Gradually the Greek hero recognizes (peripeteia) that his visitors are the hated Greeks who once abandoned him, in disguise. Philoctetes denounces the foul plot and demands back his bow, realizing once again he is alone in the world. (anagnorisis)

In Euripides, "Hippolytus," pity and fear (pathos) is evoked by Phaedra's unbridled passion for her stepson Hippolytus. The recognition element of the drama (peripeteia) comes when both Phaedra and Hippolytus see that their mutually incompatible desires both for others (in the case of Phaedra) and also to be removed from others (as expressed in the character of the young, title son of Theseus) are inescapable. This recognition is shortly followed by the terrible peripeteia of Theseus that his wife has lied to him and he has cast off his son as nothing, for nothing. The final tragic anagnorisis comes with Athena's visit. Athena exposes Theseus' folly of his love for his...
[ View Full Essay]