Beginning
The 'beginning' of almost any type of story shows us a hero or heroine who
is in some way undeveloped, frustrated or incomplete. This establishing of their unhappy,
immature or unfulfilled state sets up the tension needing to be resolved which
provides the essence of the story.
Middle
The 'middle' of the story shows them sooner or later falling under the shadow
of the dark power, the conflict with which constitutes the story's main action. In the
types of story we come to early in life this threatening presence is invariably personified as outside the central
figure, although later we come to the type of story in which those same dark qualities
are shown as lying in the hero or heroine themselves. Through most of the story we see its little world divided into
an 'upper' realm, where the dark power holds sway, and an 'inferior' realm, where the
forces of light remain in the shadows.
Ending
The 'end' of the story provides its resolution. The action eventually builds
to a climax, when the forces making for threat and confusion rise to their highest point
of pressure on everyone involved, and this paves the way for the 'reversal' or 'unknotting',
the moment when the dark power is overthrown.
The nature of the story's
ending then depends entirely on how its hero or heroine have aligned themselves to the dark power. If the central figure
has remained or ended up in opposition to the dark power, we see
that, in this final act of liberation, there is a prize of
infinite value to be won: a treasure to be won from the darkness;
a captive 'Princess' or 'Prince' to be freed from its clutches; a community to be redeemed from its shadows. We see that the hero or heroine have ended up fulfilled
and complete, in a way which through most of the story would have seemed unthinkable.
They have reached some central goal to their lives.
If, on the other
hand, the hero or heroine have become irrevocably identified with
the dark power, the story will end in their destruction. But even this comes about according to the same rules which govern
stories with a happy ending. So much have the central figures of
Tragedy become the chief source of darkness in their story that
only when they are removed by death can the light again emerge from
the shadows. For all those forced to live in that shadow, this in itself can end the story on the familiar note of liberation. The wider community is restored to wholeness. Just as in a story which comes to a happy ending, it is a victory for life.
Thus in any story which is
completely resolved, the basic pattern remains the same. In the
end, darkness is overcome and light wins the day. In fact what ultimately distinguishes each of the basic plots is simply
that each looks at this common theme from a different arjgJe, Each
lays emphasis on a particular aspect of that universal plot
which lies behind them all.
Christopher Booker
"The Saven Basic Plots"
