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What Is Plot in Literature? (Definition)

A plot is the sequence of major events in a narrative, wherein the main character wants something, an antagonist rises to thwart that desire, and conflict ensues. It usually consists of these five elements: 

Exposition: In the beginning, exposition sets the scene, and the reader learns something about the characters and what their world is like. 

Inciting incident: The plot begins with an inciting incident, something that introduces the main conflict of the story and the obstacles that could prevent the main character (protagonist) from achieving their ultimate goal.  

Rising action: The rising action consists of events caused by the choices the characters make in response to the inciting incident. Tensions build as the protagonist(s) struggle against the forces keeping them from what they want. 

Climax: The climax is the high point of the story, the end of the rising action, where the conflict is finally resolved.  

Falling action and resolution: After the climax, with the conflict resolved, the falling action consists of events that wrap up the loose ends and bring the narrative to a satisfying ending, or resolution.   

A plot diagram (or Freytag’s Pyramid) is a very useful way to organize this information when preparing for an essay or test.  

Examples of Plot

Example 1: Brave New World

Brave New World begins with exposition, as the Director leads a group of young boys on a tour of the Hatching and Conditioning Centre. We learn that World State achieves its goal of productivity and stability by keeping its citizens happy at all times, through use of a drug called soma. The state emerges as the antagonist of the novel, which prevents the protagonists from celebrating their individuality or seeking and finding truth.  

The inciting incident of the novel is when Bernard Marx, the novel’s initial protagonist, decides to ask Lenina on a date to visit a Reservation, where a group of people live outside the bounds and rules of World State. Every subsequent event is a result of Bernard's decision to visit the Reservation. Bernard is an outsider in World State, on a quest for autonomy and self-agency. This introduces the main conflict of the story, between the happy, obedient oblivion of World State’s society and a life rooted in reality, truth, and individual freedom. The most significant result of Bernard's visit is that he brings John, a resident of the Reservation, to World State.   

From Chapter 8 until the end of the novel, John takes Bernard's place as the story’s protagonist. John is the ultimate outsider in the World State because he grew up on the Savage Reservation with his mother, Linda, away from World State’s technologies or forms of social control. In the rising action of the novel, John struggles against the enforced pleasures of World State, as he yearns for an emotional relationship with Lenina and worries about Linda, who exists in a drugged stupor from soma. 

The climax of the novel occurs when Linda dies from a soma overdose and John tries to stage a revolution. He throws away the hospital workers’ soma supply because, he says, it makes the citizens of the World State “slaves.” World State’s Controller, Mustapha Mond, agrees to allow John to live however he chooses. 

The falling action of the novel takes place after John leaves World State to choose a life of pain and self-punishment. Reporters find him whipping himself, and soon he is surrounded by a crowd of onlookers demanding a show. The crowd’s frenzy turns into an orgy, which John participates in. The novel concludes the next day when John, horrified by what he’s done, hangs himself. 

Example 2: Pride and Prejudice 

The major conflict of Pride and Prejudice centers around Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist, and her struggle to find a husband who is a good match for her despite the obstacles presented by society and her own prejudices.  

Elizabeth encounters several antagonists who attempt to obstruct her path to a happy marriage. These include characters such as her anxious mother, Mrs. Bennet, who try to get her to marry the wrong man (like her obsequious suitor Mr. Collins); characters who try to block Darcy’s courtship of Elizabeth (Miss Bingley and Lady Catherine de Bourgh), and even Elizabeth herself, who several times fails to realize that Darcy would be a good match for her. 

While the main plot shows Elizabeth’s path to marriage, Pride and Prejudice also weaves in two other subplots, focused on the romantic lives of other female characters. These divide neatly into three parts, matching the three-volume structure of Pride and Prejudice when it was initially published.  

In the first part, the initial events of the plot focus on Jane Bennet’s interest in Bingley, with Elizabeth’s interactions with Darcy functioning as secondary incidents. The major conflict in this first section of the novel centers on Jane and Bingley’s mutual affection and Darcy and Bingley’s sisters’ attempts to keep them apart. Another conflict arises when Mr. Collins begins his unwelcome pursuit of Elizabeth. These two initial conflicts resolve temporarily when Mr. Collins accepts defeat and marries Charlotte Lucas, and the Bingley family leaves Netherfield to return to London.  

