Sentence:  His appearance as Lizzy evokes not amusement but horror in the audience ; it <WSD>is</WSD> a spectacle absolutely painful , an epiphany of the suffering flesh unredeemed by spirit , untouched by any spirit other than abasement and humiliation . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)