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Peripety

Concept
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Peripety is a sudden, pivotal reversal of circumstances or fortune in a narrative poem, often triggering emotional or thematic transformation.

Detailed Definition
Peripety (or peripeteia) is a sudden reversal of fortune or circumstance in a narrative, often used in dramatic or narrative poetry to shift the protagonist’s trajectory; Aristotle considered it essential to tragic structure, as seen in Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex,” and poets adapt it for emotional climax.
Example
Example in poetry:
Peripety in Oedipus Rex (discovery of true parentage); tragic reversal in Shakespeare’s “King Lear”; modern peripety in Gwendolyn Brooks’ “The Ballad of Rudolph Reed”; sudden turn in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”
Additional Notes
Peripety (or peripeteia) is a sudden reversal of fortune or turning point in a narrative, often leading to an unexpected outcome; Aristotle identifies it in Poetics as a key element of tragedy, closely linked to recognition (anagnorisis).
Also Known As
Reversal of fortune Plot turn Sudden change Dramatic shift
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