Aristotle's fragmentary treatise on the Fine Arts (Poetike) has been the subject of commentary since its composition in the 4th century B.C. It is likely one of the most extensively analyzed works of secular literature in the West. Yet, it has received surprisingly little attention from the psychoanalytic world, aside from occasional references to Aristotle's concept of katharsis and the "medical" versus "moral" controversy surrounding it. The pre-eminent scholar on katharsis, whose views eventually became predominant, was Jakob Bernays, whose *Zwei Abhandlungen über die Aristotelische Theorie des Dramas* appeared in Berlin in 1880. According to Bernays, the effect of tragedy results from the pleasurable relief it provides the spectator, via the excitation and purging (abreaction) of fear and pity, within the safe confines of the stage. (Jakob Bernays was the uncle of Freud's wife, Martha). Freud's views on the function of tragedy, as expressed in "Psychopathic Characters on the Stage" (1905), align with Bernays's in adopting the "medical" metaphor, yet Freud makes no reference to his uncle-in-law. Nor does he link Breuer's "cathartic method" with tragedy. Regardless, Freud displayed an early interest in tragedy, particularly in *Oedipus Tyrannus*: his first reference appears in a letter to his boyhood friend Emil Fluss, dated March 17, 1873, which concludes as follows:
"I have a good deal of reading to do on my own account from the Greek and Latin classics, including Sophocles' *Oedipus Rex*. You miss out on much that is edifying if you cannot read all these, but on the other hand, you retain that cheerfulness which is so comforting in your letters."
Forty years later, in *Totem and Taboo*, Freud endeavored to explain why tragedy affects our "cheerfulness": the essence of tragedy is the suffering (pathos) of the Hero, who represents the primal father. His "tragic guilt" is ours (the Chorus’s), a reenactment of our hubristic crime against the primal father. The victim becomes the redeemer by bearing our guilt. Freud’s views were based on the anthropological evidence available at the time, particularly in J.G. Frazer’s work. But behind Frazer was Nietzsche's "visions" of the origins of tragedy in the primordial suffering of the divine goat Dionysus. And far behind Nietzsche, Aristotle.
Aristotle’s (385-322 B.C.) monumental corpus has survived only in part. None of his published works are extant. What remains are his "Treatises," likely composed during the Lycaeum years (325-323) and intended for lectures. They are condensed notes or drafts lacking literary style and were written either by himself or by his students. These cover the entire field of human intellectual endeavor. One of these "treatises" is the *Poetics*, originally comprising two books, of which only the first has been found. Here, Aristotle presents his theory of Fine Art, which includes, apart from Poetry strictu sensu, Music and Dance. The primary emphasis, however, is on tragedy. The nature of the work is prescriptive rather than descriptive: Aristotle outlines several desiderata for the "best sort of tragedy" (1452b31), and what he envisions here as the ideal.
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