European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

This article probes into the perception of compassion and passion and also how compassion emanates out of passion. Passion and compassion can be identified as two different emotions that a person experiences. Passion refers to a very intense feeling where as compassion refers to the concern that is felt for another. The word passion originally comes from the Latin word passio,meaning to suffer or endure. Most commonly, passion referred to the Passion of Christ.Since Jesus underwent the furthest extent of suffering, passion mostly referred to Christ’s suffering. The word also referred to enduring hardship and suffering in general. The definition of passion is obsolete in the twenty-first century, and the common term used nowadays in its place would be tribulation .However, there is one word still in use which somewhat preserves passion in the sense of suffering: compassion. Compassion is regarded as having sensitivity, which is an emotional aspect to suffering. Compassion is a combination of passion and the Latinate prefix-com meaning “with”; literally, the word means “suffering with”  “co-suffering “and occurs “when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another, “takes on someone else’s pain, and bears it with him..
Malamud’s characters are epitome of compassion encompassed with passion. His characters are embedded with a property of “depth, vigor, or passion.” They are stuffed with the qualities of compassion such as patience and wisdom; kindness and perseverance; warmth and resolve. They made their home as centers of compassion. Malamud’s protagonists struggle with the forces of their cultural environments and ultimately victimized by them. They suffered to secure the human status at par with others which makes them realize the importance of compassion as it is lost somewhere in the material pursuits of modern man symbolizes humanity. Moral transcendence is very close to Malamud’s idea of humanism as it employs spiritual growth in him and leads him to understand the values of compassion, responsibility, and forbearance.