“Kill Claudio”: Indignation and Catharsis in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

Classicists have recently given unprecedented attention to our fragmentary understanding of Aristotle’s comic theory. Many concur that catharsis, which Aristotle describes in the Poetics as the end of tragedy, is less a purgation of emotion than a clarification of and habituation to the emotions evoked by plot, and that catharsis occurs not only in tragedy but comedy. Several scholars also argue that nemesan, or “righteous indignation,” identified by Aristotle in the Rhetoric as a virtuous mean between envy and malice and opposite to the pity evoked by tragedy, is the principle emotion evoked by comedy in Aristotle’s theory. Though not apparently a reader of the Poetics, Shakespeare regularly employs these affective categories in comedies as diverse as Love’s Labours Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, and Measure for Measure. This paper considers the presence of indignation in Claudio, Beatrice, and Benedick in Much Ado and the way in which the Friar’s fake-death hoax brings about catharsis of this emotion in both characters and audience. This event is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Judith Sloman Reading Room (Social Sciences 1114). Presented by MARCS – The Medieval and Renaissance Cultural Studies Research Group

Location:

Social Sciences 1114

Speaker:

Dr. Jonathan Goossen, Ambrose University College

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/kill-claudio-indignation-and-catharsis-shakespeares-much-ado-about-nothing