This question is based on General Literary Principles. An action in a play that stimulates the audience to pity a character is

Analyze the question The question asks for the term describing an action in a play that makes the audience feel pity or sympathy for a character.

Explain the concept Let's look at each option:

• Pathos: From the Greek word for "suffering" or "feeling." It is a quality in a work (an action, speech, or situation) that evokes pity, sympathy, or sorrow in the audience. Examples include the death of Cordelia in King Lear or a tragic hero's downfall.
• Parody: An imitation of a work, author, or style for comic or satirical effect, which mocks rather than evokes pity.
• Pyrrhic: A metrical foot of two unstressed syllables in poetry. It has nothing to do with audience emotion. (A "pyrrhic victory" is a different idea, a win at great cost.)
• Props: Short for "properties," the movable objects used on stage, such as a sword, a letter, or a cup. They are not an action, and they do not by themselves stir pity.

Show the solution

1. The key phrase is "stimulates the audience to pity."
2. The emotion to be aroused is pity or sympathy.
3. Only pathos describes this effect.
4. Parody is comic or mocking, pyrrhic is a poetic metre, and props are stage objects.

Answer The correct option is A. pathos.

Tip Link the words "pathos" and "pathetic" (in the sense of arousing pity), and also "sympathy." Whenever a question mentions pity, sorrow, or tender feeling in literature, think pathos. In contrast, think of catharsis as the emotional cleansing (pity and fear) the audience feels at the end of a tragedy.