Examples of Plot in Literature


Example #1: The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey is one of the original “hero goes on a journey” plots. In Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, the character Odysseus takes ten years to journey home from the Trojan War to Ithaca, where his wife and son live. Odysseus must navigate many obstacles in The Odyssey, including the curse that the god Poseidon laid on him to wander the seas for a decade before being able to return home. Odysseus must escape cannibals, sirens, and the enchantments of more Greek gods to find his way home.

Example #2: Beowulf (anonymous)

The epic poem Beowulf concerns the hero Beowulf and his attempts to rid his people of the plague of monsters including Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. While Beowulf does not have to venture far to complete his quest, the plot of Beowulf echoes that of The Odyssey in that the main hero must defeat his opponents and overcome all the obstacles in his way to prove victorious. This is one of the examples of plot with a clear hero and a traditional three-part set of obstacles.

Example #3: Othello by William Shakespeare

Othello is a tragedy because of the highly avoidable conclusion, which comes about due to one simple event leading to the next. The villain Iago orchestrates the tragedy, but the reader gets the sense that if only one thing hadn’t quite worked out the way that Iago had planned for, none of the tragic consequences would have occurred. For example, one of the plot examples is that Othello discovers Desdemona’s handkerchief in the possession of another man and therefore assumes she has been unfaithful.

Example #4: Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar’s 1963 novel challenges the very definition of plot. Hopscotch is a stream-of-consciousness novel with 155 chapters, which can be read in one of two ways. The reader can choose to read the chapters chronologically, or, instead, follow the “Table of Instructions” that Cortázar created that jumps backwards and forwards throughout the book. Cortázar leaves it to the reader to find the causal relationships between the different events that occur in the book.

Example #5: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, later turned into a film, is an example of the “a stranger comes to town” type of plot. The novel is narrated by “Chief” Bromden and is set in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. Chief begins narrating the events that start to occur after the new patient Randle Patrick McMurphy arrives on the ward. McMurphy is not, in fact, insane and is only faking insanity to avoid a prison sentence. McMurphy’s time on the ward changes the way the other patients understand their own captivity in the hospital and encourages them to act in ways they had never previously imagined possible.

Example #6: Atonement by Ian McEwan

Contemporary novelist Ian McEwan is a master at creating narrative structures in which one tiny event sets off a huge chain of reactions. His novel Atonement uses this type of plot, in which the young narrator Briony Tallis reads a letter that she misinterprets and due to which makes a false accusation. The reader is keenly aware of the way in which small choices and misunderstandings lead to the ruin of entire lives.

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