28 pages 56 minutes read

Aristotle

Poetics

Nonfiction | Book | Adult

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Index of Terms

Catharsis

A purifying release of pity and fear. Tragedy provokes catharsis, allowing people to express and release bottled-up feeling.

Deus ex machina

This phrase, which translates as “god in the machine,” means an unlikely coincidence or event which comes to solve what feels like an unsolvable problem in a plot. (Aristotle thinks it’s a cheater’s way out.)

Hamartia

A tragic hero’s fatal flaw.