A Discovery is, as the
very word implies, a change from ignorance to knowledge, and thus to
either love or hate, in the personages marked for good or evil
fortune. The finest form of Discovery is one attended by Peripeties,
like that which goes with the Discovery in _Oedipus_. There are no
doubt other forms of it; what we have said may happen in a way in
reference to inanimate things, even things of a very casual kind; and
it is also possible to discover whether some one has done or not done
something. But the form most directly connected with the Plot and the
action of the piece is the first-mentioned. This, with a Peripety,
will 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. The Discovery, then, being of persons, it
may be that of one party only to the other, the latter being already
known; or both the parties may have to discover themselves. Iphigenia,
for instance, was discovered to Orestes by sending the letter; and
another Discovery was required to reveal him to Iphigenia.
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