The Narrative Structure of Elizabeth Gaskell's, Cranford and Charles Dickens', Great Expectations

Compare and contrast the narrative structure of Elizabeth Gaskell’s

Cranford and Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations

Compare and contrast the narrative structure of any two nineteenth-century novels.

The narrative structure of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford and Charles Dickens’s

Great Expectations can be compared and contrasted in many ways.

Firstly it is important to note that both of the narrators are looking back on certain

times in their lives, however Pip’s narrative reflects on a larger span of time and

perhaps more significant events in his life whereas Mary Smith reflects as an observer

on her visits to Cranford. Pip asserts himself as both a narrator and character from the

start as he informs us that ‘my father’s name being Pirrip, and my Christian name

Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit

than Pip’. ‘Pip’ is repeated at the beginning of the novel and it is the repetition of this that asserts him as the narrator. It also informs us of his age, at this point, as he is unable to pronounce his name. We are also made aware of his family background as

he is standing at the graves of his parents and states that their family’s was ‘the marsh

country, down by the river’. Thus we have an idea of the narrator’s background.

In contrast, in Cranford, Mary Smith makes no assertion of herself. We are given

no information about the narrator in the beginning as she begins by informing us that

‘in the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons’ and so nthe setting is

given priority over the identity of the narrator. The reference to the ‘Amazons’ relates

to the reference to the ‘Spartans’, which are both ironic in that the women of Cranford

that she goes on to talk about are nothing like these strong women.

Also in comparison to Great Expectations, we are informed of the name of the narrator not

from the start but in chapter fourteen, towards the end. Therefore the narrative

structure here, informs us of the importance of the narrator as it is evident that Pip is

more important as a narrator and character than Mary here as we are somewhat

acquainted with him from the start.

The voice of the narrator in Cranford is feminine as opposed to the masculine

voice of Pip. This feminine voice is evident throughout the novel as clearly, the ladies

of Cranford are described and the narrator is one of these ladies as she constantly

refers to the ladies and herself as ‘we’. Also there are not many men in the novel and