Anagnorisis

Last night I forwent sleep to complete a paper for my government class, at 4:00 am. I realized that the paper was due next week. The moment in which I realized my tragic circumstances I proceeded to break several things and shout several obscenities. That moment is known as anagnorisis and has been experienced by many characters in tragic literature.

Examples include when Oedipus killed his father and married his mother in ignorance, and later learned the truth, when Iphigeneia in Tauris realizes that the strangers she is to sacrifice are her brother and his friend in time to refrain from it, or when Agave realized she was holding the head of Pentheus her son.

The moment of anagnorisis is what has driven the plots of tragic literature. When the audience knows of the characters tragic circumstances before the characters know themselves, it gives more weight to the emotional moment when those characters realize the truth.