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Pentadic Analysis

Pentadic analysis is the application of Kenneth Burke’s dramatism as a rhetorical device to understand the conflict or tensions inherent to most narrative drama. As a literary theorist, Burke believed that analyzing the focus that a narrator placed on some features of a conflict over others could provide insight into the narrator’s perspective. As the name implies, the core of pentadic analysis is a focus on five elements argued by Burke to be common to all narratives: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. These are collectively referred to as the dramatistic pentad, and understanding both their construction and their relation to one another is a valuable method for unpacking the intended motives behind a character’s (or narrator’s) actions within a story—in many cases, these motives are even an extension of the author’s own worldview. This entry introduces the key elements of the dramatistic pentad and explores how the dramatistic pentad is used to analyze texts in the communications research field.

Dramatistic Pentad

Burke asserted that while narratives differ greatly from each other, all narratives are essentially human dramas that both (a) feature some form of five common rhetorical devices and (b) place those devices into some sort of hierarchal structure. The following discussion outlines each of the rhetorical devices (in no particular order) and following this, the importance of understanding their relationships to each other is explored. Notably, given that pentadic analyses are heavily influenced by Burke’s initial writings, where appropriate this entry offers Burke’s definition of each element as defined in his early writings (most notably, his 1945 book, A Grammar of Motives) for completeness.

Act

The act of a narrative is concerned with the action verbs associated with the purposeful act that took place. Burke defines the act as the point at which any given narrative identifies “what took place, in thought or deed” (p. xv). The act of narrative conflict is usually the point at which some activity places the actors or forces of a drama in opposition of each other. Essentially, studying the act of any given narrative is seeking to answer the following question: What act took place?

Agent

The agent of a narrative is associated with understanding which characters or social forces are responsible for the act. Burke defines the agent as the “person or kind of person [that] performed the act” (p. xv). The agent, from a dramatism perspective, is usually the person or entity responsible for the act. Analysis of the agent is typically associated with answering the following question: Who caused or substantiated the act?

Agency

Understanding agency is concerned with analyzing the means or methods by which an act took place; this is defined by Burke as understanding the instrument or instruments used by the agent to commit the act. Analysis of agency focus on the deeper meaning and symbolism behind the implements used by the agent to carry out the act, and seeks answers to the following question: How was the act committed?

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