The Revenger's Strategem; or, The tragical historie of Shelby the glazier

(This is the basic outline of a Jacobean Tragedy to be developed later.)

Prologue
If there is disorder in the kingdom, it is the manifestation of the disorder of the king. To heal the canker in the body politic, the head of the serpent must be severed. In doing so, the disease of the king can spread to the avenger and be perpetuated in the new generation.

Act 1
Mad king does mad things and issues a crazy proclamation. The queen puts on brave face for court, but is spied on by servants who see her galloping her horse toward the hovel of a witch.

Act 2
Courtiers plot to depose the king by political means and thwarted by the king's minons. Subplot of exiled son of prior king and his country bride being discovered by fleeing courtiers.

Act 3
Courtiers flee the kingdom after king initiaties a purge of all residents with arbitrary characteristics (tone of voice, word choice, body posture). King manifests meterological events (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes) which level the castle. By magical means (from the queen and the witch) the castle is restored, though vulnerable to the king's future assaults.

Act 4
The skies darken on the sabbath, dark spirits are conjured from the past, and generations of dishonored dead take control of the kingdom. The king is consumed by his creation as a shockwave is sent beyond the castle into the woods beyond.

Act 5
The forces of the son of the exiled king (including courtiers who have turned away from the current king, the queen, and the witch) storm the castle and do vanquish with the forces of darkness. The son of the exiled king is crowned and adorned in the mantle of state which transform the new king into the vanquished king. The new king's first words are the vanquished king's proclamation.

Epilogue
The plum tree that drops its fruit into the stagnant pool feeds a festering brew of decay and rot. The brine that feeds the tree infects every fiber, every branch, blossom, and root. It is they cycle of life, the exchanged breath, forever unbroken.

Exeunt omnes.