Plot
Resource: Wilson, Chapters 13, 14, & 15
Objectives for this lesson:
Students will examine:
Aristotle's Six Parts of a Tragedy and how they relate to the drama today
The elements of plot
Types of plots
Some devices of plot
----------------------------------------
Aristotle's Six Parts of a Tragedy (click here for a slide presentation about the six parts of a play -- with sound -- requires a relatively fast connection and an internet sound plug-in installed -- give it a try...)
1. Plot2. Character3. Thought (theme, idea)4. Diction (Language)5. Music (sound)6. Spectacle
1. Plot -- the arrangement of the
parts--
"the arrangement of events or the selection and order of scenes in
a play. (155)"
Plot is different from the story -- the story is WHAT happens; the plot is HOW it happens.
"A story is a full account of an event or series of events, usually in chronological order. A plot, as opposed to story, is a selection and arrangement of scenes.. (292)"Aristotle, in The Poetics, said that plot is the soul of tragedy: it holds story together contains the incidents in the play, produces tragic effects, has the most tragic element (reversals, discoveries).
Everything the audience needs to know to understand the play. [Can occur throughout the play...]
What is the "antecedent action" (everything that has happened before the play begins)? and how is it revealed?
What is the "point of attack" [A-5] -- (where does the play begin in relation to the story?) Is it an early or late point of attack? (Wilson & Goldfarb, 161, discuss the late point of attack in climactic dramatic structure...)
Go to the Oedipus plot sheet to see an example of a brilliantly-constructed plot (which is the play Aristotle based his ideas on).
2. Conflict (294...)
-- the clash of opposing forces (298):
man vs. self, vs. man, vs. environment, vs. natural forces, vs. group,
vs. God, or group vs. group.
"Inciting incident" (or "initiating incident"): the event that occurs in the play to begin the conflict. The inciting/initiating incident of the play must occur within the play itself. The inciting/initiating incident of Oedipus Rex cannot, therefore, be Oedipus's killing of Laius or the plague, because both of those have already happened -- they are part of the antecedent action -- before the play actually begins.
"Complications and obstacles" -- (301)
Discoveries, reversals (peripety) (420)
Sub-plots / parallel plots (312...) -- major and minor conflicts
3. Climax -- (302...) the point at which one or the other of the forces is favored; the point at which events must turn in one direction or another. Not necessarily the "high point"
Falling Action
4. Resolution / Denouement (418) -- whatever comes after the climax.
Not always resolved satisfactorily: the "deus ex machina" (5...): -- "god of the machine" -- a contrived or unrealistic or unbelievable ending / resolution.
Three Types of Plots Climactic, Episodic, Non-sequitur
(From Edwin Wilson, The Theater Experience, 7th edition,
292) General characteristics:
[Wilson & Goldfarb discuss these distinctions in some detail beginning
on 160, and they include their own chart on p. 161...] -- Wilson's chart
in our edition of the text is on p. 314)
| Climactic | Episodic | Non-sequitur |
| Late point of attack (background info comes primarily from exposition Short span of time (Oedipus -- only the time of the play -- Ghosts, Phaedra) | Early point of attack (in Shakespeare's plays, we need to know very little that has happened before the play begins--most of what is important happens during the play itself) |
Theatre of the Absurd -- not a unified school or theory Beckett, Ionesco |
|
Limited number of long segments (Greek -- 5 episodes separated by choral odes) Neoclassical -- 5 acts Now -- 2 acts |
Longer period of time sometimes years (Lear, Caucasian Chalk Circle, R&J, Hamlet) Many short, fragmented scenes-- tries to grasp various facets of man |
Inconsistency, meaninglessness (absurdity) form and content both express absurdity |
| Restricted locale -- usually one room or place | May range over entire city or many countries (Othello--from Cyprus to Venice) | verbal nonsense |
|
Limited number of characters -- 6 - 8 |
Many characters -- dozens in Shakespeare's plays | Existential characters -- have little background, no clear causes for actions |
| Causal structure -- linear -- few subplots or counter plots |
Many threads of action parallel plots, comic relief, subplots, etc. juxtaposed scenes |
Non-traditional structure |
| Action is causal |
Not necessarily causal complicated web of causes |
Causality minimized |
| Compressed | Expansion | Chaos |
These two (climactic and episodic) can be combined: (Restoration, Chekhov, Death of a Salesman).
Other Dramatic Structures (316...):
Ritual
Patterns
Serial
Avante-Garde and Experimental
Segments and Tableaux
Important terms:
exposition, conflict, climax, resolution / denouement
rising action, falling action
antecedent action, point-of-attack
inciting (or initiating) incident
peripetia, deus ex machina
To take a short study quiz, click here...
Next Section: The Character in the play.
This page and all linked pages in this directory copyright © Eric W. Trumbull, 1998-2004.
Last revision date: April 29, 2004
