Table of Contents
Preface	
A Note on Key Words and References
Acknowledgements	
Propylaia
Chapter One: The Problem of the Iphigenia and the Purposes of Tragedy
	Backstage and the wings: Of Poetics and poetics	
	The problem of Aristotle's evaluation of Iphigenia	
	Some attempted solutions: The fallacy of Aristotelian formalism	
	Of strong and painful passions	
	Catharsis	
	Thaumaturgy: Hecuba
		The problem and the play	
		Catharsis and the movement of emotion	
			Catharsis of the excessive and deficient	
			Catharsis and the virtuous	
				Mise en abyme: The Hecuba of Hamlet 	
		Catharsis and intellectual clarification	 
		Other concomitants of catharsis	
		Conclusions on some recent criticism of Hecuba		
	The case of the Iphigenia	
	Resolving the contradiction between Poetics 13 and 14	
Chapter Two: The Purpose of Comedy
	Formal, material, and efficient causes	
		Mise en abyme: The Socrates and Phaedrus of Phaedrus	
	The problem of comedy's final cause	
	Comic catharsis	
		The Example of a Falling Comedy: Hippias Major		
	What art is not for	
Chapter Three: The Exemplary Comic Fiction: 
Resolution, catharsis, and culture in As You Like It	
	Resolution and catharsis	
	Comic catharsis and culture	
	Emblematic appendix on the character of Audrey	
	The freedom of aesthetic judgment, or "much virtue in 'if'"	
Chapter Four: A Love-Song for the Life of the Mind: Arcadia		
	Happiness, Politics, and Art	 	
	 	Eudaimonia and Politics: The errors of inclusivism	
		Art and Eudaimonia: The mimesis of joy	
	Arcadia: A love song for the life of the mind 	
		Plot		
		Characters	
		The comedy as love song		
Epilogue: "Still awake and drinking:" Symposium 223c,d	
	
Bibliography		
Index