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2 Comedy
3.1 Mystery
In the Aristotelian denition of tragedy, it was the discovery of ones own identity or true character (e.g. Cordelia,
Edgar, Edmund, etc. in Shakespeare's King Lear) or of
someone elses identity or true nature (e.g. Lears children, Gloucesters children) by the tragic hero.
Aristotle was the rst writer to discuss the uses of anagnorisis, with peripeteia caused by it. He considered it
the mark of a superior tragedy, as when Oedipus killed
his father and married his mother in ignorance, and later
1
REFERENCES
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 015-629730-2
[2] Aeschylus, and Robert Lowell. The Oresteia of Aeschylus. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1978.
Poster for a performance of The Comedy of Errors: When the
twins, confused with each other throughout the play, recognize
each others existence, the play reaches its happy ending.
3.2
Modern usage
Anagnorisis, however, is not limited to classical or Elizabethan sources. Author and lecturer Ivan Pintor Iranzo
points out that contemporary auteur M. Night Shyamalan
uses similar revelations in The Sixth Sense, in which child
psychologist Malcolm Crowe successfully treats a child
who is having visions of dead people, only to realize at
the close of the lm that Crowe himself is dead, as well as
in Unbreakable, in which the character of David realizes
that he survived a train crash that killed the other passengers, due to a supernatural power.[7] Another well known
example of anagnorisis from popular culture is the revelation that Darth Vader is the father of Luke Skywalker
in The Empire Strikes Back. An extensive account of the
history and application of anagnorisis is provided by Terence Cave in his book Recognitions. [8]
A humorous denition is included in 'The Banner: mockheroic verse epic, Part 1: Sid' by Robin Gordon:
In any moment of such crisis / one thinks, of course, of
those devices / which Aristotle said were needed / in any
poem. We have heeded / Aristotle, and our plot, / (beginning, middle, end), has got / complications too, and
error / t to rouse cathartic terror, / protagonists, antagonists, / peripiteia, turns and twists. / The poets comments
form the choruses, / but now its time for anagnorisis. /
When Oedipus sees the bird hes bedded / is his own fathers lawful wedded / wife, in fact she is his mother, / or
Iphigenia nds her brother, / Discovery or Recognition /
brings the plot to its fruition.
[3] Northrop Frye, Recognition in The Winters Tale" p 1089 Fables of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology, ISBN
0-15-629730-2
[4] http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Three_
Apples
[5] Pinault, David (1992), Story-Telling Techniques in the
Arabian Nights, Brill Publishers, pp. 956, ISBN 90-0409530-6
[6] Marzolph, Ulrich (2006), The Arabian Nights Reader,
Wayne State University Press, pp. 2412, ISBN 0-81433259-5
[7] Ivan Pintor Iranzo. The naked and the dead. The Representation of the dead and the construction of the other in
contemporary cinema: The case of M. Night Shyamalan,
No. 4, 2005
[8] Recognitions: A Study in Poetics. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1988.
6.1
Text
Anagnorisis Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagnorisis?oldid=643755189 Contributors: Dieter Simon, Haukurth, AnonMoos, Jason Quinn, Kusunose, Kesac, Girolamo Savonarola, Ganymead, Ary29, M1ss1ontomars2k4, BlueNight, Carlon, Kwamikagami, Uucp,
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S., Commander Keane bot, Bluebot, Greatgavini, Cyrusc, Orannis, Caracas1830, Cydebot, Goldfritha, In Defense of the Artist, AntiVandalBot, Arx Fortis, Deective, Lawikitejana, Serpent656, Ya ya ya ya ya ya, R'n'B, Filll, Athaenara, Sam metal, Synthebot, Deconstructhis,
Otherfates, DionysosProteus, Mike Klaassen, Mild Bill Hiccup, Trixi72, Addbot, Ettrig, Luckas-bot, Legobot II, II MusLiM HyBRiD
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Anonymous: 47
6.2
Images
File:Lear_and_Cordelia.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Lear_and_Cordelia.jpg License: Public domain 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: ?
6.3
Content license