Narrative Structure Components

1. Narrative Structure Components
Vladimir Propp was a Russian and Soviet formalist scholar who came to the conclusion all folk tales
were made up of 31 plot elements from the hundreds he had researched from which he named
functions. He also discovered despite lots of characters, which appeared in the folk tales they could
all fit into 1 or more of 8 categories. These character types are;
The first type is the hero. The story being told is the story of the Hero, usually looking for
something, on a quest or trying to solve something, on a mystery. This would make the hero the
main character and is usually the person who we want to succeed in the story. An example of a hero
in a story would be Princess Anna in Disney’s movie ‘Frozen’. The storyline follows her as she tries to
find her sister who ran away after making the town have an eternal winter due to her misuse of her
magic powers. My own children’s book of Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t feature a main hero, as there is
no problem that needs to be solved. In a sense, Rumpelstiltskin could be seen as the hero as he is
the one to aid the girl when he helps her spin straw into money.
The second character that is always present in a story is the Villain. The villain is often known to
have conflict with the hero and is typically shown as morally bad. The negative characteristics of the
villain highlight the hero to be stronger which makes the hero appeal to the audience more. Prince
Hans in Frozen is the villain however is first perceived as good. Again, there is no real villain in
Rumpelstiltskin however there are characters’ acts that would be seen as bad and greedy and may
make them out to be the villain. It can be argued that Rumpelstiltskin is the villain, as he demands
rewards from the girl out of greed however on the other hand, the King could be seen as the villain
due to the fact he is also demanding money despite him being the King.
Another character type traditionally in folk and fairy tales in the Princess or the prize. The princess
could be the prize however the prize could also be an object, which is wanted or needed by the
Hero. During the film Frozen, there is no princess as the prize although the ending of the eternal
winter could be seen as the prize. Nevertheless to end the eternal winter Princess Anna must find
her sister who ran away, resulting in the finding of her sister being a second prize as they are the
only family they both have left. In Rumpelstiltskin, the money is the prize and is wanted by the King
who isn’t necessarily the Hero. There are also the rewards such as her ring, necklace and crown that
the girl is giving Rumpelstiltskin in return for spinning the straw into money, which is also seen as a
prize to him.
The fourth character type is the Helper; this is the character that accompanies the hero on their
journey. The limitations of the helper such as their fears or weaknesses much like the villain
highlight and remind the audience how moral the hero is. In Frozen, the helpers are Kristoff and his
reindeer Sven, who Princess Anna meets along the way. Kristoff’s business of selling ice may be
going out of business if there is nothing but ice due to the weather, and so offers so help Anna find
her sister using his sleigh. In the storyline of Rumpelstiltskin, there is no journey and so there is no
real helper. However the messenger, who travels around the town asking people if they know
Rumpelstiltskin is a character who could potentially be the helper as even though he is not
accompanied by the girl, he is helping her out in her task to find out Rumpelstiltskin’s name.

2. The Donor, the next character type, is the person who aids the hero on their quest by giving them
something such as a magical weapon or a piece of knowledge. This role could be combined with
another character such as the helper. The donor may be hesitant to give the hero the help and so
may set the hero a task or give them a riddle to gain the object that will help them on their journey.
In Frozen, the snowman that comes to life, Olaf is the Donor and when Princess Anna and Kristoff
are searching for the Princess’ sister, he is introduced and shows them where Elsa is. In
Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin could be viewed as the helper as he is the one who turns the straw
to money and gives it to the girl.
The Princess’ Father is the next character type out of the eight and is normally the key figure for the
hero to persuade if his quest is to rescue his daughter however there is sometimes the issue of the
Princess’ father favouring the false hero over the real hero. In Frozen this character is not in the film
as it is explained at the start that the Princesses’ parents are killed in a storm out at sea, however
instead it could be said that the character she needs to persuade is her sister, in order for her to
come back to the town and stop the everlasting winter. In Rumpelstiltskin he Princesses father or
the queen’s father doesn’t need persuading as he is the one who wants his daughter to marry the
king which is why he tell him that she can spin straw into money.
The False Hero may first appear heroically and so could initially be mistaken for the real hero. The
false hero may also try to steal the hero’s thunder, take the credit and also try and marry the
princess instead. Prince Hans is the false hero in Frozen as he is perceived as good however is
leading Princess Anna to believe he loves her just so he can become King of the town. In
Rumpelstiltskin, there isn’t a clear false hero however, again Rumpelstiltskin himself could be the
false hero as at the beginning he is shown as a character helping out another character when she is
in need however then demands things for his actions and then becomes clear his actions are out of
greed.
The last character type that features in stories is the dispatcher, who has the role of sending the
hero on the mission. This character could be a family member however if the story includes one, it
could be the Princess’ father who gives the hero a quest and in return he can marry the princess.
The dispatcher, like other roles may be combines with another role. In Frozen it is not clear who the
dispatcher is as Princess Anna herself decides she needs to go on the quest to find her sister
however it could be Prince Hans who is the false hero/villain as he does not stop Princess Anna from
going on the quest but only encourages her to do so. The dispatcher in Rumpelstiltskin again is not a
main role for any of the characters. It could be the girl’s father as he is the character which states
his daughter can turn the straw into gold and so he is the character who sets her the task or
fulfilling his declaration.

