3 A Shakespearean Teaches Narrative
Dr. Heidi Cephus
Push play on the soundbar above to listen to part 1 of this chapter.
Push play on the soundbar above to listen to part 2 of this chapter.
25 min read
AShakespeareanTeachesNarrative._print
What You Will Learn in this Chapter
In this chapter, you will learn how to write a narrative that engages your reader and accomplishes your purpose. You will use the framework of theater to think about ways in which you can make your narrative come to life for your audience. By the end of this chapter, you will be ready to construct your own scene, select relevant details, and show your reader the importance of your story.
Key Terms
The following key terms from the theater world will help you think more deeply about your narrative:
- Plot
- In Media Res
- Soliloquy
- Thrust Stage
- Audience / Spectator
Writing a Narrative that Comes to Life
What is a Narrative?
In simple terms, a narrative is a story or an account of events. Narratives allow us to identify and explain patterns in the world around us, helping our audience understand our experiences.
The storytelling at the center of a narrative is an act of memory making that responds to a basic human desire to be understood and remembered. Shakespeare captures this desire as Hamlet expresses his dying wish to his friend Horatio: “If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,” he urges, “draw thy breath […] / To tell my story” (5.2.349).[1] Lin-Manuel Miranda echoes this sentiment as the cast of Hamilton sings, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” at the end of the musical. Researchers across disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology, marketing, literature, and rhetoric and writing studies emphasize the importance of storytelling, or narrative, to the human experience.[2]
Storytelling is something that you already do on a daily basis. When you email a professor after missing class or recount the events of your drive to work to explain why you were late to a boss, you use narrative. You also use narrative to describe the events of a party, game, a class to a friend who was unable to attend. And, you consume narrative every day in the conversations you have with friends, the music you listen to, the TV shows you watch, and the media you consume both intentionally and unintentionally.
Because stories are so integral to our everyday lives, you have likely noticed narratives vary in their effectiveness. Have you ever listened to a friend tell a story, only to ask (perhaps silently), “What was the point?” Or, even worse, maybe you thought, “That doesn’t make sense.”
As you construct your own narrative, you need to make sure that you effectively convey events and communicate your purpose. For this chapter, I define narrative as an account of events, organized logically and brought to life for the audience through intentional use of sensory details to accomplish a specific purpose. This definition lays out the key components of a narrative:
- An account of e