【正文】 e of tr agedy? Tragedy as a whol e has just si x const ituent elements… and they are plot , characters, verbal expresion, t hought , vi sual adornment , and song—posit ion. For t he element s by which they i mitate are t wo (ver bal expres ion and song—posit ion) , the manner in which they i mit at e is one (vi sual adornment ), the things t hey imi tate are three (plot , characters , t hought) , and ther e is not hi ng more beyond these. 2. What i s Pl ot under t he pens of moder n novelists and storytel er s? And how t o under st and ―Pl ot ‖ in a st or y? ( ―‖ ppt : ? The queen died, no one knew why, unt il it was discover ed t hat it was thr ough gr ief at the deat h of the ki ng.‘… P. 6 I t suspends the timesequence, it moves as f ar away f rom t he story as its l imit at ions wi l al low.) The story and t he char acter alone can not make a novel ye. To make a novel, a pl ot is prerequi si te. A l ook at he example suggested by E. M. Forster wil hel p to distingui sh betwen the story and t he plot. ―The king di ed and then t he queen di ed ‖ is not a plot, but ast or y. If we make i t ―The king died and then the queen died of gri ef ,‘ we have a plot. This causal phrase ―of gri ef ‖ indicates our interpr et ati on and thus ar angement of the happenings. I n the wor ld of r eali ty events take pl ace one af ter another in t he natural t emporal or der, but in t he worl d of f iction it is t he noveli st‘ s desi gn t hat one par ti cular event occur after another par ti cular event. The very word ―plot‖ impli es t he novelist‘ s rebel ion agai nst the natural law and his endeavor t o make meanings out of the happenings t hat may otherwise be meani ngles. ―The happeni ngs‖ may or may not be real happeni ngs. (So what plot is ) A pl ot is a par ti cular ar rangement of happenings i n a novel that i s ai med at reveal ing thei r causal r el at ionships or at conveying the novelist‘ s i deas. A plot i s somet imes cal l ed a story l ine. The m ost i mpor tant of t he t radi ti onal plot is that i t should be a plete or unifi ed action, t hat is, something wit h a beginni ng, a middl e, and an end. 3. The dramatic situation in a story. 4. The t hr e parts of a pl ot : a begi nning ( exposit on) , a mi ddle ( suspense or a ser ies of suspense … . foreshadowing… cri si –a moment of high tension), and an end(a cl imax, t he moment of greatest tension… the concl usion—fal ing acti on, resoluti on or denouement) . Pl ot a beginning a mi ddle an end exposit on some other events cl imax (the moment (suspense, a series of suspense, of great est tens ion, f or eshadowi ng, cr isis) the conclusionf al ling act ion, resol ut ion or denouement ) II. Read t he stories of ?Ri p Van Winkle‘ (Washi ngton Ir ving) and ?David Swan‘ ( Nat haniel Hawthorne) II. Quest ions: (Finish reading the two stori es and point out t he plot s of the two stories, t he descripti ve details, the exposit on, charact er s) Rip Van Winkl e 1. Descri pt ive detail s: the pl ot of the stor y? 2. What part of the story seems li ke t he exposi ti on? 3. Wher e does the dr amati c confli ct ? 4. What is the climax of t he story? Davi d Swan 5. t he plot of the story? 6. How fully does t he aut hor draw the charact er s in the st or y? ( Char acter t rait s are t he qual it es of a char acter ‘s personali ty. They are r eveal ed thr ough a char acter‘ s acti ons and words and through descri pt ion) . 7. More works to do: something about t he wr iters of the two st or ies. Chapt er Two Character In t he int roduction we have said t hat ficti on i s an i mage of people in action, moving towar ds an undeclar ed end. Thus charact er is always i nvolved i n ficti on, even in the st or y of t he simplest act ion. Someti mes char acter i s at the center of our int er est because in char acter we may se many f acets of t he people we meet in our daily l if e and even of our selves. Fict ional charact er is always char acter in acti on and the charact er get s i nt o acti on because it is caught i n a sit uati on of confl ict and he/she i s always pr ovided with moti vati on: he/she has suff icient reasons t o act or behave as he / she does. The character i s doing something and the r eader whi le readi ng f icti on want s to know t he ―why‖ as wel as the ―what ‖ of the af ai rs. ( Sometimes acharact er ‘s motive for an act i on is not explained on aceptable grounds, for exampl e, the vil ai n in Adgar Alan Poe‘story ―The Tel Tale Heart, ‖ and thus t he r eader f els cheat ed. In thi s case, t he wr iter of detecti ve f icti on who makes the cr iminal a mere l unatic has cheated the reader by avoiding the probl em of moti ve.) And gener al ly, t he act ion itself is humanly si gni ficant and i t ends usual ly i n a shift i n or clarif icat ion of human val ues, as di splayed i n John Updike‘ s ―A amp。 poi nt of view。 I nt r oducti on I. Why do we have such course? Engli sh l it er at ur e i s one of t he pulsory and m ost im port ant courses. However, the Engli sh l it er at ur e cour ses of fered ar e m er el y taught at the level of l earning gener al i nf orm at ion and devel opi ng l it er al under st anding. Adm it edl y, such cour ses hel p t hem/ you a lot i n thei r/ your acquisit on of t he Engli sh l anguage. But t he f unct ion of Engl ish lit er at ure reaches f ar beyond t hat. I n r eading Engli sh li teratur e, a st udent shoul d have t he power t o di scer n how hum an bei ngs tr anslate t hei r exper ience into art ist ic expr essi on and repr esent ati on。 and how social concer n is invol ved in a specif ic form of human i magination. I n additi on, st udent s hould elevat e t o the level of cul ti vati ng a cur iosi ty f or the unknown, thinki ng cogently and logi cal y, expresing themselves clear ly and