Free Indirect Speech with Quotation Marks in Austen's Works

1045 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary analysis of jane austen "pride and prejudice

I will think about how typographic conventions for speech representations in the eighteenth century influenced on the development of Free Indirect Discourse [FID] of this period.
FID for both speech and thought presentations is generally regarded as a style which enables smooth shifts between the narrative and dialogues/thoughts in the third person narrative. The reader is guided by the author/narrator to read the passage presented in FIS smoothly, thanks to its lack of quotation marks as well as the verb of saying and the attribution of the subject (such as ‘Tom said/thought’), while it retaining the third person and the past tense in the same manner as in the narrative. Modernist writers employed FID in combination with other styles for ‘the stream of consciousness’ so that the reader can feel closely with the protagonist’s train of thoughts. Virginia Woolf is one of the most successful writers in the experiment of this narrative technique. M. B. Parkes, an authority in palaeography, states that ‘Woolf exercises greater control [than her precursors] over her readers’ responses by means of punctuation.’(1) In the passages presented in FID, the narrator does not intervene in the reader but silently encourages her to experience a character’s inner thoughts.
Although the standard of FID is thus characterized by the absence of quotation marks, passages presented in Free Indirect Discourse for speech presentations [FIS] in Jane Austen’s works are sometimes enclosed with quotation marks. FID passages have an ambiguous voice of the narrator and a character conflated with. However, when FID is used for an apparent speech of a character (chiefly within a dialogue with other characters), in order to help the r...

... middle of paper ...

... her time (as quotation marks would not usually be used for IS). He views this convention as a transitional process in terms of the use of inverted commas as quotation marks. In Austen’s works, FIS is sometimes enclosed with quotation marks, which style is more visibly distinct than FIS without quotation marks embedded in the narrative. Furthermore, IS on rare occasions is also enclosed with quotation marks. (Like the standard IS, the subject and the verbs of saying, such as ‘he said’, are specified in such a sentence.) Therefore, in addition to the standard range of speech presentations among DS, FIS and IS, there is a wider range of speech presentations in Austen’s work including ‘IS’ (as a kind of proto-FIS) and ‘FIS’. This inconsistency of the convention of the use of inverted commas as punctuation marks could become a hint to understand the development of FIS.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing the Speeches of Mark Antony and Robert F. Kennedy

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Giving a successful speech, in any language, is a difficult yet gratifying skill. Great speeches can be inspiring, compelling, and even revolutionary – indeed, these speeches are deliberate, succinct, engaging, and unforgettable. Two examples of such great speeches in both literature and in history are Mark Antony’s eulogy in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Robert F. Kennedy’s On the Death of Martin Luther King. Through the speakers’ use of parallel structure, caesuras, and personal references – three stylistic devices and techniques – not only were both speakers able to embellish their speeches; it also allowed each speaker to deliver an even more powerful speech. In these speeches, the use of repetition through the anaphoral and epiphoral structure in both speeches accentuates the purpose of the speech, while the use of caesuras adds texture and tone to the speech, and the use of personal references engages and stimulates the audience.

    Read More

  • The Language and Syntax of The Yellow Wallpaper

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    In contrast, syntax provides a new perspective to the narrator s behavior as sentence structure draws attention to her erratic behavior.  By her last entry, the narrator s sentences have become short and simple.  Paragraphs 227 through 238 contain few adjectives resulting in limited descriptions yet her short sentences emphasize her actions providing plenty of imagery.  The syntax quickly pulls the reader through the end as the narrator reaches an end to her madness.

    Read More

  • Mairs Rhetorical Analysis

    462 Words  | 1 Pages

    Arguably the most striking of the aforementioned rhetorical structures is Maris’ repetition and use of simple, loose, and inverted sentences. For instance, several times throughout the passage Mairs starts uses succinct sentences that with “I.” This recurrence establishes Mairs as a succinct and frank character. “I am cripple. I choose this word to name me…I recognize that that they are…not entirely

    Read More

  • Societal Authority in Jane Austen's Emma

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    Grey, J. David., A. Walton. Litz, B. C. Southam, and H. Abigail. Bok. The Jane Austen Companion. New York: Macmillan, 1986. Print.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Jane Austen's Letters in Pride and Prejudice

    3362 Words  | 7 Pages

    Cohen, Paula, Marantz. "Jane Austen’s Rejection of Rousseau: A Novelistic and Feminist Initiation." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature 30.3 (1994): 215-234.

