peripeteia

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The Word of the Day for November 10 is:=20

peripeteia   \pair-uh-puh-TEE-uh\   noun
          : a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situatio=
n especially in a literary work

Example sentence:
          In the last act of the play, the king's decision to avenge his=
 brother leads to a peripeteia that leaves him bereft of his throne and =
his family.

Did you know?
          "Peripeteia" comes from Greek, in which the verb =E2=80=9Cperi=
piptein=E2=80=9D means "to fall around" or "to change suddenly." It usua=
lly indicates a turning point in a drama after which the plot moves stea=
dily to its denouement. In his _Poetics_, Aristotle describes peripeteia=
 as the shift of the tragic protagonist's fortune from good to bad--a sh=
ift that is essential to the plot of a tragedy. The term is also occasio=
nally used of a similar change in actual affairs. For example, in a June=
 7, 2006 article in _The New York Times_, Michael Cooper described Willi=
am Weld=E2=80=99s second term as Massachusetts=E2=80=99 governor as =E2=80=
=9Cpolitical peripeteia=E2=80=9D: it =E2=80=9Cbegan with a landslide vic=
tory and ended with frustrated hopes and his resignation.=E2=80=9D=20





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