The Thirty Six Dramatic Situations
There are a number of modern manuals on literary style that offer advice to aspiring authors, and a storyguide would do well to dip into such sources when planning a faerie story. One of the most useful isThirty-Six Dramatic Situations by Georges Polti, which propounds that there are thirty six primal emotions that drive all dramatic plots in literature.
Too many plots in roleplaying games devolve to one of two situations — in Polti’s scheme, numbers 9 (A Daring Enterprise) and 12 (Obtaining). By identifying new plots, excellent inspiration for faerie stories can be gained, particularly if the listed dynamic elements are interpreted metaphorically rather than literally. Adul-tery is about betrayal of a sacred oath, which encompasses more than just the wedding vows; “Kinsmen,” who feature in many of these situations, can be fellow members of one’s House, or the Or-der; and a “Conflict with a God” can represent any man’s battle against an undefeatable concept such a s Love or Truth.
In this type of story, the characters usually play the active role, leaving the faeries to fill in the remaining dynamic elements. But the faeries could take all roles, and the characters find themselves thrust into the middle. In the Revolt situation, for example, the characters could be contracted by the Tyrant to quell the rebel-lion, or instead assist the Conspirator/s to free the oppressed.
DRAMATIC SITUATION DYNAMIC ELEMENTS
1. Supplication Persecutor, Supplicant, Power in Authority
2. Deliverance Victim, Threatener, Rescuer 3. Crime Pursued Avenger, Criminal
by Vengeance
4. Vengeance Taken for Avenging Kinsman, Guilty Kinsman, Kindred Upon Kindred Remembrance of the Victim, Relative
of Both
5. Pursuit Punishment, Fugitive
6. Disaster Vanquished Power, Victorious Enemy or Messenger
7. Falling Prey to Victim, Master, or Misfortune Cruelty or Misfortune
8. Revolt Tyrant, Conspirator
9. Daring Enterprise Bold Leader, Object of Quest, Adversary
10. Abduction Abductor, Abducted, Guardian 11. The Enigma Interrogator, Seeker, Problem 12. Obtaining Object Sought, and either Solicitor
and Adversary or Arbitrator and Opposing Parties
DRAMATIC SITUATION DYNAMIC ELEMENTS
13. Enmity of Kinsmen Malevolent Kinsman, Hated or Equally Malevolent Kinsman
14. Rivalry of Kinsmen Preferred Kinsman, Rejected Kinsman, Object of Rivalry
15. Murderous Adultery Two Adulterers, Betrayed Spouse
16. Madness Madman, Victim
17. Fatal Imprudence Careless Fool, Victim, or Object Lost 18. Involuntary Crimes Lover, Beloved, Revealer
of Love
19. Slaying of a Kinsman Slayer, Unrecognized Victim Unrecognized
20. Self-Sacrificing Hero, Ideal, Creditor, or Person/Thing for an Ideal Sacrificed
21. Self-Sacrifice for Hero, Kinsman, Creditor, or Person/
Kindred Thing Sacrificed
22. All Sacrificed Lover, Object of Fatal Passion, Person for a Passion or Thing Sacrificed
23. Necessity of Hero, Beloved Victim, Necessity Sacrificing Loved Ones for Sacrifice
24. Rivalry of Superior Superior Rival, Inferior Rival, Object and Inferior of Rivalry
25. Adultery Two Adulterers, Deceived Spouse 26. Crimes of Love Lover, Beloved
27. Discovery of the Discovery, Guilty One Dishonor of a
Loved One
28. Obstacles to Love Two Lovers, Obstacle 29. An Enemy Loved Beloved Enemy, Lover, Hater 30. Ambition Ambitious Person, Thing Coveted,Adversary 31. Conflict with a God Mortal, Immortal
32. Mistaken Jealousy Jealous One, Object of Jealousy, Supposed Accomplice, Cause of Mistake
33. Erroneous Judgment Mistaken One, Victim of Mistake, Cause of Mistake, Guilty Person 34. Remorse Culprit, Victim or Sin, Interrogator 35. Recovery of a Seeker, One Found
Lost One
36. Loss of Loved Ones Kinsman Lost, Kinsman Spectator, Executioner
Realms of Power: Faerie Realms of Power: Faerie
the donor to provide the magical aid by com-pleting a task or defeating him in combat.
Examples: Fafnir (in the Saga of the Ni-belungs); Ceridwen (in the story of Gwion Bach, the witch whose cauldron gives him magical powers)
T
HEH
ELPERThe helper assists the hero; unlike the donor, the helper is always well inclined to-wards the hero, and his motives are pure. The help provided is always timely and perfectly suited to the story. The helper assists the hero in traveling between locations, reverses his ill fortune, rescues him from pursuit, or assists him in his difficult tasks.
