ANAGNÓRISIS: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2024

The epiphany is a literary device used in a work to signify a moment of revelation in which ignorance disappears to make room for knowledge. This expression comes from the Greek and means revelation, discovery or recognition. Anagnorisis was used for the first time by Aristotle in his work On Poetics.

It is also known by the name of agnition (agnitio in Latin) and represents the same thing: the passage from ignorance to knowledge that a character experiences. The terms anagnorisis and agnithium are interchangeable. The preference of use of one over the other depends exclusively on the linguistic tradition of the user.

Cast of a play

Aristotle first used this word as part of the tragedy and the epic. However, the phenomenon can be presented in comedy. Recently, its use has also been seen in the novel. This usually involves revealing people's true identities (a parent recognizes a stranger as their child, or vice versa).

This recognition is sometimes accompanied by an incident (or reversal) in which there is a change in the fortune of some character. This incident takes the plot from good to evil, thus precipitating a tragic catastrophe. In any case, the figure of anagnorisis is used to intensify the structure of the drama.

Origin

The term anagnorisis was used for the first time in chapter XI of Aristotle's On Poetics (4th century BC). Although it is a frequent resource today in many genres, the Athenian philosopher described it as an important element in the plot of the tragedy and the epic.

According to this thinker, tragedy has six elements: plot, characters, verbal expression, thought, show and song. Of these, the plot is the most important. All plots have some pathos (suffering), but a complex plot must include reversal and recognition.

In that sense, reversal, or peripeteia, occurs when a situation seems to develop in one direction, but then - suddenly - reverts to another. For its part, recognition (anagnorisis) is a shift from ignorance to consciousness. This generally involves the change of a love or hate bond.

characteristics

Tragic anagnorisis is a turn of fortune that turns into a turning point. At that moment, everything is revealed and the picture looks clearer for the protagonist. These revealed truths change the perspective and reaction of the hero, who has to adapt to the facts accepting his destiny.

According to what Aristotle expressed, anagnorisis is a key element in tragedy because it awakens compassion and fear (eleos and phobos). These two emotions are precisely part of the purpose of mimicry inherent in the drama.

Recognition scenes in tragedy are generally related to some horrible or secret events. In comedy, on the other hand, these scenes usually reunite long-lost relatives or friends.

However, this recognition seems to play a more fundamental role in tragedy than in comedy. Comic characters are usually not very affected by this type of situation.

Examples of anagnorisis

King Oedipus

One of the best examples of anagnorisis occurs in the story of Oedipus Rex. At the beginning of the play, the oracle of Delphi tells King Laius of Thebes that he will have a son destined to kill him and to lie with his own wife, Jocasta, the child's mother. When the baby arrives, the king pierces his ankles and leaves him on the side of a mountain to die.

However, a shepherd finds the baby, and takes him to King Polibo and Queen Merope of Corinth, who name him Oedipus and raise him as their own. One day, Oedipus goes to the oracle to find out who his real parents are. She tells him that he is destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother.

So, flee the city to escape this fate. However, he ends up killing Laius in a fight at a crossroads, not knowing that he is his real father. Later, after answering the riddle of the Sphinx, he wins the throne of Thebes. And unknowingly he marries his mother, Jocasta. Together they had four children.

Several years later, the anagnorisis occurs: Oedipus and Jocasta discover the truth of everything with the involuntary help of Tiresias, the seer. Jocasta hangs himself, and Oedipus stares at himself. Later, the blind king goes into exile with his daughter, Antigone, and finally dies in the city of Colono.

The coephoras

Another example of anagnorisis is found in the Greek drama of Aeschylus, The Coephoras. According to this story, many years after the murder of King Agamemnon at the hands of his wife Clytamnestra and her lover Aigisthos, his son Orestes returns home with Pílades to mourn at his grave.

Orestes has been living in exile and has secretly returned to Argos, sent by an oracle of Apollo. His mission is to take revenge for the death of Agamemnon on his assassins. Apollo has threatened him with horrible punishments, including leprosy and further exile, if he does not accept this quest.

Now, the anagnorisis occurs when Electra recognizes Orestes as her brother. Three pieces of evidence led her to this recognition: a lock of Orestes in her father's grave, her footprints near the grave, and a piece of fabric that she had embroidered for him. The presence of her brother gives her support to avenge the murder of her father.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Possibly the best and most famous example in film history of anagnorisis is the reveal in the second installment of the first Star Wars trilogy.

In this movie, Luke Skywalker receives a vision from Obi-Wan Kenobi and flees the frozen world of Hoth with his friends after an Imperial attack.

He then travels to the swampy planet of Dagobah, where the legendary Jedi Master Yoda instructs him in the ways of the Force. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Princess Leia head to the planet Bespin, where they are greeted by an old friend of Han's, a sneaky gamer named Lando Calrissian.

Shortly after their arrival, the Empire manages to ambush Han and his friends, and they are imprisoned by Darth Vader. Luke leaves Dagobah to rescue his friends, and meets Vader, starting a duel. There the revelation takes place: Darth Vader is actually his father.

References

1. Encyclopædia Britannica. (2016, June 06). Anagnorisis. Taken from britannica.com.
2. Paris, E. (2010, March 24). Literary Dictionary: anagnórisis. Taken from web.archive.org.
3. Macfarlane, J. (s / f). Aristotle's Definition of Anagnorisis. Taken from johnmacfarlane.net.
4. Boitani, P. (1991). Anagnorisis and reasoning: Electra and Hamlet. In H. Grabes and Diller, HJ (editors), REAL Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature. Berlin: Gunter Narr Verlag.
5. Mikics, D. (2008). A New Handbook of Literary Terms. New Haven: Yale University Press.