In the second part, the plot rises again with Elizabeth’s visit to Charlotte and Mr. Collins, which brings her into contact again with Mr. Darcy. These interactions lead to Darcy’s proposal, but Elizabeth soundly rejects it. Pained by her rejection, Darcy reveals new information that sheds a new, more positive light on his character. The growing interest between Darcy and Elizabeth is interrupted by a new conflict: Lydia’s running off with Wickham. This conflict dominates the novel’s plot until its resolution through Lydia’s societally-acceptable marriage. 

In the final part, the focus shifts back to Jane. Reunited with Bingley, she quickly becomes engaged, resolving the main conflict from early in the novel. The final conflict comes in grand form from Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who arrogantly attempts to prevent Elizabeth from marrying Darcy. Strengthened by her previous conflicts, Elizabeth refuses to placate Lady Catherine. The novel’s climax takes place when Darcy proposes a second time and Elizabeth accepts him.  

The falling action includes preparations for the marriages and the projected futures for all three couples. The novel closes with a classic comedic ending: the good characters (Jane, Elizabeth, Bingley, and Darcy) are rewarded with prosperity and happiness, and the foolish or wicked characters (Lydia and Wickham) have to live out the life they’ve chosen for themselves. 

Example 3: The Grapes of Wrath 

In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses the harrowing journey of the Joad family to reveal the humanitarian crisis at the heart of the Dust Bowl. When the story begins and Tom Joad, the primary protagonist of the novel, first encounters Jim Casy, neither man has a clear sense of purpose. Tom, just released from prison, is used to simply taking each moment as it comes to survive. Casy, who no longer believes in Christian morality, doesn’t know how to care for people spiritually anymore. 

The inciting incident of the novel is when Muley Graves tells Tom and Jim Casy that the tenant farmers have been driven from their lands, and that the Joad family is planning to go to California in hopes of a better life.  

The first part of the rising action encompasses the family’s journey to California, through hardships and grief. When the Joads reach California, they learn that what they thought would be the Promised Land is a nightmare, with migrant laborers working in slave-like conditions. At the dirty and overcrowded Hooverville camp, Tom strikes a police officer to defend a young man, Floyd Knowles, and Jim Casy steps in to take the fall. This dark portion of the novel contrasts with the safety and joy the family finds in the government camp. When they go to Hooper Ranch, the horrors look even worse in comparison, since landowners have clearly made a choice to prioritize profits even when it leads to conflict and violence.  

The climax of the novel comes with Jim Casy’s death. Just before he dies, Jim Casy begs Tom to convince his family to join the labor organizers, but Tom feels impotent and doesn’t think anything can change. When the police attack Casy, however, Tom immediately strikes back against Casy’s murderers. His anger protects not only himself but the dignity of all migrant laborers. Once Tom’s wrath has been reawakened, he is able to fully embrace Jim Casy’s message.  

The falling action begins with the family’s escape from the Hooper ranch and Tom’s exit from the family to continue Jim Casy’s mission of labor organizing. At the conclusion of the novel, Rose of Sharon, Tom’s sister, nurses a dying man with her breast milk, suggesting a rebirth of possibility and a communion of the Joads with the other migrant laborers into one family. 

Common Misunderstandings about Plot  

Some people colloquially use the word “plot” to mean “the sequence of events in a story,” but it's much tighter and more specific than that. The plot tracks a series of particular events that propel the story forward. Characters take actions that have consequences, or events happen to a character that force them to make choices.  

Why Does the Plot Matter? 

Without a strong plot, a story may have plenty of things going on, but it will feel meandering and pointless. Readers want to feel that a story has stakes, that what happens matters to the characters. Those stakes – the outcome if the conflict doesn’t go the way the main character wants it to – propel the action of the story forward.  

In addition, paying attention to the plot forces readers to identify the key characters, conflicts, and events that determine the story. It allows them to see beyond the smaller details and visualize the shape of the story arc. Similarities between different stories become more apparent when readers are able to pare down to the key essentials of character, conflict, and consequences.

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