Inciting Incident

The inciting incident (zav'iazka) is a component of the plot — the event that initiates the work's main conflict and gives impetus to the development of the action; it is the moment when the previous equilibrium is disturbed and a contradiction arises that will determine the further course of events. The inciting incident awakens the reader's interest and outlines the principal opposition of forces or characters. The tension and integrity of the whole plot depend to a large degree on the clarity and motivation of the inciting incident. For example, in Sophocles's tragedy Oedipus Rex the inciting incident is the news of the plague in Thebes and Oedipus's decision to find the murderer of the previous king, which sets in motion the fatal chain of the revelation of truth. In Ukrainian dramaturgy a vivid inciting incident marks Ivan Karpenko-Kary's play One Hundred Thousand — Herasym Kalytka's desire to enrich himself through a fraud with counterfeit money, which unfolds the satirical plot about the ruinous power of gain.