Peripeteia

Peripeteia is a sudden, unexpected turn in the development of the plot action, a sharp change of the situation, circumstances, or the hero's fate to their opposite, which sharpens the conflict and heightens the dramatism of the work. The concept was introduced as early as Aristotle in the Poetics, in analyzing the structure of tragedy: peripeteia (Greek for 'sudden change') is a change of the action to its opposite, when, for example, actions directed toward good turn into disaster. A classic example is in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex: the messenger who comes to console Oedipus instead, by his report, brings nearer the terrible discovery of his true origin. Peripeteias create surprise and keep the reader in suspense; they are an important means of tightly plotted genres — drama, the detective, and adventure prose. A series of rapid peripeteias marks adventure plots, and their masterful motivation testifies to the artistic accomplishment of a work.