What is plot in literature

Writing Writing. More Cancel. Other Media Types Article. Related Content. Plot point - An event or scene in your story. Narrative arc - The order of plot points in your story. The 5 Elements of Plot 1. Rising Action The rising action normally begins with an inciting incident, or a moment that sets your story into action. Climax The climax is the peak of tension, plot, and character in your story.

Rising Action : Harry finally finds out about his past and magical abilities, then goes to school at Hogwarts. He fights a troll with Ron to save Hermione, which turns out to be a distraction set up by Professor Quirrell.

Harry is recruited to the Quidditch team, where during a match he is jinxed to fall off his broomstick. While serving detention, Harry finds out about Voldemort after Harry is nearly killed. Resolution : Harry and his friends win House points for saving the school, causing Gryffindor to win the House Cup.

Jane and Rochester marry, and live a quiet and happy life together. Jane begins the story with nothing, seems poised to achieve true happiness before losing everything, but ultimately has a happy ending.

Siddhartha , by Herman Hesse, follows the structure of the "quest" plot. The novel's protagonist, Siddartha, leaves his hometown in search of spiritual enlightenment, accompanied by his friend, Govinda. On their journey, they join a band of holy men who seek enlightenment through self-denial, and later, they study with a group of Bhuddists. Disillusioned with religion, Siddartha leaves Govinda and the Bhuddists behind and takes up a hedonistic lifestyle with the beautiful Kamala.

Still unsatisfied with his life, he considers suicide in a river, but instead decides to apprentice himself to the man who runs the ferry boat. By studying the river, Siddhartha eventually obtains enlightenment. The plot follows the hero, Janie, as she seeks love and happiness. The novel begins and ends in Eatonville, Florida, where Janie was brought up by her grandmother.

Janie has three romantic relationships, each better than the last. She marries a man named Logan Killicks on her grandmother's advice, but she finds the marriage stifling and she soon leaves him. Janie's second, more stable marriage to the prosperous Joe Starks lasts 20 years, but Janie does not feel truly loved by him.

After Joe dies, she marries Tea Cake, a farm worker who loves, respects, and cherishes her. They move to the Everglades and live there happily for just over a year, when Tea Cake dies of rabies after getting bitten by a dog during a hurricane. Janie mourns Tea Cake's death, but returns to Eatonville with a sense of peace: she has known true love, and she will always carry her memories of Tea Cake with her.

Her journey and her return home have made her stronger and wiser. Plot Definition. Plot Examples. Plot Function. Plot Resources. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.

Sign Up. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this entire guide PDF. Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Editions can help. Plot Definition What is plot? Some additional key details about plot: The plot of a story explains not just what happens, but how and why the major events of the story take place. Plot is a key element of novels, plays, most works of nonfiction, and many though not all poems.

Since ancient times, writers have worked to create theories that can help categorize different types of plot structures. Plot Pronounciation Here's how to pronounce plot: plaht The Difference Between Plot and Story Perhaps the best way to say what a plot is would be to compare it to a story.

The Structure of a Plot For nearly as long as there have been narratives with plots, there have been people who have tried to analyze and describe the structure of plots.

Exposition is the first section of the plot. During the exposition, the audience is introduced to key background information, including characters and their relationships to one another, the setting or time and place of events, and any other relevant ideas, details, or historical context.

In a five-act play, the exposition typically occurs in the first act. The rising action begins with the "inciting incident" or "complication"—an event that creates a problem or conflict for the characters, setting in motion a series of increasingly significant events. Some critics describe the rising action as the most important part of the plot because the climax and outcome of the story would not take place if the events of the rising action did not occur.

In a five-act play, the rising action usually takes place over the course of act two and perhaps part of act three. The climax of a plot is the story's central turning point, which the exposition and the rising action have all been leading up to.

The climax is the moment with the greatest tension or conflict. Though the climax is also sometimes called the crisis , it is not necessarily a negative event.

In a tragedy , the climax will result in an unhappy ending; but in a comedy , the climax usually makes it clear that the story will have a happy ending. In a five-act play, the climax usually takes place at the end of the third act.

Whereas the rising action is the series of events leading up to the climax, the falling action is the series of events that follow the climax, ending with the resolution, an event that indicates that the story is reaching its end.

In a five-act play, the falling action usually takes place over the course of the fourth act, ending with the resolution. Like Freytag's pyramid, Booker's meta-plot has five stages: The anticipation stage , in which the hero prepares to embark on adventure; The dream stage , in which the hero overcomes a series of minor challenges and gains a sense of confidence and invincibility; The frustration stage , in which the hero confronts the villain of the story; The nightmare stage , in which the hero fears they will be unable to overcome their enemy; The resolution , in which the hero finally triumphs.

Types of Plot In addition to analyzing the general structure of plots, many scholars and critics have attempted to describe the different types of plot that serve as the basis of most narratives. Booker's Seven Basic Plots Within the overarching structure of Booker's "meta-plot" as described above , Booker argues that plot types can be further subdivided into the following seven categories.

