discoveries, that the tragic fear and pity are aroused (Aristotle 673). Aristotle cited, among other works, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus as an example of the best constructed plots. In this play peripety (a change in the state of things to its opposite) is produced by the Messenger's announcement, which is intended to relieve Oedipus' anxiety about his mother but has the opposite effect. In this play the discovery (the change from ignorance to knowledge) hinges, of course, on the same announcement and will, as a properly constructed plot should, "arouse either pity or fear--actions of that nature being what Tragedy is assumed to represent; and it will also serve to bring about the happy or unhappy ending" (Aristotle 680).
Although Aristotle offered some commentary on performative aspects of the tragedies his principal interest was in the construction of plot and its ability to reveal the turns of fortune that inspired the audience with fear or pity. Certainly plot was of central importance to the Greek dramatists. The audiences knew the general
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