ENDINGS IN RENAISSANCE TRAGEDY Among the various definitions of tragedy the one most commonly proffered is a play that treats at the most uncompromising level human suffering or pathos with death being the usual conclusion According to Aristotles Poetics the purpose of tragedy is to show how humans are at the mercy of fate and to cleanse the audience by provoking extreme emotions of pity and terror The tragic actions on the dramatic stage cause the audience to experience these extreme feelings
Throughout Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain uses satire to attack what he sees as the hypocritical views of the midwestern society Nothing is sacred to his words especially not slavery politics human nature or religion From the first chapter with Miss Watsons preaching about heaven and hell to the performance of the Royal Nonesuch to the dramatic escape planned for Jim Twain infuses the story with satire to the detriment of our opinion of the river society he is describing Religion is one of the key