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order of plot structure. This we have termed the "method of story." In such cases the narrator seeks to secure the highest emotional tension. The element of suspense plays a more important part, in order that the culmination - in this case, the union of climax and catastrophe — may constitute the most important stage in the action. In the dramatic structure the ultimate issue of the dénouement is more or less clearly indicated early in the narrative. The actual details of the catastrophe may not be accurately outlined, but their trend is clear enough. The climax once passed, it does not require any unusual degree of penetration to forecast that Macbeth's ambition will prove fatal, that Eppie will change the course of Silas's life, that Haman will ultimately give way before Mordecai. The method of story, on the other hand, is especially suited to those narratives in which mystery furnishes the motive of.action. Certainly narratives of this order would defeat their very end were the culmination betrayed, or even indicated, midway in the plot. As a consequence, the main concern of the writer is to hold the issue back while he elaborates all the details that may render the culmination inevitable when it finally shall occur. As an example of this we may again cite Maupassant's The Necklace. Every detail of this narrative is so ordered as to insure the dramatic and catastrophic effect of the closing words: "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth five hundred francs at most.' ." Aldrich's Marjorie Daw is a perfect instance of the method of story, closing, as it does, with a wholly unexpected crisis; it dazes the reader with a blow of surprise and him.

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The extent to which this type of structure is a modification of dramatic plot will be apparent from figure 11.

We have the preliminary exposition (a), the exciting force (b), the rise (c), and the climax-catastrophe (d); but of a return through falling ac

tion there is no sign.

a

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FIG. 11

Generally, however, the method of story is less abrupt than in the type exemplified by The Necklace or Marjorie Daw. The climax-catastrophe is often rounded out, as it were, by a brief but well-defined conclusion. Hardy's The Three Strangers is a case in point. The climax is attained as soon as the reader is definitely acquainted with the identity of the three wanderers who successively make their appearance at Shepherd Fennel's house on the night of the storm. But after that point has been reached the author continues his narrative to the extent of telling us:

The bass-voiced man of the chimney-corner was never recaptured. Some said that he went across the sea, others that he did not, but buried himself in the depths of a populous city. At any rate, the gentleman in cinder-gray never did his morning's work at Casterbridge, nor met anywhere at all, for business purposes, the genial comrade with whom he had passed an hour of relaxation in the lonely house on the coomb.

The grass has long been green on the graves of Shepherd Fennel and his frugal wife; the guests who made up the christening party have mainly followed their entertainers to the tomb; the baby in whose honour they all had met is a matron in the sere and yellow leaf. But the arrival of the three strangers at the shepherd's that night, and the details connected therewith, is a story as well known as ever in the country about Higher Crowstairs.1

1 Hardy's Wessex Tales. Published by Harper and Brothers.

The diagram of a story of this character is shown in figure 12: a' representing the antithesis of a, a sort of post-exposition, so to speak.

FIG. 12

Suspense, not only sustained but cumulative, adds greatly to the movement and the effectiveness of plot structure thus ordered. Every episode will increase the complication of the various threads of action, and, while still keeping the culmination in check, will steadily make it increasingly inevitable, so to speak. In prospect the issue will not be conjectured; in retrospect every detail will be recognized as having been a link in one unbroken chain of causation.

The Black Poodle, by F. Anstey, is an admirable example of this type of structure, illustrating the various analogies to the dramatic method as well as the various points of divergence. For purposes of analysis we may consider the action as showing six distinct stages: (1) preliminary exposition; (2) introductory action; (3) episode of exciting force; (4) rising action of complication; (5) climax-catastrophe; and (6) conclusion. The progress of these various stages will be clear from the following tabulation of action.

THE BLACK POODLE

1. PRELIMINARY EXPOSITION.

a. Motive of the story.

b. Setting: Wistaria Villa.

c. Dramatis persona: the Weatherheads.

d. Antecedent action.

2. INTRODUCTORY ACTION.

a. At Shuturgarden.

Introduction of Bingo.

Incipient love for Lilian.

Bingo's hostility.

b. At Wistaria Villa.

Feline amenities.

3. MOMENT OF EXCITING FORCE.

Bingo's death.

4. RISING ACTION OF COMPLICATION.

Complication 1. In the garden at Wistaria Villa.
With the Colonel.

Bingo's burial.

Visions.

Complication 2. At Shuturgarden: one evening later.
Family desolation.

Weatherhead's encouragement.

Lilian's incredulity.

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The course of the story might be diagramatically presented as in figure 13.

4

4

6

2.

FIG. 13

Emphasis

Although emphasis in plot structure has already of necessity been discussed to some extent in connection with coherence and climax, yet there are some considerations that belong peculiarly to emphasis per se, and should receive attention before we dismiss the organization of plot material. It is to be observed at the outset that the whole matter of emphasis in the arrangement of plot elements is in the main nothing more than securing increased vividness. Narrative of fact, except for picturesqueness and effectiveness of characterization, addresses itself primarily to the understanding and is therefore not likely to take liberties in the ordering of facts for the sake of more vigorous appeal. Of course, to some extent, emphatic phrasing contributes to clearness, and to this extent is intellectual in its purpose, but in the great number of cases emphasis is synonymous with emotional tension and its aim is sustained interest. It is in narrative that appeals to the imagina

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