One of Paul Ricoeur’s most influential ideas in Time and Narrative is the concept of emplotment (mise en intrigue). Ricoeur argues that human beings make sense of time, events, and actions through the structure of stories. Emplotment is the act of weaving disparate events into a coherent narrative, giving them unity and meaning. Without emplotment, life would appear as a series of disconnected moments; with it, human experience takes on intelligibility and form.
The Threefold Mimesis
Ricoeur explains emplotment through his theory of threefold mimesis:
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Mimesis I (Prefiguration): The pre-narrative structures of action—our practical knowledge of motives, intentions, and goals.
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Mimesis II (Configuration): The actual work of emplotment, where events are configured into a meaningful whole.
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Mimesis III (Refiguration): The reader’s appropriation of the narrative world, where the story reshapes self-understanding and action.
Emplotment is the key step—turning the raw material of life and history into a structured whole.
Emplotment as Synthesis of the Heterogeneous
For Ricoeur, emplotment is a “synthesis of the heterogeneous.” It draws together diverse and sometimes conflicting events, characters, and actions into a narrative arc. A plot integrates beginnings, middles, and ends, creating a sense of coherence even in the midst of conflict or tragedy. In this way, emplotment does not eliminate discord but gives it form within a larger intelligible structure.
Narrative Identity and Emplotment
The concept of narrative identity depends on emplotment. We understand who we are not through static definitions but by the stories we tell about ourselves. Emplotment allows individuals to integrate their past experiences, present circumstances, and future aspirations into a life story. Similarly, communities construct collective identities by emplotting historical events into shared narratives of origin, struggle, and hope.
Emplotment and Temporality
One of Ricoeur’s most profound insights is that emplotment mediates between cosmic time (measured, objective time) and lived time (subjective experience). Narratives configure time by giving shape to its flow. A plot does not simply recount what happened; it creates a temporal order that makes events meaningful. In this way, emplotment resolves the tension between time as succession and time as human experience.
The Ethical Dimension of Emplotment
Emplotment is not only cognitive but also ethical. By refiguring life through stories, emplotment guides how individuals and societies understand responsibility, justice, and possibility. Stories can affirm or challenge existing identities, sustain collective memory, and open futures of reconciliation or transformation. Thus, emplotment shapes not just understanding but also action.
The Heart of Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics of Narrative
Ricoeur’s emplotment lies at the center of his hermeneutics. It shows how narratives give coherence to time, meaning to events, and identity to individuals and communities. Through emplotment, life becomes readable, and interpretation becomes a way of inhabiting the world.
In a fragmented age, Ricoeur’s concept reminds us that storytelling is not just aesthetic—it is the way human beings make sense of themselves, their histories, and their futures.
