Dramatistic Pentad

From RhetorClick

The dramatistic pentad was developed by Kenneth Burke, noted literary critic and rhetorical scholar. It is the core idea behind dramatism, which holds that all of life is a drama, and human motives can be examined using five elements with related questions, which form the pentad:

Act- What happened? What is the action? What is going on? What action; what thoughts?

Scene- Where is the act happening? What is the background situation?

Agent- Who is involved in the action? What are their roles?

Agency- How do the agents act? By what means do they act?

Purpose- Why do the agents act? What do they want?

Sources: http://rhetorica.net/burke.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatistic_pentad