freytag's pyramid
History In his Poetics, the Greek philosopher Aristotle put forth the idea that "A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end" (1450b27).[1] This three-part view of a plot structure
(with a beginning, middle, and end –
technically, the protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe) prevailed until the Roman drama critic Horace advocated a 5-act structure in his Ars Poetica: "Neue minor neu sit quinto productior actu
fabula" (lines 189-190) ("A play should
not be shorter or longer than five acts") .[2] Renaissance dramatists revived the use of the 5-act structure. In 1863,
around the time that playwrights like Henrik Ibsen were abandoning the 5- act structure and experimenting with 3
and 4-act plays, the German playwright and novelist Gustav Freytag wrote Die Technik des Dramas, a definitive study
of the 5-act dramatic structure, in
which he laid out what has come to be known as Freytag's pyramid.[3] Under Freytag's pyramid, the plot of a story
consists of five parts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement/resolution/revelation/ catastrophe.[4] Freytag's analysis "Freytag's pyramid", symbolizing his theory of dramatic structure According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts,[5] which some refer to as a dramatic arc: exposition, rising action, climax, falling
action, and dénouement. Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic
structure is based on five-act plays, it
can be applied (sometimes in a
modified manner) to short stories and
novels as well, making dramatic
structure a literary element. Nonetheless, the pyramid is not always
easy to use, especially in modern plays
such as Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy", which is actually divided into 25 scenes without concrete acts.
(with a beginning, middle, and end –
technically, the protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe) prevailed until the Roman drama critic Horace advocated a 5-act structure in his Ars Poetica: "Neue minor neu sit quinto productior actu
fabula" (lines 189-190) ("A play should
not be shorter or longer than five acts") .[2] Renaissance dramatists revived the use of the 5-act structure. In 1863,
around the time that playwrights like Henrik Ibsen were abandoning the 5- act structure and experimenting with 3
and 4-act plays, the German playwright and novelist Gustav Freytag wrote Die Technik des Dramas, a definitive study
of the 5-act dramatic structure, in
which he laid out what has come to be known as Freytag's pyramid.[3] Under Freytag's pyramid, the plot of a story
consists of five parts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement/resolution/revelation/ catastrophe.[4] Freytag's analysis "Freytag's pyramid", symbolizing his theory of dramatic structure According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts,[5] which some refer to as a dramatic arc: exposition, rising action, climax, falling
action, and dénouement. Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic
structure is based on five-act plays, it
can be applied (sometimes in a
modified manner) to short stories and
novels as well, making dramatic
structure a literary element. Nonetheless, the pyramid is not always
easy to use, especially in modern plays
such as Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy", which is actually divided into 25 scenes without concrete acts.