Examples: Hermes who shows Odys-seus the moly plant; the Grey Wolf (in Prince Ivan)
T
HEP
RINCESSThe Princess is either the object of the hero’s quest or a prize acquired along the way. The role of Princess can be filled by any person or object, not just a young fe-male royal.
Examples: The magical apple that cures the illness of hero’s grandmother.
T
HET
ASK-S
ETTERThe Task-Setter poses challenges for the hero to pass, and should he succeed, he will win the princess. The task-setter is dis-tinct from the donor (whose tasks result in a magical gift or helper) and the villa in (whose tasks are to oppose the hero, not keep the prize from him).
Examples: The Sphinx faced by Oedi-pus; a king who demands the hero proves himself before winning his daughter’s hand;
the dragon who guards the Golden Fleece.
T
HEF
ALSEH
EROThe false hero is an infrequent role oc-curring in a story. The false hero tries to claim credit for the hero’s actions, and nearly claims the prize sought by him. However, the false hero’s deception is always uncov-ered in the nick of time. Sometimes the false hero and the villain are the sa me character.
Examples: A cowardly knight who finds a dead dragon and claims to have killed it.
Acts Acts
The dramatis personae of a fairy tale in-teract with one another in a series of linked scenes or Acts. Some archetypal acts are de-tailed in this section, but few stories have a large number of these elements; most com-bine only two or three. The acts below have been written in a general sense, because the traditional roles vary dramatically according to the nature of the roles. For example, the fi-nal act of Reconciliation can be a wedding (if the Princess is a literal princess) or a return to the comfort of home (if the Princess is a magical cure).
The acts presented below are in the order in which they are normally encountered in a fairy story. Notably, the main struggle with the villain is not necessarily the final act, but is often followed by an escape, ordeal, and/
or acquiring the final prize. Most fairy tales start with a preparatory stage where the hero is introduced; in stories where the characters take the hero’s role, this is not necessary.
I
NTERDICTIONOften the precipitating act of the story, the hero is issued a command by some au-thority figure, such as a king or parent. This command or interdiction is then intention-ally or accidentintention-ally violated by the hero. It is because of this broken interdiction that the hero sets off on an adventure. Typical inter-dictions include:
• “Do not leave the castle walls.”
• “Do not steal from the dragon’s wealth.”
• “Do not speak to Baba Yaga.”
• “Look after your little sister.”
It is often the villain who manipulates the hero into breaking the interdiction by pre-senting a situation where he is sorely tempt-ed, by greed or by conscience. Alternatively, the villain breaks the interdiction himself, by stealing away the hero’s little sister, or hiding the dragon’s gold in the hero’s pockets.
R
ECONNAISSANCEThe villain makes his first appearance in the story. He desires information about the hero who will oppose him, so gathers infor-mation about him. This act often takes place before the villain has revealed his maleficent nature, and the hero himself might naively
offer the sought-after information. A quick-witted hero has the opportunity to learn about the villain as well.
T
RICKERYThe villain deceives his intended vic-tim in order to take possession of him or of his belongings. In fairy tales, such trickery is almost always fallen for. The villain may employ a number of means to gain control of the hero — persuasion, magic, or force.
But there need not be any active trickery on behalf of the villain; for example, the hero may fall asleep and thereby put himself into the hands of the villain.
V
ILLAINYThis is where the action usually starts, with the villain causing direct harm or injury to someone close to the hero, or perhaps even the hero himself. The villain thus veals himself to be s uch, and the hero pur-sues him for the rest of the story. Example forms of villainy are:
• Abduction of a person;
• Seizure or theft of a significant object;
• Pillaging or spoilage of food or craft;
• Infliction of disease or bodily injury, or murder;
• Seduction of a loved one;
• Substitution of a child or bride;
• Inciting others to crime;
• Expulsion or infliction of hardship;
• Imprisonment;
• Nocturnal tormenting;
• Declarations of war.
If the villain of the story is absent or a faceless force of nature, then villainy can take the form of a lack or insufficiency.
The theft of a magic horse and the lack of a magic horse fulfill the same role in the story
— the hero lacks a magic steed when he needs one.
R
ECEIPTThe hero gains the use of a magical agent or token from a donor. Note that a do-nor need not be willing or benevolent; a hag tricked out of her magic horse is an example of an unwilling donor. The initial encounter with the donor can take place in a number of ways:
Realms of Power: Faerie Realms of Power: Faerie
• The donor sets tests or obstacles before the hero;
• The donor greets and interrogates the hero;
• A dying (or deceased) donor requests a service;
• A prisoner begs for his freedom;
• The donor makes a request of the hero;
• The donor tries to kill the hero;
• The donor offers an exchange or deal.
