Dramatic Plots

As soon as you ask what a character does in a play, you are asking a question about plot.

The plot of a play can be defined as everything that happens and the reasons for it. You should pay attention to the different parts of dramatic plots, but before they are discussed, a question must be asked:

Is there anything distinctive about dramatic plots ?

The plot must act out, or embody, what the play is about. What makes a play a play is not its ideas, but the fact that these are shown to the audience in the words and actions of the characters. In drama, audiences not only hear about issues, but they see them acted out in front of them Dan then see the consequences.

Drama is the most immediate and intense form of literature. It is immediate because it is performed - it unfolds in front of you, and intense because, in most cases, it is short.  Most dramas only last for 2 -3 hours.  At the beginning of a play, therefore, the playwright must bring the issues of the plot quickly and clearly into focus. A good question to ask about the opening of a play is:

Can I see the plot emerging in the opening words and action ?

A natural question to ask of any play is:

Why has the playwright made one particular scene follow another ?

There are two common reasons for this:

a. the playwright is inviting the audience to see links between the two scenes

b. one scene has raised expectations that the following scene might fulfil

2. Find examples of each of these in Macbeth

If you have to answer a question on a play’s hold over an audience, one of the issues you must discuss is pace.

Pace is the speed of events and the point about it is that it always varies throughout the play. There are two things to think about when considering plot

a. why pace changes - when is it appropriate for things to happen more quickly or slowly ? 

b. the appropriateness of the pace to the action and atmosphere.  For example, a battle scene would need to have a fast pace, whereas a love scene could have a slow pace.

Playwrights hope to hold their audience's attention by arousing their expectations. At any point in a play, it is possible to ask:

What expectations is the action of the play raising ?

That "how will it work out" is important; not only do we want to know what will happen to the characters, we also want to know how the playwright will make it happen.

What do we expect to happen to Macbeth at this stage of the play ?

Most plays raise expectations, but sometimes a playwright works another way - by surprise - which, of course, is the failure to fulfil expectation. It can happen both in the middle and at the end of the play.

A successful climax to a play should do two things:

a. fulfil expectations ( or overturn them by surprise)

b. embody the fulfilment in dramatic action

There are two questions to ask about the close of a play

a. does the close finish off the action ?

b. does the end reflect the beginning ?

Some plays leave no questions to puzzle the audience - it fulfils all its expectations; some plays leave questions remaining

Often playwrights make the end of the play mirror the beginning. They do this for two reasons:

a. to make the audience aware of the form of the art and so find pleasure in the symmetry of beginnings and ends

b. to show the audience how much, or how little, things have changed in the course of the play

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