The critic M.H. Abrams defines narratology as dealing with “the type of narrators, the identification of structural elements… recurrent narrative devices, and the analysis of the kinds of discourse by which a narrative gets told…” (Abrams and Harpham, A glossary of literary terms.) The narrative structure, or narratology, in The Gloria Scott is unusual and different to that of most of the other Sherlock Holmes stories. It begins with Watson narrating (which is nothing unusual as Watson usually narrates), however, as the story progresses, it is Sherlock Holmes who assumes the narrative, moving into a frame narration and Watson becomes a peripheral first narrator. Once Holmes has revealed all the clues, it is then Trevor Senior who takes up the narration to reveal how all the clues are connected and to fill in any gaps of knowledge that the clues have not already revealed to …show more content…
As Trevor Senior narrates, it is then Sherlock who, in a way, becomes the peripheral first narrator as he is the one recounting the story that Trevor Senior has told him, with Watson writing it all down. This, however, does not reveal to the reader a whole lot about the story or the plot itself, or its effects, as Wayne C. Booth states in the chapter Types of Narration in The Rhetoric of Fiction, “To say that a story is told in the first or the third person will tell us nothing of importance unless we become more precise and describe how the particular qualities of the narrators relate to specific effects.” (Booth, p.150). One possible reason for Doyle choosing the type of narration he did was to create suspense, ‘“The supply of game for London is going steadily up,”
First, the narrator sets the mood of the text. He is a character, an agent in the action of the story. He fits it completely. He's a real "cool" guy, Marlowe. I picture him just sitting back in a thick green leather chair in a poorly lit, dingy little room, slowly drawing on a cigarette (watching the ash grow), swirling a drink in the other hand and spilling out the story in the concise, natural rhythm of his speech &emdash; street speech. He is super-casual. He upholds his law; he's not bad -- he's not good either. He's laid back. He's street smart &emdash; he knows people. He doesn't always follow the law, but he fights the scofflaws. He's Sherlock underground American style. He's a lady's man. He's in control. He's a one on the Richter Scale. He's suave enough to spill out awesome figurative language with seamless ease.
The dialogue a narrator uses with characters in a short story reflects on how the story is being understood by the reader. A character’s dialogue is assumed to be controlled by the author, and then the reader comprehends the dialogue through different points of view in which is told by a narrator. Which point of view the author uses can change how the reader may understand the story. Understanding a story is not just based off the ability to comprehend the plot, setting, characters, and theme. But importantly, understanding what point of view the narrator is in and whether the narrator has dialogue with characters within the story is important. The short story “Lusus Naturae”, written by Margaret Atwood, it’s a short story told by a first person narrator who is a main character in the story but has very minimum dialogue with the other characters. Another short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, written by James Baldwin, is
The narrator is the person telling the story and can range from one to several, within a single story. How the author develops the narration will direct how their work is perceived by the reader. The narrator can present the story reliably or dishonestly, from a compelling view to an ironic view. The author can lose or gain pertinent information simply by changing the narration. Narration is a guide for the reader “…it requires the invention of a narrator,” Diane Middlebook said, “who serves as a contemporary guide to the materials of the book…” (Middlebrook). The narrator of a story is fundamental to the reader’s understanding and, any changes to the narration can change the stories understanding entirely.
...he met the detective, fell victim to Moriarty’s games. “Moriarty is playing with your mind too. Can’t you see what’s going on!” (Sherlock). During Holmes’ last days before his faked suicide, he pleads with John to see reason through Jim’s manipulations, as does Desdemona with Othello’s accusations. Even Sherlock’s oldest friend Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade was doubting Holmes’ credibility.
The relationship between rhetoric and truth is a highly conflicted topic. Two philosophers that discuss this topic are Plato and Nietzsche. Plato argues that rhetoric is merely a useful craft that deals only in the subjective and material world rather than in the pursuit of true knowledge. Nietzsche, on the other hand, argues that absolute truths are unobtainable since individuals are incapable of being completely objective, thereby rendering the debate between rhetoric and truth meaningless. Although both are valid points of view, Nietzsche’s argument appears to hold more weight insofar as it seems to solve the debate between rhetoric and truth by eliminating absolute truth altogether.
In this essay you will read about Watson’s perspective. This essay will also include how the author developed Watson’s perspective in each passage. Watson has two different perspectives towards Holme’s through the passages, “Sherlock Holmes and the Blue Carbuncle” and “How Watson Learned the Trick.”
