Adventure
A adventure , Greek περιπετεῖα ( peripeteia ), of περιπετε peripetès : “which falls around, which falls on”, itself derived from περιπιπτειν ( peripiptein ): to occur, indicates in general in a poem epic, a Romance , a Play, any event which changes the situation and even achieves in the action, the situation of the characters and the interest which is attached to it, a kind of revolution.
Étymologiquement, the word adventure is synonymous with that of incident (of Latin incidere ). Also one is carried to make use of it to indicate all the changes of the action which are announced by dramatic turns of events. However, in the traditional Tragedy, one called more particularly adventure the more or less complete reversal of situation which brings the outcome; in this direction, the Old ones named it Catastrophe.
The whole of the adventures constitutes the Intrigue or the Déroulement and makes it possible to pass from the initial Situation to the final Situation. This unit is delimited by the element release and the element of resolution and it often represents the third stage of a narrative Schéma.
One of the ordinary means of the adventure is the Reconnaissance, recommended at the same time by the rules of Aristote and the examples of the Greek theater.
The adventure can also come, without external incident, of a simple change of will, as that which determines the outcome of Cinna , where Auguste inclines towards leniency, opposite same a situation which called revenge and the punishment.
The poetic old one gave, for the use of the adventure, the rules which, to guess themselves, are superfluous: this one must be probable and to have a close relationship to the subject of the part, the Poème or the Romance . The adventure can, finally, come from a foreign cause, like intervention of the Deus ex machina of old, element that one however forgives him because of the beauties of which it can be the source.
Voltaire considered certain outcomes of Corneille cold and corrupted, because stripped of adventure, they do not excite any surprise.
In a more general way, an adventure is an event (for example in the life of somebody). Used in this direction, the east term impresses of a negative Connotation and frequently indicates a serious and unexpected event.
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