In the Greek theatre, as every one knows, the _peripeteia_ or reversal

of fortune--the turning of the tables, as we might say--was a
clearly-defined and recognized portion of the dramatic organism
In the Greek theatre, as every one knows, the _peripeteia_ or reversal
of fortune--the turning of the tables, as we might say--was a
clearly-defined and recognized portion of the dramatic organism. It was
often associated with the _anagnorisis_ or recognition. Mr. Gilbert
Murray has recently shown cause for believing that both these dramatic
'forms' descended from the ritual in which Greek drama took its
origin--the ritual celebrating the death and resurrection of the season
of 'mellow fruitfulness.' If this theory be true, the _peripeteia_ was
at first a change from sorrow to joy--joy in the rebirth of the
beneficent powers of nature. And to this day a sudden change from gloom
to exhilaration is a popular and effective incident--as when, at the end
of a melodrama, the handcuffs are transferred from the wrists of the
virtuous naval lieutenant to those of the wicked baronet, and, through
the disclosure of a strawberry-mark on his left arm, the lieutenant is
recognized as the long-lost heir to a dukedom and L50,000 a year.


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