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Structure
The
story of Burgoyne’s invasion of 1777 seems to have been
written by the most diligent and talented student of Aristotle
and the Hollywood paradigm. It takes us on a roller-coaster ride
from one turning point to another--beginning with a humiliating
defeat and ending with a glorious victory--skillfully employing a
number of dramatic device, such as: ticking clock, suspense,
“Complication and Unraveling”, and “Reversal and
Recognition.” It delivers a complete dramatic arc in a
three-act structure with an Inciting Incident (beginning of the
invasion), Plot Point I (the humiliating and chaotic abandonment
of Fort Ticonderoga), Plot Point II (Bennington and the second
appointment of Gates) and a complex Climax or the final
confrontation (the spectacular victories at Freeman’s Farm and
Bemis Heights). It arises “pity and fear” in order to
cleanse off them during the catharsis of Saratoga; or--to put it
in more contemporaneous terms--it makes you laugh and cry.
It is driven by a multi-layered conflict that plays itself out
on the highs of the fight for freedom as much as in the
low, dark depths of petty personal politics, unfulfilled
ambitions, jealousy and rivalry. It is full of rich,
three-dimensional characters. And it
leaves you with a number questions to ponder upon, a hypothetical
one among them: what would have
happened had Burgoyne won at Saratoga? |
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