Plot
In Poetics, Aristotle
defines plot as the arrangement of incidents in a story, emphasizing that it
must have a beginning, middle, and end, and should be unified by causality and
necessity to evoke emotional responses like pity and fear.
In E.M. Forster’s
illustration, "The king died, and then the queen died" is a story,
while "The king died, and then the queen died of grief" is a plot,
emphasizing causality over mere time-sequence. When analysing a plot, it is
useful to identify events that alter the course of the story and consider how
one event leads to the next.
Freytag's Pyramid
outlines a plot structure as follows: Exposition introduces essential
background information; Rising Action starts with an inciting incident that
introduces a problem or conflict; Climax is the story’s turning point with the
highest tension; Falling Action includes events leading to the resolution; and
Dénouement resolves loose ends and reveals the final consequences.
Christopher Booker's
Meta-Plot consists of: Anticipation Stage, where the hero prepares for an
adventure; Dream Stage, where the hero overcomes minor challenges; Frustration
Stage, where the hero confronts the villain; Nightmare Stage, where the hero
faces the fear of failure; and Resolution, where the hero ultimately triumphs.
Booker categorizes plot
into seven basic types: Comedy, where characters face and resolve absurd
challenges, leading to a happy conclusion; Tragedy, where a tragic hero's fatal
flaw leads to their downfall; Rebirth, where a character overcomes a dark force
with the help of another; Overcoming the Monster, where the protagonist defeats
an evil force; Rags-to-Riches, where a disadvantaged individual achieves
success; The Quest, where a hero sets out to achieve a specific task; and
Voyage and Return, where a hero journeys to an unfamiliar place and returns
wiser.
Joseph Campbell's
"The Hero's Journey" describes a plot where a protagonist transforms
through stages such as the Call to Adventure and Return with the Elixir.
Additionally, genre-specific plots like Mystery and Bildungsroman, and other
plot theories by Foster-Harris, Tobias, Polti, Quiller-Couch, and Vonnegut,
offer various frameworks for analysing narrative structures.
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