Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : Tragedy
Anticipation Stage
Three party boys are gathered in a tavern one day when they see the corpse of their friend go by and find out he was killed by a mysterious stranger named Death.
Our three "heroes" (if we can call them that) are definitely in possession of some tragic flaws that make them woefully "incomplete" (to use Booker's term). They're drinkers and gamblers who spend all their time in the tavern rather than on making honest contributions to society. Plus they curse like all get-out. When they find out about the murderer Death, however, who's been killing lots of people all over the country, they finally have a purpose. They're gonna find and kill him.
Dream Stage
The "heroes" swear a pact of brotherhood and agree to find and kill Death. They meet a mysterious old man on the road who points them to a grove of trees where they can find Death.
Here, the party boys commit to their course of action by swearing a pact to kill Death. Things seem to be going well when the Old Man is able to tell them where they can find him. For a while, it looks like they may actually accomplish their goal.
Frustration Stage
Instead of finding Death in the grove, the carousers find four bushels of gold, and forget all about their pact to kill Death.
The bushels of gold they find definitely derail the three friends from their goal; in their celebration they forget all about it. Although they are simply elated at the discovery of unexpected wealth, our Shmoop readers, keenly ware of the story's theme "greed is the root of all evil," know that this moment represents the beginning of the end for our friends.
Nightmare Stage
When the youngest of the three friends leaves the grove to get food and wine for them while they're waiting until nightfall, the two others plot to stab him upon his return so they can have the gold all to themselves. Meanwhile, the youngest gets his hands on a deadly poison and he poisons his friends' bottles of wine.
Do we really have to explain why this is the nightmare stage? Betrayal. Premeditated murder. The forces of opposition and fate are definitely closing in on our heroes now. Of course, the darkness that surrounds them is of their own making, seeing as it's their uncontained greed – their "tragic flaw," if you will – that brings about their downfall.
Destruction or Death Wish Stage
The youngest of the three returns to the grove and his friends stab him. They sit down to lunch and drink the poisoned ale, dying horribly.
Our "heroes" die because of destructive forces of their own making. 'Nuff said.