Here is that list reformatted as 100 analytical prompts, with examples included to guide your analysis or creative work.
🎭 Character Prompts
Analyze the Protagonist: (e.g., Winston Smith in 1984; Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice; Harry Potter)
Analyze the Antagonist: (e.g., Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter; Iago in Othello; Big Brother in 1984)
Analyze a Foil Character: (e.g., Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes; Draco Malfoy to Harry Potter; Laertes to Hamlet)
Analyze the Deuteragonist: (e.g., Samwise Gamgee to Frodo; Ron and Hermione to Harry; Dr. Watson to Holmes)
Analyze the Mentor/Guide: (e.g., Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings; Dumbledore in Harry Potter; Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Identify and Analyze an Archetype: (e.g., The "Trickster" like Loki; The "Innocent" like Ophelia in Hamlet; The "Rebel" like Han Solo)
Identify and Analyze a Stock Character: (e.g., The "Damsel in Distress"; The "Mad Scientist" like Dr. Frankenstein; The "Hard-Boiled Detective")
Trace a Dynamic Character's change: (e.g., Ebenezer Scrooge; Walter White; Elizabeth Bennet)
Analyze a Static Character's function: (e.g., Atticus Finch; Sherlock Holmes; Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Analyze a Round Character's complexity: (e.g., Hamlet; Scarlett O'Hara; Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment)
Analyze a Flat Character's purpose: (e.g., Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet; Crabbe and Goyle in Harry Potter; Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice)
Define a Character's Arc: (e.g., Scrooge's journey from misanthropy to generosity; Katniss Everdeen's journey from survivor to revolutionary; Macbeth's fall from hero to tyrant)
Analyze the impact of a Backstory: (e.g., Snape's memories in the Pensieve; The story of Tom Riddle's past; The opening sequence of the film Up)
Identify a character's Internal Motivation: (e.g., Hamlet's need for existential proof; Raskolnikov's desire to be a "superman"; Macbeth's ambition)
Identify a character's External Motivation: (e.g., Katniss's need to protect her sister; Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring; A character needing to win prize money)
Identify a character's Fatal Flaw (Hamartia): (e.g., Macbeth's ambition; Othello's jealousy; Oedipus's hubris)
Pinpoint a character's Epiphany: (e.g., Scrooge realizing his errors with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come; Elizabeth Bennet reading Darcy's letter; The narrator's realization in Joyce's "Araby")
Find examples of Direct Characterization: (e.g., "Scrooge was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone"; "Mr. Collins was a tall, heavy-looking young man...")
Find examples of Indirect Characterization: (e.g., Showing a character's messy room to imply chaos; A character's dialect revealing their origin; Showing Darcy's kindness to his sister)
Analyze the use of Internal Monologue: (e.g., "To be or not to be..." in Hamlet; Molly Bloom's soliloquy in Ulysses; The narration in The Catcher in the Rye)
Analyze the function of Dialogue: (e.g., The witty banter in Much Ado About Nothing; The sparse subtext of Hemingway; The philosophical debates in The Brothers Karamazov)
Analyze the use of Dialect or Idiolect: (e.g., Hagrid's accent in Harry Potter; The dialogue in Trainspotting; Jim's speech in Huckleberry Finn)
📈 Plot & Structure Prompts
Identify the Exposition: (e.g., The opening crawl of Star Wars; The first chapter of 1984; Nick Carraway's introduction in The Great Gatsby)
Identify the Inciting Incident: (e.g., Hagrid tells Harry he's a wizard; Katniss volunteers for Prim; Frodo inherits the One Ring)
Map the Rising Action: (e.g., The "Tests" in The Odyssey; Elizabeth and Darcy's tense encounters; The hunt for Horcruxes in Harry Potter)
Pinpoint the Climax: (e.g., The final duel between Harry and Voldemort; Raskolnikov's confession; The play scene in Hamlet)
Trace the Falling Action: (e.g., Darcy's letter to Elizabeth; The Scouring of the Shire in The Lord of the Rings; Winston's time in the Ministry of Love)
Define the Resolution: (e.g., The families reconciling in Romeo and Juliet; Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage; The hobbits returning to the Shire)
Analyze the Dénouement: (e.g., The "19 years later" epilogue in Harry Potter; Nick Carraway's final thoughts on the green light; The trial's aftermath in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Analyze the use of a Linear Narrative: (e.g., The Hunger Games; The Catcher in the Rye; Of Mice and Men)
Analyze the use of a Non-linear Narrative: (e.g., Pulp Fiction; Slaughterhouse-Five; The Sound and the Fury)
Analyze the effect of In Medias Res: (e.g., The Odyssey; Oedipus Rex; The Iliad)
Analyze the function of a Flashback: (e.g., Wuthering Heights via Nelly's narration; Citizen Kane's investigation; The "Lost" TV series)
Analyze the function of a Flash-forward: (e.g., A Christmas Carol's Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come; Slaughterhouse-Five; Chronicle of a Death Foretold)
Identify examples of Foreshadowing: (e.g., The witches' prophecies in Macbeth; Lennie petting the dead mouse in Of Mice and Men; The bad weather in Frankenstein)
Identify a "Chekhov's Gun": (e.g., The pistol in Act I of Hedda Gabler; The loaded rifle in "The Veldt"; The "Heart of the Ocean" necklace in Titanic)
Analyze a Plot Twist: (e.g., The identity of Tyler Durden in Fight Club; Darth Vader being Luke's father; The narrator's sanity in The Turn of the Screw)
Identify a Red Herring: (e.g., Snape's behavior in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Judge Wargrave faking his death in And Then There Were None)
Analyze the use of a Cliffhanger: (e.g., The end of The Empire Strikes Back; The end of The Giver; The end of Gone Girl)
Analyze a Subplot: (e.g., The love triangle in King Lear; The romance between Sam and Rosie in The Lord of the Rings; The "Golden Compass" device)
Analyze a Parallel Plot: (e.g., The three timelines in Dunkirk; The "past" and "present" plots in The Godfather Part II; The separate journeys in The Two Towers)
Analyze the story's Pacing: (e.g., The rapid pace of The Da Vinci Code; The slow, methodical pace of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; The accelerating pace of Macbeth)
Identify the MacGuffin: (e.g., The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings; The briefcase in Pulp Fiction; The Maltese Falcon)
Identify an instance of Poetic Justice: (e.g., The villain undone by his own scheme like Jafar in Aladdin; The fate of the evil stepsisters in "Cinderella")
Identify a Deus ex Machina: (e.g., The eagles rescuing Frodo and Sam; The sudden inheritance in The Importance of Being Earnest; The King's army arriving just in time)
Analyze a Quest Narrative: (e.g., The Odyssey; The Lord of the Rings; Don Quixote)
Trace the The Hero's Journey: (e.g., Star Wars: A New Hope for Luke; The Matrix for Neo; Harry Potter's 7-book arc)
⚔️ Conflict Prompts
Define the Central Conflict: (e.g., Harry vs. Voldemort; The Rebellion vs. The Empire; Elizabeth's prejudice vs. Darcy's pride)
Analyze the Internal Conflict: (e.g., Hamlet's indecision; Raskolnikov's guilt; Winston Smith's "thoughtcrime")
Analyze the External Conflict: (e.g., The duel between Hamlet and Laertes; The hunt for Moby Dick; The physical journey in The Odyssey)
Analyze the "Character vs. Self" conflict: (e.g., Hamlet's "To be or not to be"; The narrator's split personality in Fight Club; Scrooge vs. his own avarice)
Analyze the "Character vs. Character" conflict: (e.g., Harry vs. Voldemort; Holmes vs. Moriarty; Othello vs. Iago)
Analyze the "Character vs. Society" conflict: (e.g., Winston Smith vs. Big Brother in 1984; Hester Prynne vs. the Puritan community; Katniss vs. the Capitol)
