Ask the actor playing Willy Loman what he is playing in the scene with his boss in Death of a Salesman, and the useful answer is a want. "I'm trying to get Howard to take me off the road." That want is the objective, and it is what turns a page of dialogue into something happening between two people.
Without one, an actor tends to play the mood of the scene, or the meaning of each line, or their own nerves. With one, every line has somewhere to go: toward getting the thing, or away from losing it.
Where the word comes from
The idea comes from Stanislavski. The Russian word he used is closer to "task" or "problem," and English translations of his books rendered it as "objective," which is the word that stuck in most training. You will also hear "intention," "want," "goal," "need" or simply "what are you fighting for." Different teachers mean slightly different things by each, but they all point at the same question: what is this person trying to get?
The three layers: super-objective, scene objective, and the moment
Super-objective. What your character wants across the whole story. It is big and often simple: Hamlet wants to set right his father's murder, Nora in A Doll's House wants to protect the secret that could ruin her marriage, Michael Corleone wants to keep his family safe. Stanislavski connected it to the through-line of the role, the spine that every scene hangs on. You do not play the super-objective directly in any one line, but it explains why your scene objectives matter so much to you.
Scene objective. What your character wants from this scene, from these people, right now. This is the one you play. It should serve the super-objective, though characters often go after it in ways that work against their own long-term interests, which is half of drama.
Beat objectives. Some actors also name a smaller want for each section of a scene, so that the want can shift as the scene turns. If you work this way, see how beats work. Many actors keep it simpler and hold one scene objective, letting their tactics do the changing.
What makes a good objective?
Most objectives that fail on stage fail for the same handful of reasons. A good one passes these tests.
It is about the other person. "I want to feel better" sits inside you, so there is nothing to play off. "I want her to tell me I did the right thing" points at your scene partner, and makes you watch her for every flicker of whether you are getting it.
You could tell whether you are getting it. If the other person could do or say something that means you won, the objective is checkable. "I want him to apologize" is checkable. "I want to be understood" mostly is not.
It is active. Phrase it as wanting someone to do something. "I want you to..." or "to get you to..." is a reliable shape. Avoid "to be" and "to feel."
It is specific to this scene. "I want love" fits every character ever written. "I want him to ask me to stay the night" fits one.
It has stakes. If it does not matter whether you get it, the scene has no tension. Ask what happens to your character if they lose. The worse the answer, the better the objective.
Examples of weak and strong objectives
| Weak | Stronger | Why it plays better |
|---|---|---|
| Hamlet, in his mother's room: to be angry at my mother | To make my mother see Claudius for what he is | Anger is a state; seeing the truth is something she can do or refuse to do. |
| Blanche, arriving at Stella's in A Streetcar Named Desire: to feel safe | To get Stella to take me in without asking why I really left my teaching job | Points at the other person, with a yes or no at the end. |
| Harry, at the New Year's Eve party in When Harry Met Sally: to tell Sally I love her | To get Sally to believe I mean it, tonight | Telling is just saying the lines; being believed is the reason you are saying them. |
| Brody, in Jaws: to win the argument with the mayor | To get Mayor Vaughn to close the beaches | "Winning" is vague. Agreement to a specific thing is checkable. |
| Sean, on the park bench in Good Will Hunting: to show Will I'm wiser than he is | To get Will to stop hiding behind what he has read | Same impulse underneath, but now there is a finish line. |
| Ilsa, with the gun in Rick's apartment in Casablanca: to show that I'm desperate | To get Rick to hand over the letters of transit | Showing a feeling is for the audience. Wanting something is for the scene partner. |
What is an obstacle?
The obstacle is whatever stands between you and the objective. No obstacle, no scene: if you want the salt and someone passes it, the drama is over in one line.
The most common obstacle is the other character, who wants something that conflicts with what you want. Others are external (the boss is in the next room, the meter is running, it is the middle of a funeral) or internal (you are too proud to ask outright, you are afraid of the answer). Internal obstacles are why characters so rarely say what they mean, and they are the engine of subtext.
If you cannot find an obstacle, your objective is probably too easy. Raise it until the other person would genuinely resist.
Objective, obstacle, tactic
These three work as a set. The objective is what you want. The obstacle is what is in the way. Tactics are the moment-to-moment strategies you use to get past the obstacle: flattering, threatening, joking, pleading, going quiet. When one tactic fails, you switch, and those switches are a large part of what makes a scene watchable. Many actors write tactics as transitive verbs in the margin; there is a long list of them in action verbs for actors.
Willy Loman's scene with Howard is a masterclass in this. Willy wants a desk job in New York. The obstacle is Howard himself: young, distracted, more interested in his new recording machine, and with no room for an aging salesman. Willy starts by asking as if it were a reasonable formality; Howard says there is nothing. Willy bargains his salary down, and down again. He tells the story of the old salesman who inspired him to go into the business. He reminds Howard that he worked for Howard's father and was there when Howard was born. Each tactic fails, each switch is more desperate, and the scene ends with Willy losing far more than he came in to ask for. You have to play every one of those switches as if the next one might work.
How to find your objective in a scene
- Get the facts first. Your given circumstances tell you what just happened and who is in the room. Objectives grow out of them.
- Look at how the scene ends. Did your character get something, lose something, or leave without an answer? The ending often reveals what they were after.
- Look at what they keep coming back to. A character who changes the subject three times and keeps returning to the same question has shown you their want.
- Write one sentence. "I want [person] to [do something]." If you need two sentences, you have not chosen yet.
- Test it out loud. Play the scene with that objective. If the lines fight it, try another. Text usually tells you when you are wrong.
There is rarely one correct objective. There are many that fit the text, and some are more alive than others. Pick the one that gives you the most to fight for, and commit to it fully. A strong choice can be adjusted by a director in a sentence; a vague one cannot. For how objectives fit into a full breakdown alongside beats and subtext, see the scene breakdown guide.
More questions
What is the difference between an objective and a super-objective?
The objective is what your character wants in one scene. The super-objective is what they want across the whole play or film, the deep want that all their scene objectives serve. In the closet scene, Hamlet wants his mother to see Claudius for what he is, in service of a super-objective like avenging his father.
What is the difference between an objective and a tactic?
The objective is what you want. Tactics are how you go after it, and they change moment to moment as each one works or fails. You might want someone to stay, and try charming, guilting, bargaining and finally begging them. One objective, many tactics.
Is an objective the same as motivation?
Close, but motivation usually points backward, at why the character wants something. The objective points forward, at what they are trying to get right now. Actors find the objective more useful in the moment because it gives every line a direction.
Can a character have more than one objective in a scene?
They can want several things, but for playing purposes pick the one that matters most. If the objective changes partway through, usually because something big happens, that is a new beat and a new objective, and you mark it.
What is an obstacle in acting?
Whatever stands between your character and their objective. Most often it is the other person wanting something opposed, but it can be time, a rule, a third person in the room, or something inside the character, like pride or fear.