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Freytag’s Pyramid: A Story Building Block

Ashley Roach

Cal. State Fullerton, English 363-21188

12 December 2019

Freytag’s Pyramid is a drawn, triangular diagram used to distinguish elements of a story

or play’s plotline and fit them into major categories. Derived from the nineteenth-century

German scholar Gustav Freytag, Freytag’s Pyramid maps out the plot line of a story or play in

order to allow for analyses, discussion, and other inputs. On each of the pointed edges of the

form, as well as on the slopes of the lines, there are five main phases or elements. Each

component’s line length and angle depends upon the overall time focused upon each section, and

this can cause the pyramid to vary in size (2 & 3):

Climax

Exposition Conclusion

Inciting Resolution
Incident

[Drawn from (2 & 3)]

The Pyramid’s Components

1. Exposition

The first point of the figure is the exposition. This specific element houses the

background information of the story; this includes aspects such as the characters and their
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relationships as well as the relative time and place in which the story takes place. While creating

a general understanding for the reader, it also tends to produce the main “conflict” or multiple

conflicts that will linger throughout the story and continue to effect the characters unknowingly

or knowingly (3 & 4). For example, Disney’s The Lion King’s exposition displays the birth of

Simba and how he will take the king’s, Mufasa’s, throne in place of his evil uncle Scar.

2. Rising Action

Following directly behind the exposition is the rising action. This second phase begins

after the introduction of the inciting incident, or the event that intensifies the conflict. Once the

incident is past, the plot slowly begins to rise through a sequence of events that continue to add

“complications” and will eventually boil to the point of the climax (3). This would be considered

the point in which Scar encourages Simba to partake in dangerous activities, such as playing in

an elephant graveyard and practicing his roar in the empty gully. Eventually, this leads to the

inciting incident of Mufasa’s death inflicted by Scar, causing Simba to run away. This leads him

to beginning a new life with his pals Timon and Pumbaa, fulfilling the continuation of the rising

action.

3. Climax

The climax is considered to be the ultimate “turning point” of the plot where a new

addition is made to the overall conflict and shifts the story towards a form of an ending.

Additionally, it not only provides a shift, but also provides a new perception or idea, also known

as an “epiphany,” that the characters can then deliberate how to move forward (3 & 4). The

climax of The Lion King occurs when Simba reunites with his childhood friend, and future love

interest Nala, where she, along with the wise words of the baboon Rafiki and the soul of Mufasa,

convince Simba to take back the pride.

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4. Falling Action

Once the climax begins its downward shift, the events of the falling action begin to

support this change and eventually lead to the resolution. This section provides further substance

to the actions that have taken place at the point of the climax and pushes them on into the ending

(3). During this section of the plot, Simba returns to his home and confronts Scar and his evil

army of hyenas. Alongside this action, Scar reveals he killed Mufasa and a great battle ensues.

5. Resolution and Conclusion

Finally, the falling action is then cushioned by the indication of a resolution of the

characters and conflict, also called the dénouement. The resolution is the final event or solution

to the conflict, or conflicts, that functions hand-in-hand with the conclusion. Together, the two

wrap up everything that transpired and sometimes even include an additional “epilogue,” or

clarification of other unsolved details within the text (3 & 4). The Disney fantasy ends with

Simba overthrowing Scar and becoming king and later having his own cub with Nala, indicating

that their legacy will live on.

These elements have remained constant ever since Gustav Freytag first developed this

unique structure. When taking a look back at Gustav’s first renderings of his 1863 work Die

Technik des Dramas, the original objective of the Pyramid focused upon the elements of the

Shakespearean and Greek tragedies, or tragedy based plays. Eventually this transpired into the

realm of narrative and other similar written compositions, and luckily, are now widely used in

elementary schools, intermediate schools, as well as universities. Despite this factor, some

individuals believe in moving towards a more advanced form of this literary model (2).
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Alternative Plot Identification

Within the journal article “Interactive Visualizations of Plot in Fiction,” Associate

