Georges Polti

The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was first proposed by Georges Polti in 1895 to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance. Polti analyzed classical Greek texts, plus classical and contemporaneous French works. He also analyzed a handful of non-French authors. In his introduction, Polti claims to be continuing the work of Carlo Gozzi (1720–1806), who also identified 36 situations.

Publication history

This list was published in a book of the same name, which contains extended explanations and examples. The original French-language book was written in 1895. An English translation was published in 1916 and continues to be reprinted.

The list was popularized as an aid for writers, but is also used by dramatists, storytellers and others. Other similar lists have since been made.

It influenced Christina Stead and George Pierce Baker, the author of Dramatic Technique. The 36 situations have been critiqued as being "concatenations of events rather than minimal or isolable motifs".

The 36 situations

Each situation is stated, then followed by the necessary elements for each situation and a brief description.

Supplication

a persecutor; a suppliant; a power in authority, whose decision is doubtful.

The suppliant appeals to the power in authority for deliverance from the persecutor. The power in authority may be a distinct person or be merely an attribute of the persecutor, e.g. a weapon suspended in their hand. The suppliant may also be two persons, the Persecuted and the Intercessor, an example of which is Esther interceding to the king on behalf of the Jews for deliverance from the king's chief advisor.