Hi, Franklin kowski here for the next lecture on literary analysis, character, plot and point of view. There's a lot of exciting stuff. In today's lecture, we're going to delve into more deeply into the first three literary elements, character, plot, and point of view. And you want to develop the skill of interpreting these literary elements. So you need to know how to analyze the characters, the plot ahead, the dramatic structure, and the point of view in different literary works. So let's jump to our overview here.

And as I mentioned, we're going to look at analyze first of all character, which are the people who appear in a fictional work, the story or a film. and here we can use term the term characterization to describe The way a writer, screenwriter presents the characters in a work plot this has to do with the with the sequence of major events in the story. And note that it's different from the story. A plot is different from the story, a point of view. This is the the, the angle from which a story is told the narrator's perspective, if you wish. So let's let's look more specifically at character and see what we have here.

So now let's look at the characters or the people who appear in a fictional work and look at some key terms that we can use. So for example, some key terms include protagonist versus antagonist round versus flat characters. Dynamic versus static characters, and stereotypes. So first protagonist versus antagonist Okay, the common thinking is that the protagonist is the hero and that the antagonist is the villain. But that's not always the case. To be more precise, the protagonist is the main character of the of the story.

And the antagonist is the person who he or she is in conflict with. I could also add that the antagonist may not necessarily even be a person. It could, for example, be the force of nature that's in excuse me that's in opposition to the protagonist. In one of a gorilla posters, the black cat, the Catholic two cats are the antagonists in the story. Second, we have round versus flat characters. And this is an interesting distinction.

Excuse me around character is usually complex and multi dimensional. And what do we mean by that? It's a character who changes or evolves as the story as the story progresses, and usually surprises the reader in some way. On the other hand, a flat character is usually just one dimensional or two dimensional at best. There's not much character development in the course of the story. So we can say that the, the round character is also dynamic, because of the of the evolution that takes place in his or her her personality.

In the course of the care of the plot in the course of the dramatic development, a flawed character, by contrast, usually stays static and unchanging. And we often refer to characters as stereotypes. They usually have have group characteristics such as a particular accent style of dress, or sexual orientation. For example, typical stereo typical typical stereo types are the other dumb blonde. I often referred to Marilyn Monroe who was very far from a dumb blonde, the Jewish musician. We all know about that or the Jewish doctor, corrupt politician or rugged cowboy.

These are stereotypes. Here are some interesting questions about character that I've adapted from, from another work. For example, who and what are the protagonists and the antagonist in the story, identify them. What do the protagonists antagonist say and do in the story? This is important what what what is what's the dialogue, for example, in the film, and what are some of the actions they take? Very important?

What are their character traits or personalities and here we can use lots of descriptive adjectives regarding either their physical characteristics, their psychological characteristics, and so on. And what is the importance of the characters in the story, his characterization, the main driving force in a story, it's not always the case, or the characters interesting and believable. This is quite important. Sometimes the characters just don't come across as being very, very interesting. And how do how do the setting and plot influenced the character I often tell learners that you can, you can analyze you can analyze the story in terms of, of two elements, characteristic character development Through the progression of the story, and in which they become, let's say more evolved and more complex. Okay, so let's move on now to the plot or Dramatic Structure in a story and This diagram shows the how useful it is to analyze a story's plot.

It breaks down the story into five major parts. Okay, we have the exposition or or story opening. That usually sets the stage for the story and introduces the the main character or protagonist. And often there is a de stabilizing element in the story that catches the reader's interest right at the start. For example, in Poe, Edgar Allan Poe's the TellTale Heart, the unnamed narrator asks the reader if she If he's insane or not, Why will we say that I mad? Usually there is some form of complication or conflict afterwards that develops that can be either external or internal.

Perhaps some of the characters start to struggle with each other. In the case of POWs, unnamed narrator there's an internal conflict within the the mind of the person himself. Here, I'm assuming assuming the narrator is a male, but there may be. Now I think it's a male. There's probably evidence that's the case even though some of my students say, oh, maybe it's a female. Then the story gets even more complicated as the action rises.

And for example, the unnamed narrator in the tell tale heart secretly observes the the old man on seven consecutive nights leading to an increased tension in the story. This is so important is the aspect of tension. On the eighth night the story reaches the moment of greatest tension. The climax we call it in a moment of frenzy, the unnamed narrator suffocates The old man and cuts him up into pieces. Very gruesome indeed. Written in the 18 late 1840s quite an imagination usually the the falling action leads to the to the ending of the story with some kind of with some kind of resolution.

