House of Notes

Aristotle's concept of catharsis Aristotle writes that the function of tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity and fear, and to affect the Katharsis of these emotions. Aristotle has used the term Katharsis only once, but no phrase has been handled so frequently by critics, and poets. Aristotle has not explained what exactly he meant by the word, nor do we get any help from the Poetics. For this reason, help and guidance has to be taken from his other works. Further, Katharsis has three meaning. It means ‘purgation’, ‘purification’, and ‘clarification’, and each critic has used the word in one or the other senses. All agree that Tragedy arouses fear and pity, but there are sharp differences as to the process, the way by which the rousing of these emotions gives pleasure. Katharsis has been taken as a medical metaphor, ‘purgation’, denoting a pathological effect on the soul similar to the effect of medicine on the body. This view is borne out by a passage in the P...

Q:    WHAT ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF CHARACTER OF HEDDA? Q:    GIVE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF HEDDA GABLER. Ans: Attempting a psychoanalytic reading of a given text is a bit like attempting to understand a city by examining its sewer system: helpful, yet limited. There are several reasons for using psychoanalysis as a critical literary theory; the critic might be interested in gleaning some sort of subconscious authorial intent, approaching the text as a "cathartic documentation" of the author's psyche; the method might be useful in judging whether characters are well-rendered, whether they are truly three-dimensional and, therefore, worth our while as readers (thus satisfying the pleasure principle); finally, in a larger sense, the psychoanalytic approach can be employed to actually tell us something about our own humanity, by examining the relative continuity (or lack thereof) of basic Freudian theories exemplified in written works over the course of...

Q: DISCUSS THE         ROLE AND CHARACTER OF JUDGE BRACK IN "HEDDA GABLER". Q: TO WHAT EXTANT JUDGE BRACK    IS RESPONSIBLE    FOR     THE TRAGEDY OF HEDDA? Ans: Brack is a judge of relatively inferior rank. He is a friend of both Tesman and Hedda, and he visits their house regularly. He has connections around the city, and is often the first to give Tesman information about alterations in the possibility of his professorship. He seems to enjoy meddling in other people's affairs. He is a worldly and cynical man. On certain occasions he seems to represent the whole society of the time, his opportunism, meanness, blackmailing and lusty love aspiration make him an epitome of society. Brack strikes as a very immoral man from the very beginning, due to the aplenty advances he made towards Hedda. He had always subtlety hinted that he thought that Hedda might like "a new responsibility" and most imp...

Q: DISCUSS THE ROLE AND CHARACTER OF WOMEN IN THE PLAY. Q:   WHAT ARE THE MAJOR SOCIAL ISSUES IN "HEDDA GABLER"? Q:   DISCUSS "HEDDA GABLER" AS A SOCIAL PARABLE. Q: "HEDDA GABLER" EXPOSES THE SHAMS AND         HYPOCRISY OF VICTORIAN AGE. ELABORATE. Q:   HEDDA         FACES THE TRAGEDY BECAUSE OF HER CONCEIT IN SOCIAL CLASS. DO YOU AGREE? Ans: It has been suggested that Hedda Gabler is a drama about the individual psyche -- a mere character study. It has even been written that Hedda Gabler "presents no social theme". On the contrary, we find social issues and themes abundant in this work. The character of Hedda Gabler centres on society and social issues. Her high social rank is indicated from the beginning, as Miss Tesman says of Hedda, "General Gabler's daughter. What a life she had in the general's day!" Upon Hedda's first appearance, she makes many snobbish remarks. Firs...