EN
The paper examines the possibility of solving the famous „puzzle“ of the XIV chapter of Aristotle’s Poetics: the idea of „happy ending“ plots as most apt to evoke tragic emotions and evaluated as „the best type,“ ranked higher than Oedipus Tyrannus. The subject of Author’s analysis is Iphigenia in Tauris, the only existing tragedy out of the three discussed by Aristotle. Multidimensional reflection on the play and its cultural, philosophical and literary contexts reveals the hidden structure of the texts: the old form of „ring composition“ found also in other works of Antiquity, i.e. in Homer. The possibility of placing the cathartic effect in the middle of the play, clearly presented by both Euripides and Aristotle, allows for the alternative interpretation of the Greek idea of the „tragic“, still permeated with delight in existence and far from so-called „tragic vision“ of the world, developed centuries later in contemporary existential philosophy.