However, in the tell tale heart, the action falls only momentarily and there's another climactic moment gotta read the story. The den oma or resolution to the story is totally unexpected. I won't give it away. I will give the there's a there's a plot alert here I will give it away. Here is another way to to look at plots according to one expert plot is built of significant events in a given story significant because they, they may have an important consequences. So, so taking a shower isn't necessarily part of plot, and let's call them incidents.

A plot is the things that characters do feel, think or say that make a difference in what comes afterwards. And here are some questions they're going to have adapted from. Another work about plot. Does the exposition or beginning of the story catch the reader's interest that's important is is hooking the reader point that out How it grabs your attention? And what's the main conflict in the story because there may be sub complex. Is there both internal and external conflict in the story?

That's, that's quite important in the TellTale Heart, there's certainly internal conflict going on psychological anguish, all along the story, this tension build in the story, in what way? If so, in what way that that's critical to an interesting story and and what is the climax of the story? The moment of greatest tension is there is the is the Dramatic Structure effective? Sometimes it may not be sometimes it may fall or fail to be effective. And how does the plot differ from the story because, in fact, it does. For example, I often tell my students that, you know, I was born on such a day that I went to this school, and then I got this job and then I wife got married and then I had children.

So that's chronological. But you could tell a story out of chronological sequence. I might begin my story about myself and talking about the day I failed my first big exam. Not why only failed one exam? Does the story have a have a closed ending? Or a an open ending?

That's important to note. And is the plot plausible? Is it is it really does it really make sense? And how important is the plot of the story? Sometimes stories are actually plot driven, and other times they're character driven. So let's have a look at at narrative structure.

The plot the three literate horses let's move on now to the the devices that are worth knowing about, which include flashback foreshadowing subplots and so on their effective use adds interest to the reader for the reader by adding structure to to the narrative or developing a character. So a flashback for example is, is an interruption in the in the narrative that takes the reader back in time. From the present moment in the story. flashbacks or off can be presented in, in chronological order or non chronological order. In order to make the story even more complex and complicated. flashbacks are a favorite technique used in films.

The 210 2010 film Inception that young adults love with DiCaprio is full of flashbacks. And I'm sure you can think of Other examples? What about foreshadowing is another literary device that hints hints at what is to come in the story. And it is not always evident on first reading of the story, or viewing a film. So you might want to review reread the story and re rewatch the film to be able to pick up these hints about important upcoming events in the story. Novels often make the use of subplots or supporting science stories, they often involve secondary characters and add complexity to the story.

So as I've mentioned before, plot and story are different. The plot is made up of an have significant events, as I mentioned, that make a difference to what comes afterwards, but not necessarily in chronological order. On the other hand, a story is made up of chronological events could be made up of chronological events. Okay, let's move on now to point of view, which is very important makes a big difference in a story by looking at who is the narrator and what is his or her perspective in the story, it makes such a difference. In other words, how much does the narrator know? We can talk about these different kinds of, of Narrator In a work.

For example, there's the first person narrator, a narrative refers to a character telling the story for example, in go back to pose love to use that example, to tell to heart, the insane narrator is telling the story. So how calmly I can tell you the whole story. In the second person narration using you, the author takes talks directly to the reader that it's, it's not very much used in fiction writing fiction writing. The third person narrative narration is much more common. And here the author talks about the characters using pronouns like he achieved. In third person narration.

The author can take on different perspectives. That's important to understand we have limited what's called limited omniscient in which we learn the feelings and thoughts of only one character usually omniscient is different in which the author tells us everything. about the story, the feelings and thoughts of all the characters as well as information, the characters don't even know. Dramatic or objective in which we can only learn about what happens and what is said without knowing the feelings and thoughts of the characters. Here are three questions about point of view again adapted from another work. Who is the Narrator In the story, identify the narrator.

Is there only one narrator? Sometimes there are several. And what is the point of view of the work? Is the point of view. Limited, omniscient or omniscient. Does the narrator have an opinion about the characters in the story?

How is the readers engagement in the story affected by the point To view lots of questions, lots to think about in analyzing a story. So as we saw today, let's wrap up. So in this lecture, we studied the first the or identified it and actually talked about the first literary element character. And we looked at, we looked at such literary terms as protagonist versus antagonist around versus flat characters and stereotypes. We then looked at the major parts of the Dramatic Structure of the book beginning with the exposition, and concluding with the resolution or Dinamo and then we also looked at such really important terms of flashback foreshadowing, subplots that are so much fun to analyze and talk about. And finally, we looked at the three kinds of narration of literary work work or film, first person, second person and third person.

So, see you in the next lecture about setting style and theme by now