Emotion, Perception and Anagnorisis in The Comedy of Errors: A Cognitive Perspective

The following discussion of Comedy of Errors draws on insights and models of analysis derived from the appraisal theory of emotion, the most important among cognitive theories of emotion. Emotions and action outcomes in this play are explicitly caused by evaluation of situations arising from mistaken identities of two sets of twins. These evaluations and subsequent actions, though based on misconstrued visual information, alter people's personal and social realities. Clearly, the play foregrounds appraisal as a principle guiding elicitation of emotion. The first section of the following discussion provides an introduction to relevant concepts derived from appraisal theory and cognitive poetics. Section two draws attention to Aristotle's idea of Anagnorisis and Agnoia, inviting a look at structures of recognition and reversal from a cognitive perspective. The remaining sections focus on patterns of appraisal in relation to elicitation and thematization of emotion in The Comedy of Errors.