The categories Polti came up with are as follows:
- Supplication
- Deliverance
- Crime Pursued by Vengeance
- Vengeance Taken for Kindred Upon Kindred
- Pursuit
- Disaster
- Falling Prey to Cruelty or Misfortune
- Revolt
- Daring Enterprise
- Abduction
- The Enigma
- Obtaining
- Enmity of Kinsmen
- Rivalry of Kinsmen
- Murderous Adultery
- Madness
- Fatal Imprudence
- Involuntary Crimes of Love
- Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecognized
- Self-Sacrifice for an Ideal
- Self-Sacrifice for Kindred
- All Sacrificed for Passion
- Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones
- Rivalry of Superior and Inferior
- Adultery
- Crimes of Love
- Discovery of the Dishonor of a Loved One
- Obstacles to Love
- An Enemy Loved
- Ambition
- Conflict With a God
- Mistaken Jealousy
- Erroneous Judgment
- Remorse
- Recovery of a Lost One
- Loss of Loved Ones
In list form, a lot of these beg for clarification. Is "murderous adultery" (#15) necessary as a separate category from the run-of-the-mill variety (#25)? What is the difference between "enmity" and "rivalry" of a kinsman (#13 & 14)? Does he mean kinsman in the Protestant Jesus way so that it includes, guys you hang out with? Shouldn't "mistaken jealousy"(#32) be a subcategory of "erroneous judgment"(#33)? Fortunately, the actual work provides further explanations for and examples of these situations as taken from classic literature -often Greek.*
Anyway, I look forward to adding Polti's categorization to my Kindle, and to my DM toolkit as I feel it has a lot of potential as a source of inspiration. I have also added it to the Plot Garden page on this here blog. My only question is, where does man vs. food fit in, ambition or daring enterprise?
* because they knew how to make things horrible for their characters!
No comments:
Post a Comment