What is the upheaval in ancient and modern drama?

How often do we hear the expression "the vicissitudes of fate" and the like! It occurs both in speech and in books. But only a few know what the vicissitudes are and where this word came from. Fill in the gap in education.

Origin of the word

Let us turn to the roots of this word. What is the upheaval in the ancient Greek language? In translation, this word means "unexpected, sudden turn". In literary criticism, this concept is familiar with the very birth of this science. In the treatise "Poetics" Aristotle wrote that this is an unexpected change of action to the opposite. That is how in ancient times they complicated the plot of the tragedy and made it more interesting for the spoiled public.

Peripetias in ancient drama

To understand what the vicissitudes are, let us turn to examples from ancient Greek literature. The classical use of this technique is found in the Sophocles tragedy "Oedipus the King". The shepherd comes to the king to reveal to him the secret of origin. He seeks to dispel the fear of the ruler, but achieves the opposite effect. Some researchers see the similarity of vicissitudes and tragic irony.

Tragic irony as an analog of the vicissitudes

Reflecting on the question of what the twists and turns are, the literary critics have drawn analogies with tragic irony. Theoretical interpretation of this method occurred only in the New Times. In another way, it was called the "irony of fate". The hero of this work was convinced of the correctness of his actions, but they brought his death to an end.

A textbook example of the "irony of fate" we have already considered is the tragedy "Oedipus the King". In modern times a good example is Schiller's play "Wallenstein". The action of the tragedy occurs during the Thirty Years' War. The main character is the great warlord Wallenstein. In the final part, astrologers predict the military leader a successful outcome of his undertakings, but they are not destined to come true. The main character dies. And predictions of astrologers, as we see, do not come true.

The main features of the twists and turns

Defining the meaning of the word "peripeteia", Aristotle spoke of such features: it is a point of higher tension, after which the action turns into a catastrophe. Such techniques indicate an early denouement of history. In comedies, no one excludes the presence of this element. It can mean an unexpected turn in action.

Peripetias in modern drama

It is difficult to discuss contemporary drama. In the era of postmodernism in literature, the traditional concept of the plot is obliterated. Sometimes (as it happens in the theater of the absurd) it is simply difficult to somehow comprehend and describe to the unprepared spectator. Some works are based on the reception of anti-peripeteias. As you know, in the ancient drama this concept was also a philosophical category, an awareness of a single cosmic order. Modern people deny this order.

In some dramas, the vicissitudes exist for all the approach of the text to the narrative. They denote the power of fate. But the classical understanding of this expression in the spirit of the Renaissance does not fit here. It's rather about unrealized situations, which the author himself says about the hero or about the use of different forms of improvisation on stage.