The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [159]
The nature of the story's ending then depends entirely on how its hero or heroine have aligned themselves to the dark power. If the central figure has remained or ended up in opposition to the dark power, we see that, in this final act of liberation, there is a prize of infinite value to be won: a treasure to be won from the darkness; a captive `Princess' or `Prince' to be freed from its clutches; a community to be redeemed from its shadows. We see that the hero or heroine have ended up fulfilled and complete, in a way which through most of the story would have seemed unthinkable. They have reached some central goal to their lives.
If, on the other hand, the hero or heroine have become irrevocably identified with the dark power, the story will end in their destruction. But even this comes about according to the same rules which govern stories with a happy ending. So much have the central figures of Tragedy become the chief source of darkness in their story that only when they are removed by death can the light again emerge from the shadows. For all those forced to live in that shadow, this in itself can end the story on the familiar note of liberation. The wider community is restored to wholeness. Just as in a story which comes to a happy ending, it is a victory for life.
Thus in any story which is completely resolved, the basic pattern remains the same. In the end, darkness is overcome and light wins the day. In fact what ultimately distinguishes each of the basic plots is simply that each looks at this common theme from a different angle. Each lays emphasis on a particular aspect of that universal plot which lies behind them all.
The road to self-realisation
The Overcoming the Monster story is in a sense the most basic of all the plots because it focuses attention on this conflict with the dark power to the exclusion of almost everything else. The word `monster' comes from the Latin monstrum, meaning `something put on show, as in our word `demonstration'. It also came to mean `a freak of nature, as in all those abnormal, deformed or just unfamiliar human beings or animals which in former times were put on show in fairgrounds, circuses or zoos. Whatever outward form it takes, the one thing the monster in stories can never be, as we have seen, is a whole, perfect human being. It is, by definition, a representation of human imperfection: and in no respect more than the way it is wholly egocentric, prepared to sacrifice anyone and everything else in the world to its own interests.
The essence of the monster, in short, is that, dressed up in symbolic form, it is a hugely magnified personification of the human capacity for egotism, which is invariably shown as immensely powerful, unfeeling for others but also in some crucial respect blind, lacking in understanding. Since this monster is invariably shown in a story as posing a deadly threat to a whole community of people, it is presented as a mortal enemy to the human race. As soon as we are made aware of the monster's existence, we know the only way the story can reach a satisfactory resolution is that it must be destroyed. That is why it is so important that, when the hero emerges, we are never left in any doubt as to why he is set in complete opposition to the monster, the positive to everything in which the monster is negative. He is not egocentric. He is always battling on behalf of the wider community. He is thus shown as representing the forces of life against death.
Yet at the same time it is crucial that, as the action of the story unfolds, we should see the hero himself growing in stature. When he first appears it might seem unthinkable that he should be able to confront the monster's awesome power. This is only reinforced when he finally confronts his opponent, even falling into its clutches. Towards the end, however, when the hero has worked out how to get the measure of his antagonist, we begin to see him in a new commanding light. Even James Bond invariably