We explain what an epilogue is, its characteristics, functions and various examples. Also, its relationship with a prologue.
What is an epilogue?
The epilogue is the final and often optional section of a work, speech or story, in which the public is offered a closing or conclusion after the outcome of the body (or the plot). This final section can be considered in a narrative or essayistic, that is, it can be part of the original framework, or it can be a kind of information Besides. It is considered the opposite of the prologue.
The word epilogue has Greek roots, which make it up by joining the voices epi- ("Over", "over") and logos ("Word", "speech" or "expression"). In the rhetoric classical was considered the last moment of all discourse, in which a recapitulation or resume argumentative of what was said, to close the speech in a high emotional peak. The ancient Romans called this peroratio.
Epilogues often appear at the end of fictional narratives (such as novels, films, plays or even video games), essays, books, or any form of discourse, playing the role of the final conclusion or last word.
Unlike prologues, epilogues are usually part of the work and are written by its author. However, it can also come from another author, so that another person complement what was said in the text.
For example, at the end of a story, after the denouement has occurred, an epilogue may appear to tell the reader what happened next to the characters. This resource is common in a certain type of biographical film, and it usually consists of written text that appears on the screen before the film's credits.
Epilogue Examples
Some examples of epilogue are as follows:
- The final texts that relate the events after the end of the film in biopics and historical films such as The Theory of Everything or Bohemian Rhapsody.
- The epilogue of the Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens written by the feminist Olympia de Gouges (1748-1793).
- The epilogue of the fictional film La la land , narrated in the same musical key as the rest of the film.
- Enrique Dans's epilogue to the book The power belongs to the people by Pablo Herreros when we have the information.
Epilogue and Prologue
The epilogue and the prologue are both added to the text itself, that is, elements that intervene from outside it; but as for their position, they are in diametrically opposite places. The term prologue also from the Greek: pro-, "before and logos, "Word" or "speech".
The prologue takes place before the play begins, as a preface or introduction to it, in which the reader is given the necessary information so that he can start reading on the right foot. The epilogue, as we know, takes place instead at the end of the work, as a definitive closure.