Professor of Language and Literacy Education Teresa M. Dobson argues that Freytag’s creation

can be “misleading” and “confusing,”

especially for newer forms of stories, like

The Lion King. Instead of covering new

forms of media, she believes that the Pyramid

is only utilized for older texts and that the

new approach of 3D visual representations in

many different shapes and forms will allow

for people outside of the “Western” world to

also experience story analysis. In addition,

Dobson refers to an interactive prototype that

This photograph displays one version of the new 3D structure in the
form of layered building blocks. It is a physical representation of
compares to the simulations seen within how the mind continues to build notions off of simple plot (2).

video games. The system embodies numerous buttons connected to corresponding, colored

cylinders that can be “tagged” with specific attributes involving studied texts. For example, if a

teacher wishes to review a story from author Alice Munro, or any other narrative writer, with a

class, he or she can easily log into the database and indicate green cylinders as exposition,

inciting incident, and rising action, a red cylinder as the climax, and blue cylinders as the falling

action, resolution, and conclusion (2).

Use of the Pyramid

This breakthrough does promise a more expansive territory; however, the simpler

diagram of the Pyramid still remains an effective presence in areas such as academic writing.
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Before a student begins drafting their work for any academic study or class, there must be some

form of structure. As stated by Laura A. Peracchio and Jennifer Edson Escalas’s article “Tell me

a story: Crafting and publishing research in

consumer psychology,” in order to draw the

reader’s attention into the ideas attempting to

be presented in students’ essays, there must be

a “narrative” created that embodies the proper

flow of connecting thoughts as well as full

“immersion” into the subject matter.

Accompanied by this factor, the movement,

This graphic displays the cylindrical, interactive approach to
identifying elements also seen within Freytag’s Pyramid. The left side through connecting transitions, for a scholarly
houses the various subjects that one can indicate with different colors,
and the right shows the corresponding “lit” cylinders (2).
paper should be “logical,” but in a “casual

manner” from the “introduction” and all the way until the end. Without this “dramatic

structure,” as seen within the Pyramid, the authority of the paper would be lost (4).

Extended Uses

Alongside this instance of usage, Freytag’s Pyramid is also useful outside of academics.

The peer-reviewed journal article “What Could Professional Wrestling and School Literacy

Practices Possibly Have in Common,” one contributing author, Andrew Huddleston, recounts his

past memories of his brother Daniel. During most of his time as a kid, Daniel would always

participate in wrestling and enjoyed the ultimate thrill of the entire sport. Andrew further

discusses that Daniel thoroughly loved “wrestling for the continuous story or saga” that

developed each match and how he relished in the excitement of watching professional wrestlers

establish their own storylines. Just as students may draw a diagram of Freytag’s Pyramid, Daniel
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along with other wrestlers and their management team create their own forms of plot building

through question development. Examples of such questions include: “who will win, who will

fight, who will get mad and threaten whom, and who will interfere in specific matches?” (1)
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References

1. Alvermann, D., Huddleston, A., & Hagood, M. (2004). What Could Professional Wrestling

and School Literacy Practices Possibly Have in Common? Journal of Adolescent & Adult

Literacy, 47(7), 532-540.

2. Dobson, T., Michura, P., Ruecker, S., Brown, M., & Rodriguez, O. (2011). Interactive

Visualizations of Plot in Fiction. Visible Language, 45(3), 169-191.

3. Mays, K. J., (2016). The Norton Introduction to Literature (12th ed.). New York: W. W.

Norton & Company.

4. Peracchio, L., & Escalas, J. (2008). Tell me a story: Crafting and publishing research in

consumer psychology. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18(3), 197-204.

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Post-Write

The definition strategies, inspired from Mike Markel and his tactics for defining, used in

this work can be found throughout three major areas. In order to allow for a simpler read, and to

also break up the information, I utilized the method of partitioning for each orange-colored

heading. As well as this section, I provided the technique of exemplifying when discussing the

teacher example of the “Alternative Plot Identification” section. For the last area, I offered a new

approach, or comparison, in the “Alternative Plot Identification” section to Freytag’s Pyramid,

and then contrasted it with two examples, one in the “Use of the Pyramid” and the other in the

“Extended Uses,” that focus upon the original diagram.

I would also like to recognize my peer Dolly Modha for helping me during the class peer

review. Her comments were the most helpful and allowed me to expand my reliance on one

source and also add additional headings within the text.

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