Once the hero has passed the test, made the deal, performed the service, or whatever the story demands, he acquires the token.
This may be as simple as the donor handing him an object or animal, but this is not the only option. If the token is a magical power, then the hero is shown how to use it, or the token is eaten or drunk to gain the power.
The token may be pointed out to the hero, or seized from the donor as part of the test.
Another source of variation is the nature of the token. For it to appear in the story, it must have some relevance to a later act
— random treasure is a concept alien to the fairy tale. The successful completion of the story by the hero is always dependent on the token, regardless of whether the hero real-izes its significance. Example tokens are:
• A magical steed that can fly;
• The ability to transform into an animal;
• An ointment that allows one to see the invisible;
• The assistance of three magical animals;
• A ship that folds up like a napkin;
• The secret of how to kill the giant.
T
RANSFERENCEThe hero is transported, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of the object of his quest.
A remarkable number of fairy stories involve
traveling over vast distances, often in a blink of the eye, effected by some magical token possessed or won by the hero.
S
TRUGGLESeparate to the fight with a hostile do-nor (see Receipt), this act is a direct conflict between the hero and the villain. The prize is not some magical agent to help him in his quest, but the very object of his quest.
It is not uncommon for the hero to receive a wound or other mark during the struggle, or obtain an identifying object from his enemy.
This element is important if there is a false hero in the story (see above). Of course, the struggle usually ends in victory for the hero.
And by virtue of that defeat, the initial mis-fortune that sent him on the quest in the first place is liquidated.
P
URSUITThe journey home is not always a simple one for the hero; sometimes he is pursued.
The villain, if not killed during the struggle with the hero, is usually the pursuer. Howev-er, it might be some guardian or compatriot of the villain who takes the role of pursuer.
The hero who is pursued never simply out-runs his pursuer; rather, he is rescued from pursuit by employing the magical agent re-ceived from the donor, by the helper, or by the object of his quest.
O
RDEALOne of the favorite elements of the fairy tale is the requirement that the hero perform some difficult task. The setter of the ordeal is not always the villain, though. For example, a
hero might have to prove his worth to a king to obtain permission to marry his daughter.
Some typical examples:
• Riddle setting or guessing;
• Choice (the hero must select his prize from among twelve identical objects);
• Ordeal by food and drink (the hero must consume a vast amount of food or drink);
• Hide and seek (the hero must hide him-self from the task-setter);
• Test of strength, adroitness, or fortitude;
• Supply or manufacture (the hero must make a complex object in a single night, or obtain a mythical prize).
I
MPOSTUREThe hero is sometimes not recognized for his deeds. Instead, a false hero (who may also be the villain) claims credit for the or-deals passed by the hero. However, in the predestined manner of the fairy tale, the hero always has some means to positively identify himself as the hero, and expose the false hero to receive the punishment he deserves. This identifying token may be the wound he suf-fered in his struggle against the villain, a to-ken he took from the villain, or a toto-ken he received from his princess.
R
ECONCILIATIONThe final act of the fairy tale is the hero finally acquiring the object he has sought after. A common resolution is a wedding followed by an ascension to the throne, but equally it could be the return home to his sick grandmother to give her the healing po-tion he has sought.
Appendix Appendix
Bibliography Bibliography
Anderson, Graham. Fairytale in the Ancient World. Routledge: New York, 2000.
Bishop, Morris (Ed). A Medieval Storybook.
Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 1970.
Briggs, Katharine. A Dictionary of Fairies.
Penguin: London, 1977.
Briggs, Katharine. Abbey Lubbers, Banshees &
Boggarts: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies.
Pantheon Books: New York: 1979.
Gerritsen, Willem and van Melle, Anthony
(Eds). A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes.
Boydell Press: Woodbridge, 1998.
Palsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul (Tr).
Seven Viking Romances. Penguin: London, 1985.
Polti, Georges.Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations.
Lucille Ray trans. James Knapp Reeve:
Franklin, Ohio, 1921.
Propp, Vladimir.The Morphology of the Folktale.
University of Texas Press: Austin, 1968.
Purkiss, Diane.Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories. Penguin: London,
2000.
Rose, Carol.Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: an Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth.
ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, 2000.
Synge, Ursula. Kalevala. Bodley Head:
London, 1977.
Wheeler, Post. Russian Wonter Tales. A&C Black: London, 1912.