Plot

All plots have five main points: The exposition, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the denouement. The exposition serves to set context to the coming action and to also provide any background detail necessary for understanding. The exposition ends when the inciting incident causes rising action. Rising action tends to be the longest part any narrative and involves conflict for the main character or characters. The climax serves as the turning point in any narrative and is the point where the conflicts brought upon the main characters during the rising action are solved in some way or another. The falling action follows the turning point and serves to finish off any unresolved conflicts. The final resolution then spurs the denouement which tends to be very short and can even come in the form of a single sentence like: 'they lived happily ever after'.

In Austen, the exposition comes in the form of the first sentence: 'It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a man in possession of wealth, must be in want of a wife'. The inciting incident is the news that Bingly and Darcy are coming to town. The rising action comes in the form of everything after the ball. The Climax is when Lizzy confronts Darcy. The falling action is everything that takes place when the two are apart. The resolution is the accepted marraige proposal and the denouement is everything after the wedding.

In Shakespeare, the expositon comes in the form of the first act. The inciting incident is the first encounter Hamlet has with the ghost of his father. The rising action is all of Hamlet's plotting to avenge his father's death. The Climax is the play when Claudius rises to leave right after being stricken with guilt as well as Hamlet's murder of Polonius. The falling action is when Hamlet is sent off to England. The resolution is when Hamlet finally stabs Claudius and they all die. The denouement is the conversation between Horatio and Fortenbras.