Information about Dramatic Structure
The term "dramatic structure" refers to the parts into which a short story, a novel, a play, a screenplay, or a narrative poem can be divided.
Aristotle divided drama into three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Perhaps equally influential to writers and literary critics alike has been the analysis of dramatic structure of Gustav Freytag, a modern application of five-act structure.
Freytag is known for his analysis of the structure of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts: called Freytag's pyramid.
Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is sometimes represented by means of a visual aid known as Freytag's Pyramid.
In the exposition, the background information that is needed to understand the story properly is provided. Such information includes the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, the setting, and so forth.
The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the single incident in the story's action without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action.
Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is based on five-act plays, it can be applied (sometimes in a modified manner) to short stories and novels as well.
Dorothy encounters a circus performer, who encourages her to return home. As she nears her farm, she is joined by Toto, who has escaped from Mrs. Gulch, but they are too late to join Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands inside the storm cellar, where they have sought refuge from an approaching tornado. Dorothy carries Toto into the family's house, where she is struck in the head by a shutter that becomes detached from the house because of the tornado. The injured girl loses consciousness, to awaken in the Land of Oz.
Glinda, the Good Witch, recommends that she see the Wizard of Oz, in the Emerald City, who can help her return to her home in Kansas. She wears a pair of ruby slippers that belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East, upon whom her house landed when the tornado set it down in the land of the diminutive Munchkins.
Along the way, as she follows a yellow brick road, she encounters traveling companions in the form of a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman, and a Cowardly Lion. Surviving attacks by the Wicked Witch of the West, the sister of the slain witch, who wants to recover the ruby slippers, Dorothy arrives in the Emerald City, with her companions. However, the Wizard refuses to help Dorothy or her friends unless she returns to the Emerald City with the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy and her companions are attacked by the Witch's army of winged monkeys, and Dorothy and Toto are borne to her castle. The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion follow, rescuing Dorothy.
After bidding farewell to her friends, she does so, awakening in her own bed, surrounded by Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, the three farmhands, and the circus performer. Her adventures in Oz were nothing more than a dream that helped her to realize that "There's no place like home" and that, if happiness isn't in one's own backyard it is unlikely to be anywhere else, including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Note how in the example above, the exposition stage does begin with an initial conflict.
Contemporary dramas increasingly use the fall to increase the relative height of the climax and dramatic impact (melodrama). The protagonist reaches up but falls and succumbs to his doubts, fears, and limitations. Arguably, the negative climax occurs when he has an epiphany and encounters his greatest fear or loses something important. This loss gives him the courage to take on another obstacle. This confrontation becomes the classic climax.
In fairness to Freytag, it should be remembered that his analysis applies not to modern drama but, rather, to ancient Greek and Shakesperean drama, as he clearly indicates in his work.
Aristotle divided drama into three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Perhaps equally influential to writers and literary critics alike has been the analysis of dramatic structure of Gustav Freytag, a modern application of five-act structure.
Elements of fiction
Dramatic structure is a major aspect of plot, which is widely considered to be one of the fundamental elements of fiction. Among other elements cited are character, setting, theme, and style. Debate continues regarding the number and composition of the elements of fiction. [1]Freytag's analysis
Freytag is known for his analysis of the structure of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts: called Freytag's pyramid.
- exposition (inciting incident)
- rising action
- climax (or turning point)
- falling action
- dénouement or catastrophe (resolution) (depending upon whether the drama is a comedy or a tragedy)
Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is sometimes represented by means of a visual aid known as Freytag's Pyramid.
Exposition
In the exposition, the background information that is needed to understand the story properly is provided. Such information includes the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, the setting, and so forth.
The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the single incident in the story's action without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action.
Rising action
Climax (turning point)
Falling action
Dénouement or catastrophe
Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is based on five-act plays, it can be applied (sometimes in a modified manner) to short stories and novels as well.
Example of Freytag's analysis
Here is the dramatic structure of the movie version of The Wizard of Oz according to Freytag's analysis.Exposition
The protagonist, Dorothy Gale, is introduced, and the audience meets her Aunt Emily, Uncle Henry, and their three farmhands. The antagonist, Mrs. Gulch, arrives to seize Dorothy's dog, Toto, to take him to the authorities to be euthanized.Rising action
Dorothy runs away from home, distraught and upset.Dorothy encounters a circus performer, who encourages her to return home. As she nears her farm, she is joined by Toto, who has escaped from Mrs. Gulch, but they are too late to join Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands inside the storm cellar, where they have sought refuge from an approaching tornado. Dorothy carries Toto into the family's house, where she is struck in the head by a shutter that becomes detached from the house because of the tornado. The injured girl loses consciousness, to awaken in the Land of Oz.
Glinda, the Good Witch, recommends that she see the Wizard of Oz, in the Emerald City, who can help her return to her home in Kansas. She wears a pair of ruby slippers that belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East, upon whom her house landed when the tornado set it down in the land of the diminutive Munchkins.
Along the way, as she follows a yellow brick road, she encounters traveling companions in the form of a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman, and a Cowardly Lion. Surviving attacks by the Wicked Witch of the West, the sister of the slain witch, who wants to recover the ruby slippers, Dorothy arrives in the Emerald City, with her companions. However, the Wizard refuses to help Dorothy or her friends unless she returns to the Emerald City with the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy and her companions are attacked by the Witch's army of winged monkeys, and Dorothy and Toto are borne to her castle. The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion follow, rescuing Dorothy.
