The moment of recognition of truth when ignorance gives way to knowledge is known as

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks for the literary term for the moment a character moves from ignorance to knowledge, the point where the truth is finally recognised.

Step 2: Explain the concepts These terms come from Aristotle's Poetics and Greek tragedy:

• Anamnesis: recollection or remembering (a Platonic idea that learning is recalling knowledge from before birth). It is not the tragic moment of discovery.
• Anagnorisis: the moment of recognition or discovery, when a character realises the truth about their identity, situation, or actions. Ignorance gives way to knowledge.
• Hamartia: the tragic flaw or error in judgment that leads to the hero's downfall.
• Hubris: excessive pride or arrogance, often the hero's overreaching.

Step 3: Apply to the question The key phrase is "recognition of truth when ignorance gives way to knowledge". The Greek word anagnorisis literally means "recognition", so it matches directly.

A classic example is in Oedipus Rex, where Oedipus finally realises he has killed his father and married his mother. That moment of horrifying discovery is his anagnorisis. In Nigerian literature, you can see a similar moment in Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman or in Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame (an adaptation of Oedipus), where Odewale learns the truth about his origins.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is B. Anagnorisis.

Tip: Link the words to their meanings:

• Ana-gnorisis → "gnosis" = knowledge → knowing the truth.
• Hamartia → "mistake" (hamartia = human error).
• Hubris → too much pride.

In tragedy questions, the usual order is hubris/hamartia → peripeteia (reversal) → anagnorisis (recognition) → catastrophe.