  The influence of Du Bos on Jean Jacques Rousseau has long since been established (Jones 1974). This influence is particularly apparent in the Lettre à mr d’Alembert sur les spectacles (1758). Rousseau agrees with Du Bos that theatre does not aim to arouse in audience members the sentiment that the characters represented feel. Rousseau agrees that, on the contrary, theatre arouses quite opposed sentiments. For example, if a character in a tragedy is represented as feeling fear and despair, audience members will have pity aroused in them.