rci.rutgers.

edu

Five Act Play

3-4 minutos

by Frank Deis

Stephen Jay Gould presents the story of the revision of

interpretation of the Burgess Shale in the format of a �ve act
play. What is he getting at, what is he implying by this? The
format of 5 acts is familiar from Shakespeare, and is grounded
in the concepts of unity in Aristotle's Poetics. Scholars have
analyzed the �ve act structure, notably Gustav Freytag who
described a "pyramidal" structure, with Act 3 at the apex. Here
is what to expect from the various acts:

Act 1 -- Exposition. We meet the dramatis personae, and time

and place are established. We learn about the antecedents of
the story. Attention is directed toward the germ of con�ict and
dramatic tensions.

Act 2 -- Complications. The course of action becomes more

complicated, the "tying of knots" takes place. Interests clash,
intrigues are spawned, events accelerate in a de�nite
direction. Tension mounts, and momentum builds up.

Act 3 -- The Climax of Action. The development of con�ict

reaches its high point, the Hero stands at the crossroads,
leading to victory or defeat, crashing or soaring.

Act 4 -- Falling Action. Reversals. The consequences of Act 3

play out, momentum slows, and tension is heightened by false
hopes/fears. If it's a tragedy, it looks like the Hero can be
saved. If not, then it looks like all may be lost.
Act 5 -- Catastrophe. The con�ict is resolved, whether through
a catastrophe, the downfall of the hero, or through his victory
and trans�guration.

How does the structure of Gould's book �t this pattern?

Act 1 -- 107. The stage is set, we meet Whittington and
understand the antecedents in terms of the "shoe-horn" of
Walcott. Attention is drawn to the problem with Marrella and
Yohoia.

Act 2 -- 124. Things grow complicated by the clearly de�ned

"weirdness" of Opabinia, and now Whittington can't hold back
and pretend it's just another fossil.

Act 3 -- 136. Whittington assembles his team, and we meet

Briggs and Conway Morris. The "Climax" of the action hinges
on Conway Morris's strong personality, and his series of "weird
wonders" notably Hallucigenia. The point is clearly made.

Act 4 -- 164. The "reversals" portrayed include Naraoia --

sometimes you don't need the shoehorn! It's just a very strange
trilobite after all. Aysheaia is clearly a sort of "velvet worm" or
Onychophoran. Nowadays this act might have to be
signi�cantly longer.

Act 5 -- 172. In real life in science, it is rare to have either a

career-ruining "catastrophe" or a Nobel mediated
"trans�guration." So Gould uses this act as an epilogue,
bringing the topic up to date (circa 1987).

Can we divide "George Lucas in Love" into �ve acts?

In a way this is a tour de force because the �lm is only about
seven minutes long, but nearly any well-told story will have
the structure described by Freytag:

Act 1 Scene in dorm, walk across campus, interview with prof

Act 2 Entanglement -- the screening room scene

Act 3 Climax of action -- Lucas is typing, imagining

Act 4 "False direction" with Marian in dorm, getting closer

Act 5 Mom arrives (i.e. this is a "tragedy"), "Hi Kids!"

It is an interesting exercise to take any �lm or novel and "cut it

up" this way. Understanding the structure of a well told story
is essential to writing one.