Freytag's Dramatic Arc
Gustav Freytag · 1863 · 5 stages
The classical five-part dramatic structure derived from Greek and Shakespearean drama. The simplest Western narrative framework: rising action building to climax, then falling to resolution.
Exposition
Setting, characters, and situation established. The world before conflict.
Psychologically: Ego consciousness at baseline: the known world, the current adaptation.
connects to: The Persona
Rising Action
Complications, conflicts, and tensions escalate. The stakes grow.
Psychologically: Tension between conscious attitude and unconscious compensation building.
Climax
The turning point: the moment of maximum tension where the outcome is determined.
Psychologically: The crisis of individuation: the point where the old attitude can no longer hold. Enantiodromia.
connects to: The Shadow · Enantiodromia
Falling Action
Consequences of the climax unfold. The new reality takes shape.
Psychologically: Integration beginning: the psyche reorganizing after the crisis.
Catastrophe (Dénouement)
Resolution. The new normal. Loose ends tied, lessons learned, order (re)established.
Psychologically: New adaptation: the ego has been reorganized around a new relationship with the unconscious.
connects to: Integration · The Transcendent Function