Here's a closer look at each of the seven types: Comedy: In a comedy , characters face a series of increasingly absurd challenges, conflicts, and misunderstandings, culminating in a moment of revelation, when the confusion of the early part of the plot is resolved and the story ends happily.

In romantic comedies, the early conflicts in the plot act as obstacles to a happy romantic relationship, but the conflicts are resolved and the plot ends with an orderly conclusion and often a wedding. When the tragic hero becomes aware of his mistake this realization is called anagnorisis , his happy life is destroyed. This reversal of fate known as peripeteia leads to the plot's tragic ending and, frequently, the hero's death. Booker's tragic plot is based on Aristotle's theory of tragedy, which in turn was based on patterns in classical drama and epic poetry.

Antigone , Hamlet , and The Great Gatsby are all examples of tragedies. Through an act of love, another character helps the imprisoned character overcome the dark force, enchantment, or character flaw. Many stories of rebirth allude to Jesus Christ or other religious figures who sacrificed themselves for others and were resurrected. Overcoming the Monster: The hero sets out to fight an evil force and thereby protect their loved ones or their society.

The "monster" could be literal or metaphorical: in ancient Greek mythology, Perseus battles the monster Medusa, but in the television show Good Girls Revolt , a group of women files a lawsuit in order to fight discriminatory policies in their workplace.

Both examples follow the "Overcoming the Monster" plot, as does the epic poem Beowulf. Rags-to-Riches : In a rags-to-riches plot, a disadvantaged person comes very close to gaining success and wealth, but then appears to lose everything, before they finally achieve the happy life they have always deserved.

Cinderella and Oliver Twist are classic rags-to-riches stories; movies with rags-to-riches plots include Slumdog Millionaire and Joy. The Quest: In a quest story, a hero sets out to accomplish a specific task, aided by a group of friends. Often, though not always, the hero is looking for an object endowed with supernatural powers.

Along the way, the hero and their friends face challenges together, but the hero must complete the final stage of the quest alone. The Celtic myth of "The Fisher-King and the Holy Grail" is one of the oldest quest stories; Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a satire that follows the same plot structure; while Heart of Darkness plays with the model of a quest but has the quest end not with the discovery of a treasure or enlightenment but rather with emptiness and disillusionment.

Voyage and Return: The hero goes on a literal journey to an unfamiliar place where they overcome a series of challenges, then return home with wisdom and experience that help them live a happier life. The Hero's Journey The Hero's Journey is an attempt to describe a narrative archetype , or a common plot type that has specific details and structure also known as a monomyth. Below, we'll take a closer look at the 12 stages that Vogler outlines in his analysis of this plot type: The Ordinary World: When the story begins, the hero is a seemingly ordinary person living an ordinary life.

This section of the story often includes expository details about the story's setting and the hero's background and personality. The Call to Adventure: Soon, the hero's ordinary life is interrupted when someone or something gives them an opportunity to go on a quest. Often, the hero is asked to find something or someone, or to defeat a powerful enemy.

The call to adventure sometimes, but not always, involves a supernatural event. The Refusal of the Call: Some heroes are initially reluctant to embark on their journey and instead attempt to continue living their ordinary life. When this refusal takes place, it is followed by another event that prompts the hero to accept the call to adventure Luke's aunt and uncle getting killed in Star Wars. Meeting the Mentor: The hero meets a mentor: a wiser, more experienced person who gives them advice and guidance.

The mentor trains and protects the hero until the hero is ready to embark on the next phase of the journey. Crossing the Threshold: The hero "crosses the threshold" when they have left the familiar, ordinary world behind. Many people use outlines which to create complex plots, or arguments in formal essays.

In a story, an outline is a list of the scenes in the plot with brief descriptions. Like the skeleton is to the body, an outline is the framework upon which the rest of the story is built when it is written. In essays, outlines are used to help organize ideas into strong arguments and paragraphs that connect to each other in sensible ways. The climax is considered the most important element of the plot. It contains the highest point of tension, drama, and change. The climax is when the conflict is finally faced and overcome.

Without a climax, a plot does not exist. The good army is about to face the evil army in a terrible battle. During this battle, the good army prevails and wins the war at last. After the war has ended, the two sides make piece and begin rebuilding the countryside which was ruined by the years-long war. The climax occurred when the good army defeated the bad army. Without this climax, the story would simply be a never-ending war between a good army and bad army, with no happy or sad ending in sight.

Here, the climax is absolutely necessary for a meaningful story with a clear ending. List of Terms Action. Ad Hominem. Alter Ego. APA Citation. Comic Relief. Deus ex machina. Double Entendre. Dramatic irony. Extended Metaphor. Fairy Tale. Figures of Speech. Literary Device. Pathetic Fallacy.

Plot Twist. Point of View. Red Herring. Rhetorical Device.