Anagnorisis

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

For the German musician, see Anagnorisis (Sariola).

learned the truth, or when Iphigeneia in Tauris realizes in

time that the strangers she is to sacrice are her brother
and his friend, and refrains from sacricing them. ArisAnagnorisis (/nnrss/; Ancient Greek: - totle considered these complex plots superior to simple plots without anagnorisis or peripeteia, such as when
) is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally Medea resolves to kill her children, knowing they are her
meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a children, and does so.
person but also of what that person stood for. Anag- Another prominent example of anagnorisis in tragedy is
norisis was the hero's sudden awareness of a real sit- in Aeschylus's The Choephoroi ("Libation Bearers")
uation, the realisation of things as they stood, and - when Electra recognizes her brother, Orestes, after he has
nally, the heros insight into a relationship with an often returned to Argos from his exile, at the grave of their father, Agamemnon, who had been murdered at the hands
antagonistic character in Aristotelian tragedy.[1]
of Clytemnestra, their mother. Electra convinces herself
that Orestes is her brother with three pieces of evidence:
a lock of Orestes's hair on the grave, his footprints next
1 Tragedy
to the grave, and a piece of weaving which she embroidered herself. The footprints and the hair are identical to
In his Poetics, as part of his discussion of peripeteia, Arisher own. Electra's awareness is of her brothers presence,
totle dened anagnorisis as a change from ignorance to
who is the one person who can help her by avenging the
knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons
death of their father.[2]
destined by the poet for good or bad fortune (1452a).
It is often discussed along with Aristotles concept of
catharsis.

2 Comedy

The section of Aristotles Poetics dealing with comedy did

not survive, but many critics also discuss recognition in
comedies. A standard plot of the New Comedy was the
nal revelation, by birth tokens, that the heroine was of
respectable birth and so suitable for the hero to marry.
This was often brought about by the machinations of the
tricky slave. This plot appears in Shakespeares The Winters Tale, where a recognition scene in the nal act reveals
that Perdita is a kings daughter rather than a shepherdess,
and so suitable for her prince lover.[3]

3 Literature and modern usage

Lear and Cordelia by Ford Madox Brown: Lear, driven out by

his older daughter and rescued by his youngest, realizes their true
characters.

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.

The earliest use of anagnorisis in a murder mystery was

in "The Three Apples", a classical Arabian Nights tale,
where the device is employed to great eect in its twist
ending.[4] The protagonist of the story, Ja'far ibn Yahya,
is ordered by Harun al-Rashid to nd the culprit behind a
murder mystery within three days or else be executed. It
is only after the deadline has passed, and as he prepares
to be executed, that he discovers that the culprit was his
own slave all along.[5][6]

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.

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, Jason Quinn, Kusunose, Kesac, Girolamo Savonarola, Ganymead, Ary29, M1ss1ontomars2k4, BlueNight, Carlon, Kwamikagami, Uucp,
Ghirlandajo, Alexrudd, Angr, SDC, Quiddity, FlaBot, YurikBot, Pip2andahalf, Rocketgoat, Dialectric, SmackBot, Jagged 85, Chairman
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
II, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, Lotje, RjwilmsiBot, Chags20, Oppollo, Helpful Pixie Bot, Reatlas, Knuckleweed, OilandTempura and
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

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0