the blocks of fiction

THE BLOCKSOF FICTION

Ms. Bell

English

THEME

The main Idea. A statement about a

universalsubject.

THEME

Romantic Love is one of

the dominant themes In

Romeo and Juliet

PROTAGONIST

Receives the conflict in the story.

PROTAGONISTWho is it? Romeo or Juliet

in Shakespeare’s play?

“For never was there story of more woe/ than that of Juliet and her Romeo.”

ANTAGONIST

Causes the conflict in the story.

ANTAGONIST Harry Potter: LordVoldemort

Bram Stoker’s Dracula:Dracula

The Wizard of Oz: The Wicked Witch of the West

CHARACTER LIST Round: a character w/many personality traits

Stock: A one-sided character who has become a “type.”

Flat: a character with only one or two key personality traits

CHARACTER LIST Round Example: Harry Potter

Stock Example: The mean step-mother in Cinderella

Flat Example: Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet

CONFLICT

What the main character struggles

against.

CONFLICT

Romeo and Juliet arecaught in the family feud

between the Capuletsand the Montegues

NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW

1st Person = I 2nd Person = You 3rd Person = He Omniscient Objective Limited

TONE

The emotional idea that the author

creates.

TONE

Is the story happy, romantic, scary,

sad…?

SETTING

Where and when the story happens.

SYMBOLS

Something that stands as itself but also as something larger.

SYMBOLS

“A rose by any othername would smell assweet.” Juliet compares Romeo to a rose because he

is as sweet to her senses as the smell of a rose

IRONYA contrast between what

is said and what is meant. Also, when

things turn out differently than what is expected.

The three types are: Dramatic, Verbal

Situational

IRONY Dramatic = The character knows one thing and the

audience knows something else (Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, but the audience knows she has taken a drug to look like she is dead.)

Verbal = The character says one thing, but means another (Mercutio knows he has received a killing wound but says it’s “only a scratch”.

Situational = When what is expected to happen is different from what really happens (The play turns to tragedy because Romeo doesn’t know that Juliet is really alive, and is only in a drug induced coma to make it look like she’s dead.)

MOTIFSRepeated phrase or

symbol that adds depth or meaning to

the text.

MOTIFSExample: The bunnies in Of Mice and Men represent freedom.