week 50 - Plot & Theme

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

Plot

What are we going to do?

What do you remember?

Warm-up clip: the plot

Explanation of the plot

Task

What literary terms do you remember about plot?

Plot

Plot = what happens in a story and how these events are told

Most stories have the same structure.

We use Freytag's Pyramid to describe the sequence of events:

Freytag's Pyramid

Exposition

> the start of the story

> the protagonist is introduced

> the (main/first) setting is described

> something happens

Rising Action

> events unfold

> things happen

> more problems

> more excitement

Climax

> most exciting

> problems at max

> can't stop reading/ playing/watching

Falling Action

> main problem is solved

> other (minor) problems are resolved

> questions are answered

Denouement

The they-lived-happily-

ever-after-stage

(ideally? perhaps not?)

Task

Write a text about the plot of your favourite film. 

Do not say what the film is. 

Don not use the names of characters or places.

You write two sentences for each literary term of Freytag's pyramid.

Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.

Example

Exposition: The family is preparing for a Christmas vacation in Paris. The son wishes everyone would disappear. 

Rising Action: He is mistakenly left behind when the family leaves for the airport. He discovers two burglars planning to rob his house on Christmas Eve.

Climax: He sets up booby traps to thwart the burglars' attempts to break in. The tension escalates as the burglars repeatedly fall victim to his's inventive traps.

Falling Action: The boy befriends his neighbor and learns about the importance of family. The police become aware of the burglars, and the boy's family  tries to return home.

Resolution: The burglars are apprehended by the police after enduring the boy's traps.

The family realizes the importance of being together, and the boy's relationship with his family improves.