The emotions of humans are the foundation of a person’s thoughts and feelings. Human emotions are capable of showing one’s emotions, mood, and personality. It shows how a person reacts to one another by influence and behavior. Fear, happiness, sadness, sorrow, etc., are all some basic emotions in a human. Two such emotions are ‘pity’ and ‘compassion.’
Pity vs Compassion
The main difference between ‘pity’ and ‘compassion’ is that emotion of ‘pity’ is said to be an emotion of disgrace and sorrow of one life in misery or trouble, and on the other hand, an emotion of ‘compassion’ is said to be an emotion of Sympathy for creating the need of helping someone in their hard time.
The word ‘pity is derived from an old French word that is ‘pit which means duty, from a Latin word ‘pietas,’ which means duty too. This world is meant to state a kind of sympathy or a feeling and a capacity to share sorrows of one’s miserable state of life for a certain period.
The word ‘compassion’ is derived from a Latin word that is ‘compassion which means to co-suffer and suffers respectively. ‘Compassion is a state of emotion that states a feeling of awareness of another person’s sorrow and engraves a form of capacity to help the person in need going through the sorrow.
Comparison Table Between Pity and Compassion
| Parameters of Comparison | Pity | Compassion |
| Meaning | The term ‘pity’ is implied by labeling a person from his events of sorrow and Disgrace. | The term ‘compassion’ implies those events that still show respect going through the sorrow. |
| Type of context | Their term ‘pity’ shows a form of Negative vibes and behavior. | The term ‘compassion’ shows a form of positive vibe and behavior. |
| Form | ‘Pity is a form of an emotion of a person | ‘Compassion is a form of virtue as well as an emotion by a person. |
| Sense | The term ‘pity’ does not show a sense of empathy towards the situation of a person. | The term ‘compassion’ shows a sense of empathy towards a person for his situation. |
| Type of feeling | A ‘pity’ is a feeling which shows a feeling of Condescension. | ‘Compassion is a feeling which is followed by a feeling of love and care. |
What is Pity?
The word ‘pity is derived from an old French word that is ‘pit which means duty, from a Latin word ‘pietas,’ which means duty too. This world is meant to state a kind of sympathy or a feeling and a capacity to share sorrows of one’s miserable state of life for a certain time.
The word ‘pity’ also denotes at an extended knowledge a feeling of suffering and misfortune of other person and urges him to help the one suffering through emotional, physical, or financial needs in the most positive way possible. A person can feel the emotion of ‘pity’ only when he knows how the pain was when he was in the same situation.
One must be able to feel the pain and emotion a person goes through. Whenever a person goes through the emotion of sorrow, care should be taken to give a proper amount of ‘pity’ as it relates to one’s physical, mental, and socials well-being.
What is Compassion?
The word ‘compassion’ is derived from a Latin word that is ‘compassion which means to co-suffer and suffers respectively. ‘Compassion is a state of emotion that states a feeling of awareness of another person’s sorrow and engraves a form of capacity to help the person in need going through the sorrow.
The situation of the feeling of ‘compassion’ is almost the same as compared to pity. The behavior also might be similar, but there are slight differences in them. A feel of ‘compassion’ can be felt by a person towards another only when the sorrow is not in a sudden state. A person can experience compassion simply by just knowing what someone is experiencing around his surrounding.
‘Compassion is considered a feeling of great virtue in many religions across the world. One of those religions is Christianity. ‘Compassion is said to be a part of wisdom and care a person can show with his personality like a gem. It shows the desire of a person to help someone at his worst.
Main Differences Between Pity and Compassion
- The term ‘pity’ is implied by labeling a person from his events of sorrow and Disgrace, and on the other hand, the term ‘compassion’ implies those events which still show a form of respect going through the sorrow.
- Their term ‘pity’ shows a form of Negative vibes and behavior, and on the other hand, the term ‘compassion’ shows a form of positive vibe and behavior.
- ‘Pity is a form of an emotion of a person, and on the other hand, ‘compassion’ is a form of virtue as well as an emotion by a person.
- The term ‘pity’ does not show a sense of empathy towards the situation of a person, and on the other hand, the term ‘compassion’ shows a sense of empathy towards a person for his situation.
- A ‘pity’ is a feeling which shows a feeling of Condescension, and on the other hand, ‘compassion’ is a feeling which is followed by a feeling of love and care.
Conclusion
Human emotions are capable of showing one’s emotions, mood, and personality. It shows how a person reacts to one another by influence and behavior. Fear, happiness, sadness, sorrow, etc., are all some basic emotions in a human. When it comes to the meanings of the feelings of ‘pity’ and compass, they are almost the same.
But, even though they are the same, their words have different characteristics on how to be used in a sentence. ‘Pity’ is stated to be a form of negativity, and on the other hand, compassion is stated to be a form of positivity. One should know basic differences between them because replacing them in sentences can change the meaning of a sentence.
References
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/3751843
- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230627895_9