Climax (turning point)
As they seek to escape the Witch's castle, the antagonist confronts her fleeing prisoner and her friends, and Dorothy, fearing for her life, pitches a pail of water on the Witch, melting her.Falling action
Armed with the Witch's broomstick, Dorothy returns to the Emerald City, accompanied by her companions. It is soon apparent that the Wizard is a fraud: He cannot work magic. However, he confers a diploma upon the Scarecrow, bestows a medal of courage upon the Cowardly Lion, and presents the Tin Woodman with a ticking clock, so that they each have that which they, respectively, have lacked: a brain, courage, and a heart. To transport Dorothy back home to Kansas, he inflates a balloon with hot air (the moment of final suspense), but the balloon leaves before Dorothy can join him in the basket, leaving her stranded in Oz.Denouement
A comedy, The Wizard of Oz ends with the appearance of Glinda, who advises Dorothy that she can return home simply by clicking the heels of her ruby slippers together three times and repeating "There's no place like home."After bidding farewell to her friends, she does so, awakening in her own bed, surrounded by Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, the three farmhands, and the circus performer. Her adventures in Oz were nothing more than a dream that helped her to realize that "There's no place like home" and that, if happiness isn't in one's own backyard it is unlikely to be anywhere else, including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Criticism
A specific exposition stage is criticized by Lajos Egri in The Art of Dramatic Writing. He states, "exposition itself is part of the whole play, and not simply a fixture to be used at the beginning and then discarded." According to Egri, the actions of a character reveal who they are, and exposition should come out naturally. The beginning of the play should therefore begin with the initial conflict.Note how in the example above, the exposition stage does begin with an initial conflict.
Contemporary dramas increasingly use the fall to increase the relative height of the climax and dramatic impact (melodrama). The protagonist reaches up but falls and succumbs to his doubts, fears, and limitations. Arguably, the negative climax occurs when he has an epiphany and encounters his greatest fear or loses something important. This loss gives him the courage to take on another obstacle. This confrontation becomes the classic climax.
In fairness to Freytag, it should be remembered that his analysis applies not to modern drama but, rather, to ancient Greek and Shakesperean drama, as he clearly indicates in his work.
See also
External links
- http://www.oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~hartleyg/250/freytag.html
- http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/freytag.html
- Story Dynamics
The short story is a literary genre. It is usually fictional narrative prose and tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the modern sense of this term) and novels.
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novel (from, Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new", "news", or "short story of something new") is today a long prose narrative set out in writing.
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play or stageplay, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialogue between characters, intended for performance rather than reading.
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screenplay or script is a blueprint, written by a screenwriter, for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing works such as novels.
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Narrative poetry is poetry that tells a story. The poems may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be simple or complex. It is usually nondramatic, with objective verse and regular rhyme scheme and meter.
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Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
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Gustav Freytag (July 13, 1816 – April 30, 1895) was a German dramatist and novelist.
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Life
Freytag was born in Kreuzburg (Kluczbork) in Silesia. After attending the gymnasium at Oels (Oels), he studied philology at the universities of Breslau (Wrocław) and..... Click the link for more information.
Fiction is the telling of stories which are not entirely based upon facts. More specifically, fiction is an imaginative form of narrative, one of the four basic rhetorical modes.
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Exposition is a literary technique by which background information about the characters, events, or setting is conveyed in a novel, play, movie or other work of fiction. This information can be presented through dialogue, description, flashbacks, or even directly through narrative.
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In the narrative of a work of fiction, rising action is what occurs leading up to the climax. The rising action's purpose is usually to build suspense all the way up the climatic finish.
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The climax (or "turning point") of a narrative work is its point of highest tension or drama in which the solution is given.
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Classical works
In classical culture, perhaps reflecting in part low literacy levels, analysis of fictional narratives focused on drama, and..... Click the link for more information.
falling action is on the descending side of the pyramid.]] Falling action is the part of a story, usually found in tragedies and short stories, following the climax and showing the effects of the climax. It leads up to the denouement (or catastrophe).
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In literature, a dénouement (IPA: /denumɛ̃/) consists of a series of events that follow a dramatic or narrative's climax, thus serving as the conclusion of the story.
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Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
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Uncredited:
Richard Thorpe
George Cukor
King Vidor
Produced by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Novel:
L. Frank Baum
Screenplay:
Noel Langley
Florence Ryerson
Edgar Allan Woolf
Starring Judy Garland
Frank Morgan
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Richard Thorpe
George Cukor
King Vidor
Produced by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Novel:
L. Frank Baum
Screenplay:
Noel Langley
Florence Ryerson
Edgar Allan Woolf
Starring Judy Garland
Frank Morgan
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A broom is a cleaning tool consisting of stiff fibres attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. In the context of witchcraft, "broomstick" is likely to refer to the broom as a whole.
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Lajos Egri (1888-1967) was born in Eger, then Austria-Hungary, now Hungary. He is the author of The Art of Dramatic Writing, highly regarded as one of the best works on the subject of playwriting, though its teachings have since been adapted for the writing of short
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A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, video games, and in some cases, films. In a television series, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes.
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Kishotenketsu (起承転結) describes the structure and development of Chinese and Japanese narratives. It was originally used in Chinese poetry as a 4-line composition, and is also referred to as 'kishotengou' (起承転合).
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