What are the Six Parts of Plot?

Answer 1

I'm an English teacher, and I HATE questions like this. They turn the reading of literature into mechanical analysis.

Someone says very confidently: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. (Ooops, that's only five. Oh well, five/six . . . just so you get it oversimplified in steps or numbers; that'll satisfy some teacher who's really a frustrated CPA or military sergeant, or stock boy in the grocery store . . . 1, 2, 3, this, that, this that; here's what you have to remember about Hamlet for the test!!!)

Folks, it all depends on the story. Asking what are THE five parts of all stories is like asking what are THE Seven Ages of Man, or the six stages in responding to death, are the steps in sexual seduction or gratification. You can always turn human experience into a numbered list if you want to, but you can't make the same numbered list apply to everybody's experience in the same way. What is bang-bang-thank you ma'am for some people may be ooh, oooh, ah, mmmm, whoa, OOOOH, oh yeah! NOW wow! for somebody else.

So get involved in watching a play like Hamlet, read a story, settle in for a long march when you read a novel like War and Peace. Then afterwards share your response.

Maybe you will want to notice a "point of departure"; that is, when you meet the main character and find out what he/she is likely to be interested in or concerned about.

Maybe you will want to notice how the background of the story is explained; how the situation is set up. Another word for explanation is exposition.

Maybe you will notice a "defining event"' that is, a point in which the mc gets involved in a conflict.

Maybe things will get worse and worse (call that rising action, if you like, though I've never been sure why, when it seems more like falling).

Maybe you will notice that at some point the mc makes a decision from which there is no turning back; call that crisis or climax, if you like.

Maybe things will continue to get worse and worse or maybe better and better or maybe both (OK, why that's falling action, I don't know, but call it that if your master sergeant tells you to).

Finally, things come unraveled (or the knot gets tied). Everything works out or everything falls apart. Call that denouement, if you like to use French words for things.

Then the details get explained, and somebody "lives happily ever after" or Fortinbras comes on the stage to clean up the mess Hamlet and his family have left. Call that the resolution, if it makes you feel better about the ending, or maybe closure.

That's one way to talk about your experience of the play. (Get it? (1) Point of entrance, (2) exposition, (3) defining event, (4) rising action, (5) crisis, (6) falling action, (7) denouement, (8) closure. Oops that's eight parts of plot! Mathemaically incorrect. But, after all, that's one way to slice a pizza--not the only way, but one way.)

The only problem with all this is that it just reduces the experience of literature into a list. Maybe lists help us understand things . . . maybe. But figuring out the six stages of grief doesn't make death any easier. Seeing six steps in sexual gratification or sixteen probably doesn't make it any more satisfying. (Well, come to think of it, sixteen may be considerably better than bang-bang-thank you ma'am.)

The point is that not all stories or plays or novels are the same. Modern novels, especially, may be more like fictional biographies. And like human lives, there may be several crises, not just one; things may get better, then worse, then better, then worse (rising-falling-rising-falling action). The knot may never get tied, or untied, to one's satisfaction. Loose ends are sometimes more interesting than knots anyway.

What makes Hamlet such a great experience after all these years can't be reduced to a list of six, or five, or seven, or whatever. It's those great speeches; it's those exciting events; it's Hamlet's sassy manner; it's the poignancy of Ophelia's final appearance; it's old Claudius trying to pray; it's Hamlet's finding the skull of Yorick and thinking about it (neither rising nor falling action--just quiet reflection); it's Hamlet's deep friendship with Horatio; it's a witty but irresolute young man becoming a responsible thinker before he dies. "There's a divinity that shapes our ends / Rough hew them how we will."

Six Parts of Plot? Forgeddabout it! See the play; read the story. Share your experience with others, and enjoy comparing their experiences with yours.

The seeing/reading is the point of departure. The sharing is the rising/falling action. Agreeing or agreeing to disagree--well, that's a real "denouement."

Enjoy!

Answer 2

6 Parts Of Plot

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What are the Six Parts of Plot?

Answer 4

G.B. Shaw had three-

1. Get the hero up a tree
2. Throw rocks at him
3. Get the hero out of the tree.

Answer 5

exposition raising action climax falling action and conclusion
Your in luck i just got done with my english homework, not sure if they are spelt right though.

Answer 6

Who, What, Why, When, Where and How

Answer 7

beginning, middle and end
anti-climax and climax
I forget them actually.