“THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE”

PLOT

Exposition – The Background

A fisherman and his wife pass their days living in a shack by the sea.

Inciting Incident – The Problem

All of that changes one day when the fisherman catches a magical, talking fish who had once been a
prince. The fisherman at first plans to cook and eat his catch like any other, but the fish begs him not to.
Being of a generous heart, the fisherman releases the fish.

Rising Action – The Build-up

His wife, however, reprimands him gravely for letting the fish off the hook without first demanding a wish.
She insists her husband go back the very next day, find the fish, and demand a wish in exchange for letting
him go. When the fisherman asks his wife what they should wish for, she quickly responds that she wants a
nice cottage instead of their “filthy” shack.

The husband obeys his wife, goes back to the seashore, calls out to the fish who readily comes swimming
back, and presents his wife’s wish. The fish, in turn, changes their shack into a nice cottage.

When the fisherman returns home later that day, his wife seems happy with their new home. Feeling
satisfied himself, he says, “This is quite enough.”

“We will see about that,” the wife retorts.

Thus ensues a daily progression of new wishes, each trading out one home for another and always
increasing the wife’s station in life. She next contrives to have a palace over which she is lord, then a
kingdom over which she is king, then an empire over which she is emperor, and finally all of Christendom
over which she is pope.

The fisherman begs his wife not to keep demanding more wishes but fears her too much to refuse her
bidding. Like an errand boy, he goes back day after day and fishes for wishes on her behalf. Though the fish
keeps granting them in turn, the water and clouds turn ever more murky and grey.

Climax – The Point of No Return

Still not satisfied, the wife racks her brains all night long trying to think of what could be better than being
pope. When the first rays of light streak across her bedroom, she asks, “Could not I cause the sun and the
moon to rise?”

Falling Action – The Unraveling

The fisherman fears his wife more than ever as he realizes she wants to be like God. Amidst thunder and
lightning, the man obediently runs away from her like a madman, calls out to the fish, and presents his
wife’s newest wish.

Anti-resolution – Not So Happily Ever After

Upon hearing it, the fish simply replies, “Go home. She is sitting in her filthy shack again.” And just like that,
the fisherman and his wife lose everything they had gotten from the fish.
CONCLUSION
The Fisherman and His Wife offers many real-life lessons about greed, albeit with plenty of grey area.
While my students never agree on “how much is enough,” they certainly agree that too much is a bad
thing. Likewise, they realize that fortunes can easily be turned into misfortunes. That is not to say wealth is
bad, per se, but that it comes with a price.

CHARACTERS
a fisherman who catches the prince's fish, who is very content with what he has, and a man who always
obeys his wife just to make her happy.

Wife- very ambitious, not contented in what she have. Because of being ambitious they return on their
previous lives where they live in a small hut

Prince Fish/ flounder- The fish that accidentally catch by fisherman but let it go after. And always make the
wish came true of the wife of the fisherman but in the end the prince make there live back to what they
have before.

THEME
The wife is not content with what she has in her life, as the fisherman and her have the chance to have a
good life, but because of the wife's ambition, they return to their previous lives, as the prince fish is not
happy anymore.

It’s a very stylish story from a dramatic point of view. We have only three characters, one in static and two
in dynamic modes.
Fisherman’s wife is static. She is greedy, unsatisfied, and always wants more. While she acts at first as a
helper suggesting her husband he should get a reward for being so kind to the caught fish at first, we
realize her real motivation right after her (not his!) wish came true.

The fisherman is dynamic. He starts in the position of the judge having power over the fish’s life. He looks
very gracious at first but in the next scenes we know him better – he is actually so weak character,
everybody (the fish at first and his wife from then on) can convince him in anything, even if it’s against his
moral principles (if we can say somebody like him has his principles). He acts as a helper and a messenger.
The fish is dynamic as well. It starts in the role of a victim. Then it became a helper and gradually
transforms into a judge.

Settings:
The Filthy Shank near the Sea, The Sea, and Castle/Palace

Style:
Narrative and Descriptive