Analyze the "Character vs. Nature" conflict: (e.g., Santiago vs. the marlin in The Old Man and the Sea; The crew vs. the whale in Moby-Dick; The boys vs. the island in Lord of the Flies)
Analyze the "Character vs. Technology" conflict: (e.g., The crew vs. HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey; The characters vs. the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park)
Analyze the "Character vs. Supernatural/Fate" conflict: (e.g., Oedipus vs. the prophecy; Macbeth vs. the witches' prophecies; The characters vs. the "monster" in Frankenstein)
Define the Stakes: (e.g., The fate of Middle-earth; The life of Harry Potter; The love between Romeo and Juliet)
Analyze how Tension is built: (e.g., The "bomb under the table" in Hitchcock films; The slow approach of footsteps in a horror story; The silence before a duel)
Analyze how Suspense is created: (e.g., The search for the killer in And Then There Were None; Will Frodo destroy the Ring?; The near-captures in The Fugitive)
🌍 Setting & World Prompts
Analyze the Physical Location: (e.g., The bleak marshes in Great Expectations; The woods in Walden; The Overlook Hotel in The Shining)
Analyze the Time Period: (e.g., The Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby; The French Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities; The dystopian future of 1984)
Analyze the use of Time of Day: (e.g., The "witching hour" in horror stories; The oppressive midday heat in The Stranger; The hopeful dawn in The Lord of the Rings)
Analyze the role of Weather: (e.g., The storm in King Lear; The fog in The Hound of the Baskervilles; The relentless heat in Mad Max: Fury Road)
Define the Atmosphere or Mood: (e.g., The sense of dread in Dracula; The nostalgic, melancholic mood of The Catcher in the Rye; The whimsical atmosphere of Alice in Wonderland)
Analyze the Social/Political Climate: (e.g., The totalitarianism of 1984; The rigid class structure of Pride and Prejudice; The wartime paranoia of Catch-22)
Analyze the Cultural Context: (e.g., The Puritan society in The Scarlet Letter; The post-war disillusionment of The Sun Also Rises; The constraints on women in A Doll's House)
Analyze the World-building: (e.g., The magic system of Middle-earth; The Ministries and rules of Harry Potter; The districts of The Hunger Games)
Analyze the Symbolism of Setting: (e.g., The green light in The Great Gatsby; The wilderness vs. civilization in Heart of Darkness; The moors in Wuthering Heights)
Identify the use of Pathetic Fallacy: (e.g., The rain at a funeral scene; The sun shining when characters fall in love; The "cruel spring" in The Waste Land)
🗣️ Point of View & Narration Prompts
Analyze the use of First-Person POV: (e.g., The Catcher in the Rye; "Call me Ishmael" in Moby-Dick; The Great Gatsby)
Analyze the use of Second-Person POV: (e.g., Bright Lights, Big City; "Choose Your Own Adventure" books; The short story "How to Talk to a Hunter")
Analyze the use of Third-Person Limited POV: (e.g., The Harry Potter series; A Song of Ice and Fire chapters; The Old Man and the Sea)
Analyze the use of Third-Person Omniscient POV: (e.g., Middlemarch; War and Peace; The Scarlet Letter)
Analyze the use of Third-Person Objective POV: (e.g., "Hills Like White Elephants"; The Lottery; Dashiell Hammett's detective fiction)
Analyze the Unreliable Narrator: (e.g., The narrator of Fight Club; Humbert Humbert in Lolita; The Governess in The Turn of the Screw)
Define the Narrative Voice: (e.g., Holden Caulfield's cynical, teenage voice; The formal, archaic voice of Dracula; The folksy, oral voice of Huckleberry Finn)
Analyze the use of Stream of Consciousness: (e.g., Molly Bloom's soliloquy in Ulysses; The narration of Mrs. Dalloway; Benjy's section in The Sound and the Fury)
Analyze an Epistolary Narrative: (e.g., Dracula via letters and journals; The Color Purple; Frankenstein)
