The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [45]
A second way in which a story naturally takes shape in the human imagination is that which shows how some young, unrecognised hero or heroine is eventually lifted out of obscurity, poverty and misery to a state of great splendour and happiness. But their upward progress is unlikely to be a continuous unbroken climb, and most Rags to Riches stories, except the very simplest versions, may well unfold through a recognisable series of stages like this:
1. Initial wretchedness at home and the `Call': We are first introduced to the young hero or heroine in their original lowly and unhappy state, usually at home. The most obvious reason for their misery is that they are overshadowed by malevolent `dark' figures around them, who scorn or maltreat them. This phase ends when something happens to call or send them out into a wider world.
2. Out into the world, initial success: Although this new phase maybe marked by new ordeals, the hero or heroine are here rewarded with their first, limited success, and may have some prevision of their eventual glorious destiny. They may make a first encounter with their `Princess' or `Prince, and may even outstrip `dark rivals'; but only in some incomplete fashion, and it is made clear that they are not yet ready for their final state of complete fulfilment.
3. The central crisis: Everything suddenly goes wrong. The shadows cast by the dark figures return. Hero or heroine are separated from that which has become more important to them than anything in the world, and they are overwhelmed with despair. Because of the earlier lift in their fortunes, and because they are so powerless, this is their worst moment in the story.
4. Independence and the final ordeal: As they emerge from the crisis, we gradually come to see the hero or heroine in a new light. Although still unfulfilled, they are discovering in themselves a new independent strength. As this develops, it must at last be put to a final test, again usually involving a battle with some powerful dark figure who stands, as a dark rival, between them and their goal; and this forms the climax to the whole story. Only when this has been successfully resolved, and the shadow over their lives wholly removed, are they at last liberated to move to the final stage.
5. Final union, completion and fulfilment: Their reward is usually a state of complete, loving union with the `Princess' or `Prince'. They may also finally succeed to some kind of `kingdom, the nature of which is not spelled out but which, from their mature and developed state, implies a domain over which they will rule wisely and well. The story thus resolves on an image which signifies a perfect state of wholeness, lasting indefinitely into the future ('they lived happily ever after').
As in the Overcoming the Monster plot, we see that, at its deepest level, the Rags to Riches story unfolds through alternating phases of constriction and expansion. We begin with the hero or heroine weighed down by the contempt and even persecution to which they are exposed in the opening scenes. This is followed by the sense of a gradual opening out and lifting of their hopes as they go out into the world and meet with their modest early successes. But this is abruptly ended by the shock of the central crisis, imposing a new sense of constriction. Again there is a gradual opening out, as they develop a deeper maturity, until this is put to a climactic test, when the sense of constriction is at its most severe. Only then can we see the final act of liberation which enables them to emerge triumphant at the end of the story, having won the prize which gives them a sense of complete fulfilment and a hold on life which will continue indefinitely into the future.
The dark version
Once we are familiar with the essential outlines of this type of story we can recognise a variation on the theme which maybe called the `dark' version of the Rags to Riches plot. This is the sort of tale which shows a hero or heroine who attempts to follow the general pattern of the climb from rags to riches, but in some