INDIAN SPECTATOR: UNDERSTANDING THE IDEAL AUDIENCE'S EMOTIONAL RESONANCE

Abstract

The primary purpose of any art is to provide aesthetic pleasure. Although art has enormous purposes, which literary critics have analyzed in various ways, the ultimate outcome of art is the artist's success and the excellence of the artwork, which generates pleasure in the minds of readers or spectators. If readers or spectators do not feel joy watching a play or reading poetry the art loses its purpose. Therefore, it is impossible to think of art without considering the audience. In ancient India, the excellence of art was judged based on the satisfaction of the audience – a concept evident from the prologue in Kalidasa’s play Abhijnanasakuntalam. For this reason, Indian playwrights would carefully consider the psychological aspect of the audience when preparing plays.