Tekstanalyse og -historie
Session Two
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Agenda
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Transition from film studies
An Introduction to story, plot, character,
and characterization
Group Work: analysing plot in ”The Law of
Life”
Group presentations and discussions
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Transition from film studies
Cinematographic narratology: Story and plot
Plot in ”The Adventure of the Cardboard
Box:” short story and adaptation
Plot and meaning
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
An Introduction to story and
plot
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Story/
fabula/ the
level of the
told = the
chronological
sequence of
events and
actions
Plot/ sjuzhet/
discourse/ the level of
the telling = the events
and actions as ordered or
designed towards
acheiving particular
artistic and emotional
effects
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
A famous example of plot: Julius Caesar’s message to the
Roman senate describing his recent victory in the Battle of
Zela (47 BC).
Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)
Story = The Battle of Zela
Plot/ sjuzhet/ discourse/ the level of
the telling = Caesar’s telling, rendering,
and ordering of that chronological
sequence of events
The artistic and emotional effects of
Ceasar’s message?
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
The story / plot model
Story
(future)
Plot
(beginning)
I came
Plot
(middle)
I saw
Plot
(end)
I
conquered
Story
(past)
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Four levels of design in plot
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Order: beginning, middle, and end
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Chronology
Anachrony: flashback (analepsis), flash
forward (prolepsis)
Ellipsis: Gaps, omissions, absences
Duration: the time of the telling and the
time of the told
Frequency: the number of times an
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
event is told
Global Studies
”I Spy”: Order
Story
(future)
Plot
(beginning)
”Charlie
Stowe
waited …”
Story
(past)
Plot
(middle)
(flashback,
summary)
Plot
(end)
”Charlie Stowe
had no sense of
safety…”
”He was
twelve years
old…”
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Another way of discussing plot
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Rising action
 Exposition – an initial situation of stasis in the life of the
hero
 Complication – something unsettling happens in the
hero´s life. A conflict between the protagonist and
antagonist develops.
Climax – the high point of the hero´s fortunes
Falling action
 Crisis – the turning point of the hero’s fortunes
 Catastrophe/ denoument – mysteries, conflicts,
misunderstandings are cleared away.
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Plot and ”I Spy”: storyline 1
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Rising action
 Exposition – ?
 Complication – happiness unsetteled at school: the other
boys begin mocking him for not smoking.
Climax – (After descending the stairs in order to steal a
smoke,) Charlie eventually puts a cigarette in his mouth, looks
around for matches
Falling action
 Crisis – but someone suddenly enters the shop
 Catastrophe/ denoument – and after some time Charlie
goes back to his room without having smoked a cigarette.
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Plot and ”I Spy”: storyline 2
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Rising action
 Exposition – Charlie loves his mother, who is always
present, but not his father, who is mostly absent
 Complication – his father suddenly becomes present and
Charlie discovers that his father is ”very like himself”
 Climax – and that he would llike to tell him that he loves
him
Falling action
 Crisis – but Charlie can’t since his father is absent again.
 Catastrophe/ denoument – Charlie is alone in the house
with his mother
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
An Introduction to character and
characterisation
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Character = a
represented person
Protagonist, hero,
heroine, antagonist,
villain, foil
Two aspects of
character: inner and
outer
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Characterisation =
how a person is
represented
Showing (the
dramatic method)
Telling (the intrusive
method)
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Story, Plot, Character,
Characterisation and Theme
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Plot and characterisation are ways of designing a
theme in order to pursuade your readers about
it. What does Greene want to pursuade us
about?
Why does his plot have two storylines? And what
do they have in common?
Failure – is Green suggesting that we’re doomed
to fail in our relations with other people and
ourselves?
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies
Jack London, ”The Law of Life”
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Map out the events according to the story
/ plot model
What’s the point in rendering and ordering
the events and actions in this manner?
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Culture and
Global Studies