Vraisemblance (French, "likelihood") is a principle developed in the theatrical literature of Classicism in France.
It demands that the actions and events in a play should be believable. The principle was sometimes used to criticize soliloquy (speaking to the audience), and in late classical plays characters are almost invariably supplied with confidants (valets, friends, nurses) to whom they reveal their emotions.
In literature, vraisemblance refers to ways 'in which a text may be brought into contact with and defined in relation to another text which helps make it intelligible' (Culler, pp. 140).
Jonathan Culler suggests five different levels of vraisemblance in literature: