In classical

tragedies Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, the catastasis (pl. ''catastases'') is the third part of an ancient

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

, in which the intrigue or action that was initiated in the

epitasis In classical drama, the epitasis ( grc, ἐπίτασις) is the main action of a play, in which the trials and tribulations of the main character increase and build toward a climax and dénouement. It is the third and central part when a play i ...

, is supported and heightened, until ready to be unravelled in the

catastrophe Catastrophe or catastrophic comes from the Greek κατά (''kata'') = down; στροφή (''strophē'') = turning ( el, καταστροφή). It may refer to: A general or specific event * Disaster, a devastating event * The Asia Minor Catastro ...

. It also refers to the climax of a drama. In rhetoric, the catastasis is that part of a speech, usually the exordium, in which the orator sets forth the subject matter to be discussed. The term is not a classical one; it was invented by

Scaliger The Della Scala family, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History Wh ...

in his ''Poetics'' (published posthumously in 1561). It "is more or less equivalent to the ''summa epitasis'' of Donatus and Latomus and to what Willichius sometimes called the ''extrema epitasis''," and was first used in 1616 in England.Frank N. Magill, ''Critical Survey of Literary Theory: Authors, A-Sw'' (Salem Press, 1987: ), p. 1284.

References

{{Narrative Ancient Greek theatre Drama

See also

References