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Freytag S Story Structure

Freytag's Pyramid describes a 5-act dramatic structure: 1) Exposition establishes characters, conflict and setting. 2) Rising action complicates the conflict. 3) Climax is the turning point where fortunes change for better or worse. 4) Falling action resolves the conflict with the protagonist winning or losing. 5) Dénouement/Resolution concludes with the protagonist better or worse off than the beginning. This structure can be applied to analyze stories and plays.

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120 views2 pages

Freytag S Story Structure

Freytag's Pyramid describes a 5-act dramatic structure: 1) Exposition establishes characters, conflict and setting. 2) Rising action complicates the conflict. 3) Climax is the turning point where fortunes change for better or worse. 4) Falling action resolves the conflict with the protagonist winning or losing. 5) Dénouement/Resolution concludes with the protagonist better or worse off than the beginning. This structure can be applied to analyze stories and plays.

Uploaded by

Shadow Girl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Freytag's Pyramid.

According to Freytag, a drama is divided


into five parts, or acts, which some refer to
as a dramatic arc:

Exposition
The exposition provides the background information needed to properly
understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict,
and the setting.
The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which
there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in
motion beginning with the second act, the rising action.

Rising Action
During rising action, the basic internal conflict is complicated by the introduction
of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the
protagonist's attempt to reach his goal. Secondary conflicts can include
adversaries of lesser importance than the story’s antagonist, who may work with
the antagonist or separately, by and for themselves or actions unknown.

Climax
The third act is that of the climax, or turning point, which marks a change, for the
better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things
will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak,
will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy,
the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for
the protagonist.

Falling Action
During the falling action, or resolution, which is the moment of reversal after the
climax, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the
protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist. The falling action might

contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict
is in doubt.

Dénouement (or Resolution)


The comedy ends with a dénouement (a conclusion) in which the protagonist is
better off than at the story's outset. The tragedy ends with a catastrophe in
which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative.

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.

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