Discussion: Setting the Stage--Reviewing the Basics
Plot Structure: Review
plot:
The events or actions in a story. Works of poetry, fiction, and drama
can all have a plot, and the plot structure can take many forms.
1. exposition:
Term used in Freytag's Pyramid to describe events at the beginning of a story. The exposition is the starting point of a narrative and can be thought of as the status quo, before the complications of the plot begin.
2. inciting incident
Term used in Fretag's Pyramid for the event--sometimes described as a destabilizing event--that alters the status quo presented in the exposition and initiates the rising action of the plot.
3. rising action
Term used in Freytag's Pyramid to describe the plot complications that drive the narrative toward the climax. Often, much of the narrative energy is involved in developing the rising action.
4. climax
Term for the turning point in a narrative. After the climax has occurred, the characters in the story can never return to the status quo, or the state of affairs before the narrative complications took place. Narratives can have more than one climax, depending upon the complexity of the structure.
5. falling action
Term used in Freytag's Pyramid to describe events after the climax has taken place that drive the narrative toward the resolution.
6. resolution or conclusion
Term that describes the final state of affairs in a narrative--a new stable state; the resolution is the end to the story. Some narratives resist a resolution and remain open ended.
subplot:
a plot that is intertwined with the main plot but receives less time and attention. Usually a subplot is related in some way to the main plot--for example,
it might provide a parallel, contrast, or commentary. A subplot may have some or all of the plot elements described above.
flashback:
a scene that interrupts the present action of a narrative to depict some earlier event that occurred before the story's opening.
foreshadowing:
use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in the narrative.
digression:
introduction of a different topic that interrupts the flow of a narrative; typically the narrative is rejoined after a digression.
frame narrative:
A literary technique where one narrative is nested within another. The frame narrative is often provides the occasion for telling the nested narrative
and is frequently connected thematically to the inner story.
turn:
moment in a narrative where the meaning changes significantly. The term "turn" can be used in texts that do not have a fully-formed plot but do have
a narrative element.
Formal Features of Drama
drama or dramatic work
Genre of literature characterized by the interchange of direct speech by one, and more commonly, two or more characters. A drama is meant to be acted rather than merely read.
act:
largest unit of meaning in a drama or dramatic work, usually made up of one or more scenes . There are several typical types of organizations involving acts:
the one act play is akin to a short story; all the development and action takes place in the short space of a single act. Three act plays and five act plays are typical
for longer works. Though it is conventional to divide plays this way, it is not mandatory to have an act structure.
scene:
the smallest unit of meaning in a dramatic work, typically bounded by the entrance of characters at the beginning and their exit at the end. Usually, one or more scenes make up an act.
cast of characters:
List at the beginning of a drama that names the characters and gives a brief description of their relationships to each other or their function in the work.
dialogue:
the direct speech of different characters in a dramatic work.
stage directions:
text in the written form of a drama that indicates to the director, actors, and reader additional information about various aspects of the scene.
Stage directions may provide instructions about setting (physical location, time of day, etc) as well as provide instructions for actors about how
specific lines should be said. Stage directions are usually indicated with square brackets and italic text.
Setting
setting:
The time and place where the plot of the story takes place. Setting includes all important elements of context, including social environment.
physical location:
can refer to the overall location of a narrative (such as "Italy"), but also specific details of locations where plot actions take place
(such as "dark, ancient, catacombs"). There may be many physical locations in a single narrative.
temporal setting:
the time when a narrative is set. The temporal setting may be in the past,
present, or future. Past and present settings may be historical or fictional/imaginary. Consider
also time representations within the text when analyzing temporal settings--time of day,
duration of the story or events within the story, etc.
