Nicole Voyles On Purging. 2/12/11

Purging as described by Aristotle is to get yourself back to your right place with nature. Specifically, he thinks using theater and art to express unhealthy emotions is how we do so. In recent studies, talking about a bad day may have been proven to only exacerbate the issues felt, but I still do, so I will disregard this fallacy. Aristotle would say it is important to be balanced in nature and all things, so to rid yourself of bad or simply unbalanced emotion is good. By expressing these thoughts or feelings through art, one has not hurt anything or anyone, so it is healthy. Even just watching the performance can let a viewer experience vicariously the purging of emotions. Anyone who has sit through a good concert can tell you a foot tapping can be as much as a pleasure as conducting, and perhaps more so if the outlet is obtained with less work.