20 Master Plots (24 page)

Mephistopheles tries some cheap tricks with women but they don't work. Then he tries again by restoring Faustus's youth and introducing him to the young, beautiful Gretchen. He's tempted by her but their affair ends in tragedy, including the deaths of Gretchen's brother, their child and Gretchen herself. Mephistopheles must up the ante. Instead of an earthly Gretchen, he brings forth an unworldly Helen, the most beautiful woman who ever lived. Again Faustus is tempted, but he knows beauty is transitory and rejects her.

Faustus, having resisted Mephistopheles, wants to be a productive being and starts a land reclamation project, and it is in this Mephistopheles finally wins his bet. When Faustus sees all the good he has done over the years developing a vast territory of land occupied by people who are making something useful for themselves, he wishes the moment would never end.

The irony is that Faustus doesn't succumb to basic human motives such as lust or greed. He gives in only to achieve the better good of the human race. He had made some tragic mistakes during his life, but he never lost sight of what was true and good. Mephistopheles wins by the letter of the bet, but not by the spirit of it.

The devil, being a stickler for detail, claims Faustus's soul. But God intercedes and the angels carry him to Heaven instead.

The story of Faustus follows the same three dramatic phases as "Our Lady's Child." The difference lies in the continuing temptation of Faustus as opposed to other stories, in which the protagonist gives in to temptation in the first phase. Faustus doesn't give in until the third phase. But he still pays a heavy emotional price along the way, with Gretchen, with Helen, and with the devil's constant need to persuade.

YIELD NOT TO . . .

If you want to write about temptation, think about the nature of "crime" you want your character to commit. What would be the gain? What would be the loss? What is the price the protagonist must pay for giving into temptation? Cost is one of the major factors in this plot. That makes this plot more moral than most, because it carries a message about the cost of giving into temptation. In many ways, this plot creates parables about behavior.

Don't focus your story completely on the temptation and the cost of giving into it. Focus your story on the character who gives in to the temptation. Define the internal struggle raging inside the character. Is it guilt? If so, how does that guilt show itself in the behavior and actions of your character? Is it anger? (Anger is the result of the character being angry at himself for giving in to temptation.) How does that anger express itself? Temptation can reveal a wide range of emotions in your character. Don't create a character who is capable of only one emotional note. Your character will probably go through a variety of emotional states. The result of all the turmoil will be a realization about himself. He will reach a conclusion about giving in to temptation. What is the lesson learned, and how has your character matured (if he has matured at all)? Remember to look at the effect of temptation on your character.

CHECKLIST

As you write, keep these points in mind:

1. The temptation plot is a character plot. It examines the motives, needs and impulses of human character.

2. Your temptation plot should depend largely on morality and the effects of giving in to temptation. By the end of the story, the character should have moved from a lower moral plane (in which she gives in to temptation) to a higher moral plane as a result of learning the sometimes harsh lessons of giving in to temptation.

3. The conflict of your plot should be interior and take place within the protagonist, although it has exterior manifestations in the action. The conflict should result from the protagonist's inner turmoil—a result of knowing what she should do, and then not doing it.

4. The first dramatic phase should establish the nature of the protagonist first, followed by the antagonist (if there is one).

5. Next, introduce the nature of the temptation, establish its effect on the protagonist, and show how the protagonist struggles over her decision.

6. The protagonist then gives in to the temptation. There may be some short-term gratification.

7. The protagonist often will rationalize her decision to yield to temptation.

8. The protagonist also may go through a period of denial after yielding to the temptation.

9. The second dramatic phase should reflect the effects of yielding to the temptation. Short-term benefits sour and the negative side surfaces. The bill starts to come due for making the wrong decision.

10. The protagonist should try to find a way to escape responsibility and punishment for her act.

11. The negative effects of the protagonist's actions should reverberate with increasing intensity in the second dramatic phase.

12. The third dramatic phase should resolve the protagonist's internal conflicts. The story ends with atonement, reconciliation and forgiveness.

I
f any one plot is truly magical, metamorphosis is it. Most of the master plots are grounded in reality: They deal with situations and people whom we readily recognize because they're based in our experience. Even good science fiction and fantasy stories are ultimately as real in their portrayal of people and events as anything by Henry James or Jane Austen. Science Fiction author Theodore Sturgeon pointed out that a good science fiction story deals with a
human
problem and a
human
solution. Fiction, whether it happens in Middle Earth or in a galaxy far, far away, is always about
us.
Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.

The metamorphosis plot is about change. That covers a lot of territory. But in this plot the change is specific. It's as much physical as it is emotional. In the metamorphosis plot, the physical characteristics of the protagonist actually change from one form to another. The most common form of metamorphosis has a protagonist who starts out as an animal and ends up as a gorgeous young man of marriageable age. But not always. The reverse process may be true, as in the case of "The Wolfman."

I WOKE UP THIS MORNING . . .

We have always found images of ourselves in other things, particularly in other animals. We're familiar with metaphor and allegory.

