The lead I propose is catharsis etymology refers to the purification and purgation of emotions especially pity and fear through art or to any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration This minimal version is in accordance with canonical encyclopedic definitions such as catharsis the purification or purgation of the emotions especially pity and fear primarily through art In criticism catharsis is a metaphor used by Aristotle in the Poetics to describe the effects of true tragedy on the spectator catharsis criticism Encyclopedia Britannica or the purification and purgation of emotions especially pity and fear primarily through art catharsis Merriam Webster s Encyclopedia Of Literature and with several sources that contain such statements as The theory of catharsis has a disarming affinity with the expressional theory since it emphasizes emotion asserts a change in emotion as a result of aesthetic operations and concludes on a note of freedom in relation to the emotion see A Berndtson 1975 p 235 or Catharsis in Shakespearean tragedy involves some kind of restoration of order and a renewal or enhancement of our positive feelings for the hero R Levin 2003 p 42