Anagnorisis

For the black/death metal band, see Anagnorisis (band).For the German musician, see Anagnorisis (Sariola).

Anagnorisis (/nnrss/; Ancient Greek: -) is a moment in a play or other work when a char-acter makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originallymeant recognition in its Greek context, not only of aperson but also of what that person stood for. Anag-norisis was the hero's sudden awareness of a real sit-uation, the realisation of things as they stood, and fi-nally, the heros insight into a relationship with an oftenantagonistic character in Aristotelian tragedy.[1]

1 Tragedy

In his Poetics, as part of his discussion of peripeteia, Aris-totle defined anagnorisis as a change from ignorance toknowledge, producing love or hate between the personsdestined by the poet for good or bad fortune (1452a).It is often discussed along with Aristotles concept ofcatharsis.

Lear and Cordelia by Ford Madox Brown: Lear, driven out byhis older daughter and rescued by his youngest, realizes their truecharacters.

In the Aristotelian definition of tragedy, it was the discov-ery of ones own identity or true character (e.g. Cordelia,Edgar, Edmund, etc. in Shakespeare's King Lear) or ofsomeone elses identity or true nature (e.g. Lears chil-dren, Gloucesters children) by the tragic hero.Aristotle was the first writer to discuss the uses of anag-norisis, with peripeteia caused by it. He considered itthe mark of a superior tragedy, as when Oedipus killedhis father and married his mother in ignorance, and later

learned the truth, or when Iphigeneia in Tauris realizes intime that the strangers she is to sacrifice are her brotherand his friend, and refrains from sacrificing them. Aris-totle considered these complex plots superior to sim-ple plots without anagnorisis or peripeteia, such as whenMedea resolves to kill her children, knowing they are herchildren, and does so.Another prominent example of anagnorisis in tragedy isin Aeschylus's The Choephoroi ("Libation Bearers")when Electra recognizes her brother, Orestes, after he hasreturned to Argos from his exile, at the grave of their fa-ther, Agamemnon, who had been murdered at the handsof Clytemnestra, their mother. Electra convinces herselfthat Orestes is her brother with three pieces of evidence:a lock of Orestes's hair on the grave, his footprints nextto the grave, and a piece of weaving which she embroi-dered herself. The footprints and the hair are identical toher own. Electra's awareness is of her brothers presence,who is the one person who can help her by avenging thedeath of their father.[2]

2 Comedy

The section of Aristotles Poetics dealing with comedy didnot survive, but many critics also discuss recognition incomedies. A standard plot of the New Comedy was thefinal revelation, by birth tokens, that the heroine was ofrespectable birth and so suitable for the hero to marry.This was often brought about by the machinations of thetricky slave. This plot appears in Shakespeares The Win-ters Tale, where a recognition scene in the final act revealsthat Perdita is a kings daughter rather than a shepherdess,and so suitable for her prince lover.[3]

3 Literature and modern usage

3.1 Mystery

The earliest use of anagnorisis in a murder mystery wasin "The Three Apples", a classical Arabian Nights tale,where the device is employed to great effect in its twistending.[4] The protagonist of the story, Ja'far ibn Yahya,is ordered by Harun al-Rashid to find the culprit behind amurder mystery within three days or else be executed. Itis only after the deadline has passed, and as he preparesto be executed, that he discovers that the culprit was hisown slave all along.[5][6]

1

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2 5 REFERENCES

Poster for a performance of The Comedy of Errors: When thetwins, confused with each other throughout the play, recognizeeach others existence, the play reaches its happy ending.

3.2 Modern usage

Anagnorisis, however, is not limited to classical or Eliz-abethan sources. Author and lecturer Ivan Pintor Iranzopoints out that contemporary auteurM. Night Shyamalanuses similar revelations in The Sixth Sense, in which childpsychologist Malcolm Crowe successfully treats a childwho is having visions of dead people, only to realize atthe close of the film that Crowe himself is dead, as well asin Unbreakable, in which the character of David realizesthat he survived a train crash that killed the other passen-gers, due to a supernatural power.[7] Another well knownexample of anagnorisis from popular culture is the reve-lation that Darth Vader is the father of Luke Skywalkerin The Empire Strikes Back. An extensive account of thehistory and application of anagnorisis is provided by Ter-ence Cave in his book Recognitions. [8]

A humorous definition is included in 'The Banner: mock-heroic verse epic, Part 1: Sid' by Robin Gordon:In any moment of such crisis / one thinks, of course, ofthose devices / which Aristotle said were needed / in anypoem. We have heeded / Aristotle, and our plot, / (be-ginning, middle, end), has got / complications too, anderror / fit to rouse cathartic terror, / protagonists, antago-nists, / peripiteia, turns and twists. / The poets commentsform the choruses, / but now its time for anagnorisis. /When Oedipus sees the bird hes bedded / is his own fa-thers lawful wedded / wife, in fact she is his mother, / orIphigenia finds her brother, / Discovery or Recognition /brings the plot to its fruition.

4 See also Aristotle

Back-story

Denouement

Epiphany

Peripeteia

Tragedy

5 References[1] Northrop Frye, Myth, Fiction, And Displacement p 25

Fables of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology, ISBN 0-15-629730-2

[2] Aeschylus, and Robert Lowell. The Oresteia of Aeschy-lus. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1978.

[3] Northrop Frye, Recognition in The Winters Tale" p 108-9 Fables of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology, ISBN0-15-629730-2

[4] http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Three_Apples

[5] Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in theArabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 956, ISBN 90-04-09530-6

[6] Marzolph, Ulrich (2006), The Arabian Nights Reader,Wayne State University Press, pp. 2412, ISBN 0-8143-3259-5

[7] Ivan Pintor Iranzo. The naked and the dead. The Repre-sentation of the dead and the construction of the other incontemporary cinema: The case of M. Night Shyamalan,No. 4, 2005

[8] Recognitions: A Study in Poetics. Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1988.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comedy_of_Errorshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Night_Shyamalanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sensehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbreakable_(film)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empire_Strikes_Backhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotlehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-storyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denouementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(feeling)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripeteiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Fryehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0156297302https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0156297302https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0156297302https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0156297302http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Three_Appleshttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Three_Appleshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brill_Publishershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/90-04-09530-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/90-04-09530-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_State_University_Presshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8143-3259-5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8143-3259-5http://www.upf.edu/materials/depeca/formats/arti6_ing.htmhttp://www.upf.edu/materials/depeca/formats/arti6_ing.htmhttp://www.upf.edu/materials/depeca/formats/arti6_ing.htm

3

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1 Text Anagnorisis Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagnorisis?oldid=643755189 Contributors: Dieter Simon, Haukurth, AnonMoos, Ja-

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6.2 Images File:Lear_and_Cordelia.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Lear_and_Cordelia.jpg License: Public do-

main Contributors: Shakespeare Illustrated Original artist: Ford Madox Brown File:Robson_Crane_Comedy_of_Errors.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Robson_Crane_Comedy_

of_Errors.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

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TragedyComedyLiterature and modern usageMysteryModern usage

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