Character
character
Person represented in a narrative who is interpreted by the reader (or meant to be interpreted by the reader) as having moral, physical, emotional, and other human qualities. The character takes part in the plot action.
flat character:
This term was first introduced by writer E.M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel, and it refers to a character
who can be simply described and who does not undergo change throughout the narrative. Contrary to popular belief, the term "flat" is not a negative or derogatory description.
round character:
This term was first introduced by writer E.M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel, and it refers
to a character who is complex. As Forster described it: "The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way."
protagonist:
a main character in a narrative; the story may center around this character or be told from the point of view of
this character. There may be more than one protagonist in a work. Usually, the protagonist is a dynamic character, a character who
changes throughout the story, but this is not always true.
antagonist:
a character in a narrative who opposes the aims or goals of the protagonist or creates obstacles
to the accomplishment of the plot. An antagonist is sometimes a foil of the protagonist.
minor character:
a character in a text who has a support role. Often minor characters can be described through their relationships to protagonist characters.
epiphany:
a sudden moment of self-realization. Characters who experience an epiphany are round characters.
Hamlet was most likely composed some time between 1599-1601; it is not mentioned in play lists of 1598, but
does appeare in the Staioners' Register in 1602 (Bevington 1064). This play has one of the most complext publication histories
of any of Shakespeare's texts. A Quarto version of this play was first published in 1603. This version has been dubbed by
scholars the "bad quarto" because of the many discrepancies between this publication and later published versions (Mowat and Werstine xlvii).
It is likely that this version was based on the script of a single actor--possibly a small-part actor who was not part of the
regular troupe. A player of this sort would have had only a partial script with his lines and cue lines, so much of the remainder of the
play would have been filled in from memory. In the case of Hamlet, the 1603 bad quarto is only half as long as
subsequent printings of the play. In 1604, another quarto, often considered the "good quarto" was published. Many editors
rely on this edition as the earliest reliable source of the text of the play (Mowat and Werstine xlviii). The third printing of Hamlet
was the First Folio edition. While this edition has about 85 lines not found in the Second Quarto of 1604, it is also mising about 200 lines
from that edition. Most modern editors use a combinationof the 1604 Quarto and the First Folio as the source for their text, but
inevitably choices between mutually exclusive options must be made, making every modern edition of Hamlet slightly different.
Shakespeare's Sources
Sources
Hamlet is in essence a revenge tragedy--a subset of the tragic genre that features a central character
enacting revenge for some great wrong committed in early acts of the play or before the play action began (as in this case). The
Historia Danica of Saxo Grammaticus dating from 1180-1208 chronicles the story of the historical prince Hamlet, and
could have been a source for the main action of the play (Bevington 1064). In this telling, Hamlet "returns to Denmark,
sets fire to his uncle's hall, slays its courtly inhabitants, and claims his rightful throne from a grateful people" (1064). In
other words, Hamlet is the conquering figure at the end of the story (1064). Shakespeare likely also borrowed content from Thomas
Kyd's Spanish Tragedy (1587) and a lost Hamlet play that was performed around 1587. While the specific
content of the earlier Hamlet is unknown, Spanish Tragedy remains one of the most emblematic
revenge tragedies of Renaissance English Drama. Kyd's tragedy is "a triumph for the pagan spirit of revenge" (1064). This, and
the historical Hamlet of Grammaticus, both seem a far cry from the introspective, moody character that Shakespeare presents.
Important Themes
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most iconic plays. Even those who have not read the play could probably name some
of its key themes--revenge, betrayal, madness. But perhaps Hamlet is such a transcendent work because of the
bigger questions it addresses: if there are "more things than are dreamt of" in our philosophy, what are they? Even more
pressing, when we are confronted with information, can we rely on it? How do we evaluate its truth in a situation where
the source can never truly be known? This focus on reliable sourcing is just one example of how this play continues
to be relevant in ways that we may not expect.
Naturally other "universal" questions and tropes will continue to be interpreted by each generation that encounters them.
Hamlet contemplates the line between natural and beyond; weighs the costs and benefits of remaining in a life
that is painful; plays with the line between love and madness; and pushes to the extreme the demands of duty. The
characters in this play wrestle with this fraught emotional landscape using some of the most inventive and beautiful utterances
in English, and perhaps that is why this play continues to endure.
Works Consulted
Bevington, David. The Complete Works of Shakespeare, 4th ed. New York: Longman, 1997. Pp. 1060-64.
Mowat, Barbara A. and Paul Werstine. "An Introduction to this Text." Hamlet. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992. Pp. xlvii-lii.
