Peripeteia is a sudden reversal of fortune in a story, especially in tragedy. Aristotle identified it as a key component of complex plots.

In Oedipus Rex the messenger’s attempt to reassure Oedipus instead reveals the devastating truth—an exemplary peripeteia. The reversal turns the action in a new direction and often coincides with or triggers the recognition (anagnorisis). The change must grow out of the preceding action rather than arrive as pure accident; only then does it feel both surprising and inevitable.

Peripeteia is not limited to tragedy. Comedies and modern narratives also depend on sharp turns of fortune. The term remains useful for describing the structural moment when the protagonist’s trajectory is decisively altered. A well-executed peripeteia reorganizes the audience’s understanding of everything that has come before.

The abrupt turn that transforms a character’s situation is peripeteia.