Plot and the Dramatic Situation
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Plot/plɒt/ | The sequence of events in a narrative. |
| dramatic situation/drəˈmætɪk ˌsɪtʃuːˈeɪʃn/ | The circumstances surrounding a dramatic moment, including who is involved, their relationships and the immediate conflict. |
Plot is not "what happens"
- Plot 情节 is the sequence of events in a narrative.
- Events throughout a narrative are connected, each building on the others.
- The connection is often cause and effect — which is why order carries meaning.
Events with no meaningful order are a diary whose pages fell out on the stairs.
Plot is defined as...
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And the events are connected, each building on the others, often causally.
Sequence versus chronology
- Chronology is the order the events happened in.
- Sequence is the order the text puts them in.
- When the two differ, the difference is a choice, and choices are what analysis is about.
When the order of the text differs from chronology, that difference is a choice.
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And choices are what analysis is about.
The dramatic situation
- The dramatic situation 戏剧情境 includes the setting and action of the plot and how the narrative develops to place characters in conflict.
- It often involves the rising or falling fortunes of a main character or set of characters.
- So naming the dramatic situation means naming who is in conflict with what, and which way their fortunes are moving.
Separate the story from the plot
The dramatic situation is what a reader has been given so far, which is not the same as what has happened.
Select all the parts of the dramatic situation.
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It often also involves rising or falling fortunes; the author's intention is outside the text.
Summary is not plot analysis. Retelling the events in order restates the text; describing the plot means naming the connection between events (usually cause and effect), the conflict, and the direction the fortunes are moving.
The dramatic situation often involves the rising or falling ____ of a main character.
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The place where the direction changes is almost always where a question is set.
Fortunes have a direction
- Ask at any point in a story: are this character's fortunes rising or falling?
- The answer is usually clear, and it usually changes at least once.
- The place where it changes is almost always the place a question will be set.
Match each move to what it produces.
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The exam never rewards summary — it rewards the connections.
Describing a plot without retelling it
- Name the conflict. Name the direction of fortunes. Name the connection between two events.
- That is a description of plot; a list of what happened is a summary.
- The exam never rewards summary — it rewards the connections.
Summary: he loses his job, then quarrels with his brother. Plot: the quarrel is possible only because the job is gone — the loss removes the one reason he had to stay civil, and his fortunes fall in both directions at once.
Plot is the sequence of events, connected and often causal — so order carries meaning and differs from chronology by choice. The dramatic situation is setting plus action plus the development that places characters in conflict, often involving rising or falling fortunes.