Booker’s Seven Basic Plots

Booker’s Seven Basic Plots McBain’s ENG1DI

The basic premise to the basic plots: • Professor Christopher Booker argues that all storytelling is woven around seven basic plots. • We are psychologically programmed to tell stories to meet our most basic physiological needs.

The plots are: • The Quest • Overcoming the Monster • Rags to Riches • Voyage and Return • Comedy • Tragedy • Rebirth COMBINED = THE UNIVERSAL STORYLINE

#1: The Quest

The Quest • The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings • Arthurian/Grail legends • Homer’s Odyssey • Indiana Jones movies

Essence of the plot • Far away, there is a priceless goal, worth any effort to achieve: a treasure, a promised land, 30 sliders from White Castle, something of infinite value. • The hero sets out on a hazardous journey to attain the goal and overcomes any number of perilous hindrances in order to achieve the objective.

The Quest: the call • The quest usually begins on a note of urgency: it is no longer possible for the hero to stay “at home” or stationary. Something has gone disastrously wrong, or a faraway threat looms.

The Quest: the hero’s companions • A distinctive mark of the Quest is that the hero is not alone in his adventures. • The companions can be large in number like Odysseus’ group, or smaller and more necessary like “The Hobbit”; or • An alter-ego of the hero whose most oustanding feature is his faithfulness (Samwise in The Lord of the Rings); or • An alter-ego who serves as a foil (Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, King Lear and the fool)

The Quest: the journey • The constriction-and-release rhythm emerges here as the hero and his companions undergo terrifying ordeals, then experience periods of respite from helpers along the way. • Often the terrain itself presents a problem to the company: waste lands, labyrinths, forests, mountains, etc. (Mirkwood anyone?)

The Quest: four obstacles • Monsters: Polyphemus (Odyssey), harpies (Aeneid), Shelob (The Lord of the Rings), Black Knights (Arthurian legend). Threatens the hero through confrontation. • Temptations: the Odyssey is chock-full of tempters, from Circe to the Sirens to the Lotus Eaters. Threatens the hero through seduction and guile.

The Quest: four obstacles • Temptations pt.2: if the tempter is subdued, he/she often becomes a helper for the hero. (Circe in the Odyssey) • Deadly Opposites: the hero must travel an exact path between two great opposing dangers (Scylla and Charibdys). Lotsa room for allegory here.

The Quest: four obstacles • The journey to the underworld: sometimes just feels like Hell • more often a chance for the hero to contemplate his future, life and death, actions and consequences, etc. • The hero can consult with others long dead for guidance on his quest.

The Quest: helpers • “The old man” and “young woman” are two benevolent figures that feature prominently in Quest tales • Also “noble helpers” who are like guideposts along the way

The Quest: final ordeals • The journey in a Quest only makes up half of the story; when the goal is finally within sight, the hero must face a final ordeal or series of ordeals, often a MONSTER • It is this final struggle which is necessary for the hero to lay hold of his prize and secure it.

The Quest: plot outline • The Call: life in some “City of Destruction” has become oppressive and intolerable, and the hero recognizes that the only way to rectify the situation is to take a long and perilous journey to achieve some related goal. • The Journey: a constriction-release series of ordeals, during which the hero (a) grows through experience, and (b) receives a special talisman

The Quest: plot outline • Arrival and frustration: the hero arrives within sight of his goal, but a singular or series of terrifying obstacles looms before him. • The final ordeal: time to kick butt! • The goal: after a last “thrilling escape from death”, the life-renewing goal is achieved.

#2: Overcoming the Monster

Overcoming the Monster • Epic of Gilgamesh • James Bond novels and films • Many tales in Greek mythology (Perseus, Theseus) • Dragon slayer stories • Gothic novels: Frankenstein, Dracula

Overcoming the Monster • Essence of the plot: • A community falls under the shadow of an evil power (more on this later). • The monster threatens destruction, often has in its possession a great prize -- treasure or a “Princess” • The hero, often armed with a magic weapon, must confront the monster, usually near its lair. • Hero makes a thrilling escape from death, slays the monster, inherits the prize and the kingdom.

Overcoming the Monster: the nature of the beast • Alarming in appearance or behavior • Horrible, terrible, grim, misshapen, hate-filled, ruthless, menacing, terrifying

Overcoming the Monster: the nature of the beast • Mortally dangerous • Deadly, bloodthirsty, ravening, murderous, venomous, poisonous

Overcoming the Monster: the nature of the beast • A deceitful and tricky opponent • Cunning, treacherous, vicious, twisted, slippery, depraved, vile

Overcoming the Monster: the nature of the beast • Mysterious, hard to define • Strange, shapeless, sinister, weird, nightmarish, ghastly, hellish, fiendish, demonic, dark

Overcoming the Monster: the nature of the beast • “In other words, in its oddly elusive way, we see this ‘night creature’, whether it is a giant or a witch, a dragon or a devil, a ghost or a Martian, representing…everything which seems most inimical, threatening, and dangerous in human nature, when this is turned against ourselves.”

Overcoming the Monster: the nature of the beast • No matter how different from ourselves the monster may superficially seem, he will always possess some qualities that are at least partly human. • However, the monster can never be an ideal, perfect, whole human being.

Overcoming the Monster: three roles • Predator: the monster in its “active” role. It wanders menacingly through the world, spreading a shadow of fear and destruction. • Holdfast: “passive” role. Sits in or near its lair, guarding its prize. • Avenger: when its guardianship is challenged, it lashes out viciously, leaving its lair to exact revenge.

