Catharsis and Eugene O’Neill’s Modern Tragedy

Catharsis is integral to tragedy. Tragic art precludes active emotional and psychological involvement of the audience in the staged action. But there is little agreement among scholars and critics on either the exact meaning of the term catharsis or the range of its application. The diversity of speculations about catharsis can broadly be divided into three basic categories: clarification, purgation, and cleansing. But regardless of the dispute, it is a settled opinion that catharsis is preeminently related to the function of tragedy and provides some sort of positive relief to the emotions disturbed on account of staged tragic action. It also paves the way for clearer/better understanding of the events and protagonist‘s predicament. This study provides a detailed account of the development of thoughts on catharsis over the years. It also argues that modern tragic art as represented by O‘Neill can not provide cathartic relief for variety of reasons. The most prominent being his preoccupation with particular psychic conditions and behavioral regression. One particular aspect that obstructs purgative and therapeutic effect on the readers/ audience is that of failure on the part of O‘Neill‘s dramatis personas to achieve a cathartic and therapeutic progression in their behavior in the course of the plays.