Dramatic+Plot+Structure

 **Dramatic Plot Structure**

As you read through Shakespeare's plays, there are major movements of the plot. Analyzing the **plot structure** can help you to understand the action as purposeful, connected, and oriented to a logical end rather than an accumulation of seemingly random episodes.

**1. __Exposition__:** Introduces characters and setting; provides basic information about relationships between characters and an initial **conflict** between them. In //Macbeth//: Who is King Duncan? What is his relationship with Macbeth? What other integral players do we meet?

**2. __Rising Action__:** Suspense builds! The plot thickens! Characters make decisions in response to the opening conflict; these decisions complicate the action. Opens up the plot, allowing for different possibilities of resolution. In Macbeth: What will Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do now after their "evil deed"? What is Banquo thinking?

**3. __Turning Point__**: Characters or circumstances change (for the worse or the better) due to an action upon which the main plot hinges. The central or focal point of the play, hence the main purpose of the action. In //Macbeth//: What other players are becoming entangled in this mess? What is Macbeth's mind starting to do to him? What is Lady Macbeth becoming?

**4. __Falling Action__:** the unravelling of complications leads to the **resolution of conflict**.

//5.// **__Conclusion__:** in [|comedies] (and [|romances]), celebration of a new order, new identities and a harmonious end to conflict, frequently expressed through **marriage**(s). In [|tragedies] (and [|romances]), the **restoration of moral and social order**. Evil people are dead or no longer in power. In [|tragedy], this restoration of order comes at great cost; in [|romance], seemingly due to divine providence, manifest through improbable supernatural occurences. In //Macbeth//: I wouldnt want to give away the ending!

//(Adapted in part from a handout of unknown authorship shared by a student at Arizona State University)// //Contents of this and all linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1996-2002//