Overcoming the Monster: three roles • Note how humanlike the monster’s behavior is in all three roles. The three roles are essentially categories of human behavior when we act on self-seeking impulse. • “Above all, and it is the supreme characteristic of every monster who has ever been portrayed in a story, he or she is egocentric.”

Overcoming the Monster: its downfall • The hero is the polar opposite of the monster: acting selflessly and for some higher cause. • The monster is always limited in its egocentric “tunnel vision” and has a blind spot that the hero can exploit. • A fatal flaw in the monster’s awareness finally brings it down.

Overcoming the Monster: plot outline • The Call: The monster is introduced as a threat to a community, country, kingdom, or mankind in general. The hero is called to confront it. • Dream Stage: The hero makes preparations for battle; he and the monster are brought closer together. Things are going reasonably well, and there is a comfortable remoteness from danger.

Overcoming the Monster: plot outline • Frustration Stage: Hero comes face to face with the monster in all its awesome power. The hero seems inferior by comparison and may even fall into the monster’s clutches. • Nightmare Stage: final ordeal begins, a nightmare battle in which the odds seem stacked against the hero. But, just when all seems lost…

Overcoming the Monster: plot outline • Thrilling Escape from Death/ Death of the Monster: in a miraculous reversal, the hero gains the upper hand and delivers a final fatal blow to the monster. Its dark power is overthrown. The community under its shadow is liberated. The hero wins his prize, his princess, and/or his kingdom.

Overcoming the Monster: constriction and release • The plot establishes a sort of internal rhythm of constriction and release. • Constriction = obstacle arises, tension from conflicts • Release = conflict finished, obstacle overcome

#3: Rags to Riches

Rags to Riches • Legend of King Arthur • Cinderella • The Ugly Duckling • Aladdin This plot is one of the earliest we come to know as children.

Rags to Riches • This plot is rooted in folk tales from around the world and is regarded as one of the most basic stories in the world.

Rags to Riches: the hero or heroine • We are introduced to the central figure in childhood, or at least before full maturity. We know immediately that the story is about the process of growing up. • The hero or heroine is usually inferior: an orphan, or the youngest child and disregarded by family and peers. • They languish in the shadows of a dominant, antagonistic “dark” figure.

Rags to Riches: the dark figures • Adult figures: wicked stepmothers, domineering aunts or uncles, etc. This figure usually replaces the parent. • Young figures: wicked stepsisters, fratricidal brothers, scornful ducklings. This figure acts as a rival to the hero or heroine. • The dark figures are often a combination of characteristics we see from Overcoming the Monster.

Rags to Riches: the central crisis • Early on the story, the inferior hero experiences some success and is elevated from his original lowly status. • However, these changes in fortune are superficial, and soon the hero encounters a CENTRAL CRISIS in which all seems lost. (Ex: Jane Eyre’s failed attempt at marriage, and her subsequent desperate wandering around the moors.)

Rags to Riches: the central crisis • It is this central crisis that highlights some aspect of the hero or heroine’s immaturity. He or she must grow from this central crisis in order to attain the true, complete happy ending.

Rags to Riches: plot outline • Initial wretchedness at home & “the call”: we are introduced to the hero in his lowly and unhappy state. The dark figures are the source of his misery. This phase ends when something happens to call them out into a wider world. • Out into the world, initial success: early efforts are rewarded, and the hero may have some glimpse of the greater glory he will someday achieve.

Rags to Riches: plot outline • The central crisis: reduced to a new powerlessness, this is the worst part of the story for the hero or heroine. • Independence and the final ordeal: the hero is discovering in himself a new independent strength. The hero is put to a final test, in which a dark rival may stand between the hero and ultimate fulfillment.

Rags to Riches: plot outline • Final union, completion and fulfillment: the reward is usually a state of complete, loving union with the “Prince” or “Princess”. They may also succeed to some kind of kingdom. The implied ending is that “they lived happily ever after”.

#4: Voyage and Return

Voyage and Return • Goldilocks and the Three Bears • Alice in Wonderland • The Time Machine • Robinson Crusoe • Prodigal Son parable from the Bible • Gone with the Wind

Voyage and Return: essence of the plot • The hero or heroine travels or has travelled out of their familiar, everyday “normal” surroundings into another world completely cut off from the first, where everything seems abnormal. The early experience might feel exhilarating, but eventually a shadow intrudes. By a “thrilling escape” the hero is returned to his normal world.

Voyage and Return • While this plot is as old as storytelling itself, it became much more fashionable in Western literature after the Renaissance, when voyagers were traveling to every corner of the globe. • These stories generally fall into two types: a) the hero is marooned on a deserted island, or b) the hero visits a land of some strange people or civilization

Voyage and Return: variations • As fewer areas of the world were left to be explored, more authors sent their heroes into different parts of time or space, so you have deserted planets instead of islands • A “social” voyage and return features a hero who finds himself in a different group of people with whom he would not normally associate

#5: Comedy (Pride and Prejudice)

Comedy: a history • “Comedy”: a banquet, a jovial festivity, a festal procession • Speculated to have begun in the villages of ancient Greece • Many of the conventions of the comedy plot have scarcely changed in 2,000 years

Comedy: a history • “Old Comedy” • The plays of Aristophanes, performed between 425 and 388 BC • At heart of his comedies lay an agon, or conflict, b/w two characters or two groups of characters • One side is life-giving, the other side life-denying (freedom vs. oppression) • The losing side (always the meanies) is suddenly forced to recognize something so important about themselves that it changes their ways and leads to reconciliation. (Anagnorisis)

Booker’s Seven Basic Plots