necessary renewal. It gives a state of liberation from stress, anxiety, loss, fear etc.

Pathos is the experience or suffering of a character in a work of art which appeals to the emotion of the audience, while catharsis refers to the purgation of audience’s emotion. Many people often confuse pathos and catharsis with each other. However, they have different meanings and serve different roles in the elements of tragedy.

In short, while pathos revolves around the suffering of a character that appeals to the audience, catharsis is all about the audience’s release of emotion.



https://www.emeritushub.com/difference-between-pathos-and-catharsis/

Read more writings on literature via the link: www.emeritushub.com