Adapting Fiction Into Drama
Essay 1, Compare/Contrast Structure,
Aristotle’s Unities
Demystifying “comparison and
contrast”
• Many teachers in the past may have told you that when you are
comparing things, you are only looking at similarities, and when you
are contrasting things, you are only looking at differences.
• So… do you have to deal with BOTH similarities and differences in
your essay?
• ONLY YOU can answer that question. This is YOUR paper. YOU are
the one coming up with the literary analysis. If you ONLY wish to
focus on similarities, go for it. If you want to focus on ONE striking
difference, do that. If you want to have a couple of paragraphs
comparing the works and a couple of paragraphs contrasting them,
that’s fine too.
• The point is, YOU HAVE FREEDOM TO MAKE CHOICES THAT SUIT
THE NEEDS OF YOUR UNIQUE ESSAY. Use it wisely.
The Purpose of a Literary
Compare/Contrast Essay
• When you write a compare/contrast essay about literature,
you have two goals:
• Goal 1: To provide excellent analysis that shows a deep
understanding of each individual work you are writing
about. Your analysis should give your reader insight into
the works of literature that they might not have had just
reading it.
• Goal 2: To look at the works of literature side by side and
make observations that could not have been made if you
were writing about only one work. In other words, when
you compare/contrast the works you choose, you must say
why these similarities and differences you are pointing out
MATTER.
What Not to Do
• Some textbooks and websites that give advice about
compare/contrast essay suggest that you structure your
essay like this:
• Intro
• Paragraph about first work
• Paragraph about second work
• Paragraph comparing first and second works
• Conclusion
• DO NOT DO THIS. Having read many essays for these
prompts, I can say that for 99% of students, this structure
does not help you fulfill the purpose of the essay.
Successful Structures
• A successful compare/contrast essay for these prompts will
constantly be looking at the works of literature together,
moving back and forth between them and using the tools
of literary analysis to point out significant similarities and
differences.
• This means that using a point-by-point compare/contrast
structure is more effective for these prompts.
• Point-by-point structure calls for you to choose several
points of comparison between your works of literature, and
for each body paragraph to discuss multiple works and how
those works deal with the topic of that paragraph.
Example Compare/Contrast Pointby-Point Structure
• Thesis: In introduction. What major point are you going to
make about the relationship between your play and the
original story?
• Body paragraph 1: Setting in play vs. setting in story
• Body paragraph 2: Symbolism in play vs. story
• Body paragraph 3: Foreshadowing in play vs. story
• Conclusion
• Please note that there are LOTS of ways to use this
structure. I chose setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing as
the topics for my body paragraphs, but you might focus on
three (or more) different characters, three different themes,
etc. Choose the points of comparison that work for YOU.
Problems of Adaptation
• Think of a book you have read that has been
adapted as a film.
• Did the film manage to capture the “feel” of the
book? Did you think it did a good job of
presenting the story in a different medium? In
what ways did it succeed? In what ways did it
fail?
• What are some of the challenges you think you
might encounter adapting the short story you
choose into a play?
Aristotle’s Unities (and How to
Break Them)
• Neo-classical playwrights believe that Aristotle
(who they held in high regard) had said that a
play should observe three “unities:”
– Unity of action: They thought a play should have one
main plot and no subplots.
– Unity of time: They thought that the events of a play
should take place in the span of 24 hours, or, even
better, that the action of the play should unfold in
“real time.”
– Unity of place: They thought that the stage should
represent one place, and one place only. (So no scene
changes.)
How to Throw Aristotle’s Unities
out the Window
• Most modern drama does not observe these three
unities. (And neither did Shakespeare.)
• Action can take place in many different settings. A
playwright can indicate to an audience that the setting
has changed by a change in props or lighting, or by
writing dialogue that mentions where the characters
are. Some playwrights who have a large stage to work
with assign different parts of the stage to different
settings.
• The important thing is, if a playwright chooses to
switch from one setting to another, the audience
should not be confused about where the new setting is.
How to Throw Aristotle’s Unities
out the Window
• Many plays do not observe the “Unity of Time,” either.
So, how do playwrights indicate that time has passed?
• If enough time has passed in the story of the play, they
call for the director of the play to cast different actors.
• They include dialogue for their actors that indicates
how much time has passed.
• Subtle changes in lighting, props, costumes, and music
can indicate a passage of time.
• You may assume you have a very generous budget for
putting on your play, but you cannot have your actors
do anything illegal or impossible.
Reading for Changes in Time and
Place
• Any time you see a scene or act change in a
play we read for class, there is a good chance
that the playwright just broke one of the
unities. Be on the lookout for how much time
has passed and whether or not the characters
are in the same place they were before.
Notice how much information the playwright
gives the director/actors about passage of
time and the new setting.