Bathos

Origin

Greek, literally, depth

• 1727

Definitions

• 1a : the sudden appearance of the commonplace in otherwise elevated matter or style

b : anticlimax

• 2: exceptional commonplaceness : triteness
• 3: insincere or overdone pathos : sentimentalism

The serious message of the film is ruined by the bathos of its ridiculous ending.

Description

Bathos (Greek βάθος, meaning depth) is an abrupt transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect. While often unintended, bathos may be used deliberately to produce a humorous effect. If bathos is overt, it may be described as Burlesque or mock-heroic. It should not be confused with pathos, a mode of persuasion within the discipline of rhetoric, intended to arouse emotions of sympathy and pity.

Examples often take the form of analogies, written to seem unintentionally funny:

• The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest features purple prose, at times exhibiting bathos:

They had but one last remaining night together, so they embraced each other as tightly as that two-flavor entwined string cheese that is orange and yellowish-white, the orange probably being a bland Cheddar and the white . . . Mozzarella, although it could possibly be Provolone or just plain American, as it really doesn't taste distinctly dissimilar from the orange, yet they would have you believe it does by coloring it differently. Mariann Simms, Wetumpka, AL (2003 Winner)

• In humorous science fiction novels:

The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978)

See also

• Pathos