Analyze a Frame Story: (e.g., Frankenstein's letters framing the story; One Thousand and One Nights; Wuthering Heights's narration)
💡 Theme, Tone & Style Prompts
Define the Theme (Thematic Statement): (e.g., "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" in 1984; "Class and wealth do not equal happiness" in The Great Gatsby)
Identify the Thematic Concept: (e.g., "Love" in Romeo and Juliet; "War" in All Quiet on the Western Front; "Justice" in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Identify the story's Moral: (e.g., "Slow and steady wins the race"; "Don't judge a book by its cover"; "Be careful what you wish for")
Trace a Motif: (e.g., The "green light" in The Great Gatsby; "Blood" and "water" in Macbeth; The "whiteness" of the whale in Moby-Dick)
Analyze the use of Symbolism: (e.g., The scarlet "A" in The Scarlet Letter; The conch shell in Lord of the Flies; The mockingbird in To Kill a Mockingbird)
Analyze the use of Allegory: (e.g., Animal Farm for the Russian Revolution; The Pilgrim's Progress for the Christian journey; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Define the Tone: (e.g., The satirical, witty tone of Pride and Prejudice; The somber, tragic tone of Oedipus Rex; The cynical, dark tone of 1984)
Analyze the author's Diction (Word choice): (e.g., Hemingway's simple, concrete words; Lovecraft's ornate, "eldritch" adjectives; The academic language of Ulysses)
Analyze the author's Syntax (Sentence structure): (e.g., Hemingway's short, declarative sentences; Faulkner's long, winding sentences; The fragmented syntax in The Waste Land)
Identify a Pastiche: (e.g., Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead of Hamlet; The "Spaghetti Western" of the American Western)
Identify a Parody: (e.g., Don Quixote of chivalric romances; Gulliver's Travels of travelogues; Spaceballs of Star Wars)
🛠️ Literary Device Prompts
Analyze the use of Metaphor: (e.g., "All the world's a stage" in As You Like It; "The road was a ribbon of moonlight"; "He is a shining star")
Analyze the use of Simile: (e.g., "O my Luve is like a red, red rose"; "As solitary as an oyster" in A Christmas Carol; "He fought like a lion")
Analyze the use of Personification: (e.g., "The wind whispered through the trees"; "Death, be not proud"; "The city never sleeps")
Analyze the use of Imagery (Sensory Detail): (e.g., The description of the Valley of Ashes in The Great Gatsby; The sounds of the battlefield in The Red Badge of Courage) 9In. Analyze the use of Allusion: (e.g., The title The Sound and the Fury to Macbeth; The title Brave New World to The Tempest; Biblical allusions in Moby-Dick)
Analyze the use of Juxtaposition: (e.g., The two cities in A Tale of Two Cities; "Light" and "dark" imagery in Romeo and Juliet; The "good" vs. "evil" twin trope)
Identify an Oxymoron: (e.g., "O brawling love, O loving hate" in Romeo and Juliet; "Parting is such sweet sorrow"; "Living dead")
Identify a Paradox: (e.g., "I must be cruel, only to be kind" in Hamlet; "War is peace" in 1984; "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times")
Analyze the use of Dramatic Irony: (e.g., The audience knows Juliet is only asleep, but Romeo thinks she is dead; The audience knows Oedipus married his mother, but he doesn't)
Analyze the use of Verbal Irony (Sarcasm): (e.g., "A little more than kin, and less than kind" in Hamlet; Mark Antony calling Brutus "an honourable man"; Mr. Bennet's dry remarks in Pride and Prejudice)
Analyze the use of Situational Irony: (e.g., The fire station burning down; The marriage counselor getting a divorce; The ending of "The Gift of the Magi")
Identify the Catharsis: (e.g., The feeling of pity and fear at the end of Oedipus Rex; The emotional release at the end of King Lear)
Analyze the use of Anaphora (Repetition): (e.g., "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."; "I have a dream..."; "Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!")
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