3. Todorov was a Russian structuralist who believed all narratives followed the same storyline path. He
created a 3 step storyline idea that he later developed into a 5 step version;
Equilibrium: This is the story starts. The scene is set and the characters are living their lives as they
normally would. The day is ordinary.
Disequilibrium: This is the main part of the story. This is the key part for the majority of the story to
take place in. An event occurs which disrupts the life of the characters. This even could be any small
even such as someone not waking up at the right time to something progressively bigger such as a
car crash or a fire. No matter what the event, the main focus point of the story is now this event the
characters reaction to the event and them trying to stop the event or make it better which would
then lead back to the equilibrium.
New Equilibrium: This is the end of the story. Much like equilibrium, the characters are back to their
normal daily lives or as normal as they can be and the even has passed. Very rarely stories may not
have this part and may have more than one story that follow on and so leave a cliff-hanger and
show this part in the next storyline.
5 Step version:
1. A state of equilibrium (all is well)
2. A disruption of that order by an event
3. A recognition that disorder has occurred
4. An attempt to repair the damage of disorder
5. A return or restoration of new equilibrium
Claude Levi Strauss, a French theorist, came up with the idea of binary opposition. The idea behind
this theory is that there can only be a story when two opposing sides come together. For example
Good vs Evil
Men vs Women
Police vs Criminals
Young vs Old
Human vs Aliens/Robots
Human vs Animals
The types of structure are the features of a storyline. They come in pairs and a plot is either one or
the other.
Open: If a storyline is open, a conclusion is not found, the characters go on and on. Soap Operas and
comic books operate this way where the stories run from episode to episode.
Closed: Closed narratives do reach a conclusion. Most films have a closed narrative where a story
starts and ends within the time the filmlasts.
Single-strand: A narrative with a single strand plot has only one plot and storyline. Children’s books
are a popular example of a form of media that have a single strand as more than one would be too
complex for children and there would be no room for more as children’s books are generally quite
short.
Multi-strand: A multi-strand narrative consists of several different storylines. Soap operas, again is
an example of this as it features lots of different storyline of about lots of different characters.

4. Linear: If a storyline is linear then the story starts at the beginning and works its way through until
the end. All the events happen in order and each step of the story follows the pervious one.
Journalism is a popular example of this structure.
Non-Linear: Non-linear narratives however don’t go straight though the story in chronological
order. These storylines tend to jump backwards and forwards and may contain flash backs and flash
forwards such as in the movie Back To The Future.
Realist: Narratives with a realist structure reflect real life. They contain authentic events that could
happen anywhere in everyday life.
Anti-realist: This is the reverse of realist narratives and involves events characters and locations,
which do not exist or are highly likely if not impossible to exist or find. Sci-fi and fantasy films tend
to have anti realist structured storylines.
My storybook, which is based on Rumpelstiltskin, has a closed storyline as this plot reaches a
conclusion of the girl guessing the man’s name and then resulting in him disappearing and never
bothering her again. The storyline that runs through this narrative is the story of the king giving the
girl tasks of spinning straw into money and Rumpelstiltskin doing the task for her as she in unable to
achieve it. This is only one storyline and so therefore makes this book single-strand. There are no
flashbacks or flash forwards in Rumpelstiltskin and it is completely unrealistic similar to most
fairytales which means the story is not only linear but also anti realist.