ELEMENTS OF PLOT



ELEMENTS OF PLOT/ DRAMA

Students Note: In a story, you have the exposition, complications, climax and resolution (denouement); however in a play/drama you have exposition, rising action, turning point (crisis), falling action and then the climax and resolution (denouement). * The complications in a story are really equal to the rising action in a play.

Protagonist: The main character in fiction or drama (hero in a hero vs. villain story)

Antagonist: This is a character whose values or behavior is in conflict with those of the hero or protagonist of the story (villan in a hero vs. villain story)

Setting: The time and place of a story (time period, location, setting mood, atmosphere, etc.)

Main Idea: What is the main point of the story? (central thought/message; theme)

Conflict: Struggle or clash between opposing characters or opposing forces; the struggle the main character is faced with; what he/she is trying to overcome.

Internal Conflict: This is when the character struggles with his/her own emotions, needs, or desires. It is an inner struggle. (Ex. A decision)

External Conflict: This is when the character struggles with an outside force (another character, society, something in nature, etc. anything other than his/her own inner struggle)

Point of view: The vantage point from which a writer tells a story. There are three different types of point of view

First person point of view: The narrator is telling his/her own story and uses the pronoun, I. We get to know this character well, but we only know what this character knows and tells us. Everything we find out is from this one character.

Third person limited point of view: the narrator plays no part in the story, and he can only tell us about the thoughts or feelings of one character. This narrator allows us to observe the action through the eyes and with the feelings of this one person.

Third person omniscient point of view: This is the all-knowing narrator; the narrator is not in the story at all; the person telling the story knows everything about all of the characters and their problems. This narrator can tell us what each of the characters are thinking, and he can tell us about the past, present, or future, and he can even tell us what is happening in other places; he is like a god telling the story

Foreshadowing: This is when there are clues or hints that give the audience/reader an idea about what will occur later in the plot.

Flashback: Scene in a movie, play, story, or poem that interrupts the present action to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time. For ex: one of the characters may remember something, and we learn about what happened in the past.

Events: Things that take place in the story that lead to the complications, climax, and resolution.

Plot: Series of related events

Exposition (basic situation): This is the beginning of the story when we learn the setting, and the characters and their conflicts are actually introduced

Rising Action (Complications): This is the majority of the plot where the main character faces challenges and/or problems, and he/she takes action to resolve the problems/conflict. All of the events that lead up to the climax.

Turning Point (Plays): This is the moment when the main character(s) make a choice that determines the direction of the action; This is when things begin to change or come to a boiling point. Are things going to be happy or sad because of the decision? This turning point leads to the falling action as well as the climax.

Climax: This is that Big moment towards the end of the plot; it is a moment of great intense or suspense. The climax usually marks the moment when the conflict will be decided one way or the other. This is the moment when everything changes for the major character and the outcome of the conflict is revealed.

Falling Action: This is the action that takes place directly after the turning point. These events lead up to the climax.

Resolution (denouement): This occurs at the very end of the story after the conflict has been resolved. This is when we find out what is going to happen to the characters now that everything is over

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