Peripeteia definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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He exhibits Caesar and Napoleon "in their well-known attitudes": only, by an odd metempsychosis, the soul of Mr. Shaw has somehow entered into them CHAPTER XIV THE PERIPETY 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.

—Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship

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Definitions (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

noun A sudden change of events or reversal of circumstances, especially in a literary work.

Century Dictionary

GNU Webster's 1913

WordNet (1)

Elsewhere on the web

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Examples (16)

And they are anagnorisis and peripeteia. — Mike Rowe celebrates dirty jobs
That's peripety or peripeteia. — Mike Rowe celebrates dirty jobs
According to Wikipedia, Aristotle defines it as “a change by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of probability or necessity”.There's an article on the Times website about the greatest movie twists that describes it more evocatively as the sudden reversal from one state of affairs to its ghastly opposite via a “discovery” that turns blind ignorance into painful knowledge.Aptly, peripeteia is also the Greek for adventure.
He exhibits Caesar and Napoleon "in their well-known attitudes": only, by an odd metempsychosis, the soul of Mr. Shaw has somehow entered into them CHAPTER XIV THE PERIPETY 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. — Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship
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. — Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship