The Enigma

Disciplines > Storytelling > Plots > Polti's Situations > The Enigma

Description | Discussion | See also

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Description

Elements

• Interrogator

• Seeker

• A Problem

Summary

The Interrogator poses a Problem which the Seeker must solve.

Variants

A

1. Search for person who must be found on pain of death

B

1. A riddle to be solved on pain of death
2. A riddle to be solved on pain of death in which the poser is the coveted woman

C

1. Temptations offered with the object of discovering his name
2. Temptations offered with the object of ascertaining the sex
3. Tests for the purposes of ascertaining the mental condition

Discussion

Puzzles and problems draw the reader into the situation as they (the reader) also seeks to understand and resolve the puzzle.

A basis of the motivation we feel to resolve puzzles is the need for completion and the consequent reward of closure. Resolving enigmas makes us feel clever and intellectual and hence more able to face life's other challenges.

More general temptations play to basic needs and desires.

'The Enigma' is the 11th of Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations.

See also

The need for completion