What is an episode: shades of the meaning of the word

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Human life is a continuous stream of events. Each of them has a beginning and an end, is self-sufficient, but at the same time it is often a consequence of the previous ones or entails subsequent ones.

Getting to know the concept

These events can be described with a capacious and short word: episodes. It is applicable both to the fate of a single individual and to entire nations. In addition, as a special term, the word is widely used in literature, cinematography and other arts. Let's look at what an episode is. Greek in origin, this word is translated as “insertion”, “inserted fragment”. For example, you were going to the store, went out, but on the way you were overtaken by a downpour. To hide from him, you jumped under the roof of the nearest cafe, sat down at a table, ordered juice and, while drinking it, met the eyes of a guy who looked like your ex-lover. Because of a quarrel, you broke up a long time ago, but life has ceased to stick together. And now you are already dialing a number that has not been called for a hundred years. What is an episode in this case? A chain of several incidents, completely random, as a result of which two lovers will reconcile and behappy. And the rain might not have come, you might have looked into another cafe, or the tablemate suddenly would not have turned out to be so similar to the one who is dear to you!

Conclusion - what is an episode? A small piece of reality that has a certain - important or secondary - meaning. The ancient Greeks, who gave the interpretation of the word, were largely fatalists and believed in the predestination of everything that happens to us. From this point of view, what is an episode? A phenomenon, tragic or happy, necessarily filled with a certain meaning, which a person cannot always recognize immediately. Since it happened, it must have happened.

An episode in voluminous fiction

There is nothing accidental in a work of art either, each fragment is carefully calibrated and thought out by the author, each has its own task and role. What is an episode in literature? This is part of the plot, an offshoot from the main action, necessary for a more complete disclosure of the nature of the characters, the conflict, the theme, the idea of the work.

For example, Tatyana and Onegin's letters to each other are inserted episodes. Pushkin could have simply mentioned them, but he acquaints readers with both texts. After all, both letters help us understand the depth of feelings of the characters, they are an excellent means of self-disclosure, self-characterization. Or another such example. Raskolnikov from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, considering a plan to kill an old pawnbroker, enters a tavern, where he meets a drunken Marmeladov. He tells Raskolnikov about his bitterhopeless life, about the unfortunate Sonechka. And this episode becomes the very drop that overwhelms the hero's patience and doubts about the crime he has conceived. Thus, the episode has a relative independence and completeness, especially when it comes to a major work of art.

Episode in essays of small form

And what is an episode in a story, what is its role in small works? By and large, the same as in novels and short stories.

Let's take Turgenev's story "The Date" and the episode of Akulina's waiting for her lover, Victor, for research. She harmoniously fits into the bright landscape of the autumn day, sweet, naive, pure, like the surrounding nature. Against her background, Victor looks especially pompous and false, like a rough fake next to natural, natural. Akulina is a simple peasant woman, her lover is a valet who adopts the habits of his master. Using the technique of contrast, Turgenev emphasizes the moral superiority and spiritual purity of people from the people.

Cinema Episode

In feature films, episodes are small fragments that play an insignificant role in the semantic outline of the work. These are the so-called minor form episodes.

But there are also large ones, equal in size to full-fledged series. In the once famous Star Wars, each new issue was called like this: episode two, three, etc.