The lion and the fox in Aesop's fables represent distinctly human characteristics of strength and cunning. The wolf in
Little Red Riding Hood,
however undeserved its reputation, represents human traits of power, greed and evil. Ditto the snake. We have maintained our animal links through the ages, perhaps as an acknowledgement of our own place in the animal kingdom.

The modern era hasn't diminished our fascination with the connection between beast and human. The fairy tales and fables of the past are very much with us, but so are our modern versions: a man who is a wolf; a bat who is a man; a man who is a giant insect; a prince who is a frog; a man who is a lion; the list is long. The works are among our favorites: "The Wolfman,"
Dracula, Metamorphosis,
"Frog King" and "Beauty and the Beast." The stories have such a powerful grasp on our imagination that we constantly remake them. No one knows the source of the original "Beauty and the Beast" tale. The version with which we're most familiar first appeared in eighteenth-century France in the works of Madame Leprince de Beaumont. Since then the story has been made into a film four times (including one cartoon version) and a television series. (No one has the time or patience to count the number of wolfman and vampire films made over the years.)

The metamorphosis is usually the result of a curse, which is placed as a consequence of a wrongdoing or offense against nature. The wolfman and the vampire are expressions of evil; Gre-gor Samsa is cursed by a meaningless existence that turns him into an insect; the frog prince in "Frog King" has been cursed by a witch, as is the beast in "Beauty and the Beast." Whatever shape we take as animals, we metamorphise the human condition the same way Aesop did two thousand years ago.

The cure for the curse, if there is one, is always the same: love. The curative power of love can overcome any curse and conquer any affliction. If the metamorphosis plot teaches us anything, it is that love can salvage us from our basic instincts. Love can correct wrong; it can heal the wounded and strengthen the weak at heart.

Love can take many forms. It can be the love of a child for a parent (or a parent for a child), the love of a man for a woman (or a woman for a man), the love of people for one another, or the love of God. If a curse represents evil (either possession by an evil force or a manifestation of evil's displeasure), it represents the evil
within us;
but we may also possess the chance for salvation, restoring the good that is within us. This story is about the forces of good and evil that wage war within us. Sometimes the evil holds sway, but there is always the chance of restoring the good.

The Dracula created by Bram Stoker is the essence of evil; he's a creature of the night that feasts on the blood of humans. He's also urbane, sophisticated, witty and charming. Women find him irresistible. Like the wolfman, he's one of the few meta-morphs who's incapable of being redeemed by love, but he yearns to be free of the curse that condemns him to stalk the earth.

Obviously I'm taking the concept of metamorphosis literally. The metamorph is usually the protagonist, which means there is an antagonist to match the action against. Not all metamorphs are evil. The Beast in "Beauty and the Beast" holds Beauty against her will in his castle as ransom for her father's misdeed. He exhibits loathsome behavior (such as running down his game and eating it raw), but he commits no real crime and is guilty of no real offense, except the one that has transformed him from a man into a beast. The Beast is most commonly portrayed in film as a lion. But to make the Beast a cutesy lion is to miss the point of the curse which was to make him
totally
unlovable. George C. Scott's portrayal of the Beast seems closer to the mark: He was a boar. The frog's only offense in "Frog King" is wanting to crawl into bed and sleep with the young princess. (Forget the Walt Disney version in which the princess kisses the frog. It doesn't happen in the original quite that way.)

The point of the plot is to show the process (or failure) of transformation. Since this is a character plot, we're more concerned with the nature of the metamorph than with his actions. The metamorph represents mystery: What sin has he committed to warrant this change? What must he do to free himself from the curse? The metamorph is an innately sad person, burdened by his affliction.

The terms of the curse not only affect his looks, but they also affect his behavior. His life is complicated by rituals and prohibitions. The vampire can't go out by day; the wolfman dreads the full moon; Gregor Samsa scuttles up the walls of his bedroom and hides behind the furniture; and the Beast is hemmed in by thorns. The metamorph is cornered, looking for a way out.

There's usually a way out. For the vampire, it's daylight or a stake through the heart; for the wolfman, it's a silver bullet; for the frog, it's sharing a princess' bed for three nights; and for Gregor Samsa, the only way out is a slow death.

If the curse is so profound that only death releases the metamorph from his state, he seeks death. The terms of release are usually carried out by the antagonist, but the metamorph welcomes the end even if he resists it in the process. Dracula, the wolfman and Gregor Samsa all welcome death because it is their release.

If the curse can be reversed by getting the antagonist to perform certain actions, the metamorph must wait until the antagonist fulfills the terms of the release. The conditions of release are usually dictated by the person who made the original curse. Both the Beast and the frog must be loved.

The action generally follows three dramatic phases.

The first phase introduces the protagonist, the accursed. We learn the current state of his condition but not the reason for the curse. (That is usually disclosed in the third dramatic phase.) The curse has already been in place a long time; the story begins at the point prior to the resolution of the curse (release).

We also meet the antagonist, who acts as the catalyst that propels the metamorph toward release. The antagonist is "the chosen one," the person for whom the metamorph has been waiting. The antagonist may not know she is the chosen one, however.