.
Anagnorisis originally meant recognition, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for, what he or she represented; it was the hero's suddenly becoming aware of a real situation and therefore the realisation of things as they stood; and finally it was a perception that resulted in an insight the hero had into his relationship with often anatagonistic characters within Aristotelian tragedy
In Aristotelian definition of tragedy it was the discovery of one's own identity or true character (Cordelia, Edgar, Edmund, etc.) or of someone elses identity or true nature (Lear's children, Gloucester's children) by the tragic hero.
The tragic hero or the comic character
Aristotle thought of drama as being "an imitation of an action", that of tragedy as of "falling from a higher to a lower estate", and so being removed to a less ideal situation in more tragic circumstances than before. He posited the characters in tragedy as being better than the average human being, and those of comedy as being worse.
Stock characters in comedy in their ridiculousness may well be aware of their discomfort in certain circumstances, but they would not be able to envisage their real situation or recognise any sudden , often traumatic changes in their position vis-a-vis other characters in the dramatic action within a play. They cannot see themselves as people less good than others and so would continue being ridiculous or pompous whenever the situation arises. Comic plots reflect the shortcomings of their characters within their circumscribed existence.
Tragic heroes, however, whether humble or exalted, are capable of recognizing their true place in the world, and therefore are able to contemplate their relationships with others and any sudden changes within these relations, and therefore can recognize the consequences these changes wreak. The moment of recognition or anagnorisis becomes the moment of understanding and their becoming aware of their true situation.
It is the tragic hero's initial flaw of mistaking or misinterpreting his real situation, his hamartia, his 'missing the mark of identifying his situation' which leads to his reversal of fortune, his peripeteia. It is at this stage that anagnorisis often occurs in tragedy, the often fatal recognition of the real state in which he finds himself with the world and which he cannot ignore.
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