First, in the book, the boy called Cartwright is a very useful helper to Holmes who often does the tasks that involve running around and transporting materials and knowledge to him. The play, however, eliminates him from the story. More importantly, though, the play also excludes Laura Lyons and Mr. Frankland. Laura Lyons is an essential part of the plot line because she introduces the connection between Stapleton and Sir Charles. She also told them about Stapleton's suspicious actions. She is a major part of solving the mystery for the reader, this made her a necessary part of the plot in the book. The Play, however, doesn’t need her because the play isn't about solving the mystery, it is about making the reader laugh. Mr. Frankland is needed in the book because he is used to help Watson find Holmes in the hills, but in the play, he doesn’t add any comical relief so they just took him out. Meanwhile, the addition of some scenes, like the steam room is apparent in the book. Here, instead of meeting Sir Henry at their living quarters, they meet him at a steam room and it is from here where they see the man with the beard in the taxi stalking Sir Henry. The addition of the steam room contributes to the comical feel of the play because it is a much funnier way to introduce the
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1912) is yet another essential novel, that marked and defined the genre science fiction. Set in an expedition to a plateau in South America, the reporter Edward Malone tells his journey along with the hot-headed and eccentric Professor George Edward Challenger. What differentiates the protagonists from Doyle’s, what was soon to be known as Challenger Tales, his Sherlock Holmes series, is not only the ambiguity in attitude, as Sherlock Holmes is considered self-controlled and analytical, whereas Challenger portrays the stellar opposite, but also the way both novels are being narrated. Whereas former novel series has Sherlock’s assistant Dr. Watson as the narrator of the protagonists adventures, The Lost
Having Christopher narrating the book in first person is important because it is easier for the reader to understand his written account of the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Sheers dog (Wellington); A step by step investigation is projected and shown to the reader when narrated in first person.
Rhetoric is the art of effective speaking or writing, and persuasion. Most people use rhetoric numerous of times in their everyday life without their concern or knowing.
Fiction is primarily aimed at eliciting emotions of others. When a reader becomes deeper engaged in a fictional story, they often forget how fictional the story really is and enthralled in the characters.This deeper connection in turn leads to an experience of the emotions of the characters; causing a deeper connection to the reading. According to Bruner (Bruner J 1986), a person reading fiction will react more towards a story than when you would read a non-fictional story because fiction provides a safe place for a reader to be able to experience emotions without the need for being self conscious. Fiction allows the reader to move out of real life. It’s easy to sympathize strongly with a character of a fictional story as a reader because there
Watson’s narration encompasses the collective stories of the three main male characters and their characterization of Irene Adler. Therefore, his failure is equally theirs and points to a larger failure of the masculine discourse to properly identify and codify the Woman. With the theory of optics in mind as well as the narrative structural patterns in secrete histories as a guide, we can conclude that Watson, and therefore the masculine discourse, fails as an accurate observer because the information he obtains not only is unreliable, but stems from the misperceptions of the masculine discourse.
The official job of a detective is to restore peace. Our two detectives are the famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Though Sherlock is known as a detective he is only a “Consulting Detective” he nicely puts. He enjoys solving crimes, because it frees him from boredom or “melancholia”. He believes he above everyone, nevertheless a very intelligent man he is alarmingly arrogant. One of the inspectors called him a “psychopath,” which he insisted he was a sociopath. Watson was a military doctor, who was recently discharged and has a somatoform disorder that crippled him, most likely caused by PTSD. The show is also told from Watson’s point-of-view. Each of these unique characters transition from flat characters to well-rounded ones especially after they meet each
Gerard Genette is the final critic of Narratology and perhaps the greatest influence on the study of narratives, he asserted that narratives like the plot of story are utilized, the concepts of mimesis and diegesis, focalization, the importance of time, the frame of the story and the language utilized by the characters. He labeled the forms of narrative and expanded upon their purpose, he stated that mimesis or the“parts of a narrative which are presented in a mimetic manner are ‘dramatised’...making use of dialogue which contains direct speech”Barry. Mimesis creates the illusion of a narrative in which the reader can experience the story through the narration step by step in a dramatic fashion. Conversely, diegesis describes the act of “
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of those well-written fictions which can drive the readers right into the plot and can make you dissolve into the whole plot. It becomes really difficult to stop going through the whole plot once you have started reading it. It is that strength of words which has been efficiently utilized by the author making this whole book a real adventure for the readers. Once the readers have started the book, it is their utmost desire to finish each and every adventure in the very first go. The way the author has crafted the whole fiction is marvelous and being on top of his trait, one can give a firm assurance about the fact that there would not be anyone out there who reads this fiction and don’t like it.