out of your system’, which, just as in English, could easily develop into
metaphor. If vomiting is‘getting something out of my system’in a literal
sense, then an intense bout of weeping may be‘getting something out of my
system’in a metaphorical sense–not the tears, but the emotion. Note that
getting something out of your system could be getting rid of itcompletely;
or it could be draining off the excess, where only the excess was unwanted. So,
in relation to the emotions, it might suggest getting rid of my fearaltogether
or getting rid of the extra bit of fear that was in some sense too much.
The modern, English use of the term ‘cathartic’, which probably
derives from a certain interpretation of Aristotle’sPoetics, looks to express
this kind of metaphorical notion of purging. It is used to describe an
experience that was emotionally difficult, but that led to a certain kind of
satisfactory or even pleasurable resolution. The difficult emotions will be
‘discharged’(to keep the medical metaphor alive). A‘cathartic’conversation
with a friend might then be one in which certain conflicts, brewing for a
long time, werefinally discussed in the open and were resolved, at least
for the foreseeable future. It is a term that might be used to describe the
experience (or even the function) of a funeral: an opportunity to express
intense emotions, which were in some sense there all along (since the death),
in such a way that brings a kind of relief or satisfaction. The medical
metaphor may also lend intuitive support to the sense in which catharsis
might be connected with pleasure: vomiting, one supposes, is not in itself
something one particularly enjoys; but, when it happens, it is often followed
by a kind of pleasurable relief.
Initially, then, the notion of purging, of getting the fear and the pity
out of our system, looks to be a promising one. Hence, for a long time,
the notion of purging was given as the standard and relatively uncontroversial
interpretation for catharsis.^60 It has also found favour with some theatre
theorists, among them Artaud, who took up the idea that theatre was
designed to‘drain abscesses’.^61 Indeed,‘purging’ is often presented as
Aristotle’s intended meaning, without much further discussion.^62 We go
to the tragedy; our pity and our fear are expressed; we feel a pleasurable
relief. It is, in the modern, English sense of the term, a cathartic experience.
However, for various reasons, purging turns out to be problematic. As
I have said, our interest here is both in what Aristotle might have meant
and, regardless of what he meant, whether the interpretation in question
is intuitively helpful for our understanding of theatre. To begin with,
compare purging at the theatre with the other kinds of purging under
discussion: in the bodily cases, there is something unwanted that is being
secreted, excreted and so on; in the metaphorical cases, there is also
something unwanted or uncomfortable, which is being expunged. Thus,
when I go to the funeral, my weeping is‘cathartic’because my grief was
always present. The cathartic conversation with the friend was such,
152 From the Stage to the World