    Read More

  • Normalcy: The "Melting Pot" and Individuality

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lately, it would be difficult to find a person who speaks in the elaborate way that nearly all of Shakespeare’s characters do; we do not describe “fortune” as “outrageous” or describe our obstacles as “slings and arrows,” neither in an outward soliloquy or even in our heads. Lately, people do not declare their goals in the grandiose fashion that members of royal family of Thebes proclaim their opposing intentions: Antigone’s to honor her brother and Kreon’s to uphold his decree. Lately, people do not all speak in one unified dialect, especially not one that belongs specifically to the British upper class; Jack and Algernon’s dialogue is virtually identical, excepting content. Unlike the indistinguishably grandiose, elaborate, fancy way characters speak in Shakespeare’s plays, Antigone, The Importance of Being Earnest, and other plays written before the turn of the twentieth century, more recently written plays contain dialogue that is more unique to its speaker. This unique dialogue indicates a change in the sort of characters which drama focuses on which came with a newly developed openness to those who are different from us. Moving away from recounting tales of nobility, royalty or deities brought the lives of a common, heterogeneous populace to the stage and, with these everyday stories, more varied speech patterns.

    Read More

  • The Effect of Dual Narration by Michael Frayn on the Readers Understanding of the Text

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Effect of Dual Narration by Michael Frayn on the Readers Understanding of the Text

    Read More

  • Modernism: Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingway

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.

    Read More

  • The Power of Jane Austen’s Novels

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jane Austen’s career followed novelists such as Ann Radcliffe and Laurence Sterne, at a time when the Gothic and Romance novels were very popular. However, Jane Austen did not look favorably upon these styles, believing them to be harmful to both literature and the reader. In writing her own novels, Austen parodied these genres, but not merely for a humorous effect. She had specific messages that she wanted to get through to her audience, through this method. She wanted to impress upon her reader the value of that which is ordinary, but real, the importance of thinking for oneself, and to make logical judgments of characters.

    Read More

  • Mansfield Park, the novel, or Mansfield Park the film?

    1849 Words  | 4 Pages

    There have been many adaptations of Jane Austen's books over the years; all six of her novels have been made into films or television dramas with varying degrees of success, from the classics of Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility, to the funny modern version of Emma in the form of Clueless. In this paper I want to show how director Patricia Rozema has made Austen's novel Mansfield Park much more modern, accessible, and, as some claim, radical, by skipping parts of the story that would make the film version drag, and importing events and dialogue that have significance into scenes, often created by Rozema, that are more appealing.

    Read More

  • Free Indirect Distice In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jane Austen is known for the use of free indirect discourse in her works. She uses this, along with vivid language to critique the social values of society during the feminist movement. One of her most famous works in which she uses both free indirect discourse and vivid language is Pride and Prejudice. Within Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses many different scenes to portray her thoughts on the social values of her era, but some of them do not contribute to the work as a whole. The social values of men, women, and the reasons for marriage are revealed in Pride and Prejudice in the scene of the Meryton ball and provide a direct connection to the theme of the hazards of first impressions.

    Read More

  • The Life of Charles Dickens Reflected in Great Expectations

    2656 Words  | 6 Pages

    Charles Dickens is well known for his distinctive writing style. Few authors before or since are as adept at bringing a character to life for the reader as he was. His novels are populated with characters who seem real to his readers, perhaps even reminding them of someone they know. What readers may not know, however, is that Dickens often based some of his most famous characters, those both beloved or reviled, on people in his own life. It is possible to see the important people, places, and events of Dickens' life thinly disguised in his fiction. Stylistically, evidence of this can be seen in Great Expectations. For instance, semblances of his mother, father, past loves, and even Dickens himself are visible in the novel. However, Dickens' past influenced not only character and plot devices in Great Expectations, but also the very syntax he used to create his fiction. Parallels can be seen between his musings on his personal life and his portrayal of people and places in Great Expectations.

    Read More

  • Essay: An Analysis Of Feminist Stylistics By Fairclough

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning, Mills discusses theoretical elements and has labeled this section as “General Theoretical Issues” and the second part is comprised of analysis having three sub chapters. The main section of the book examines feminist models of the text and investigates language typologies. According to Sara Mills, language is a form of social communication, a tool to transfer information and a set of mutually decided linguistic choices in any system (Crystal: 1995, 18). Language functions as sharing of thoughts in a framework where options are equally exclusive. Mills criticizes the traditional method to deal with legendary writings which often neglect the fact that the writer has no command over the stuff, being delivered by him or her. Another drawback of this conventional approach is that only the texts which have literary worth are selected for analysis (e.g. the works of Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Beckett and so on) and women’s writings for stylistic analysis are often overlooked. TorilMoi (1985) and Elaine Showalter (1978) are of the view that “women’s writings have frequently been barred from standard status, by the procedure named phallocentric

    Read More

  • Class System In Jane Austen's Emma And Persuasion

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...Emma’s voice in order to relate the inside ideology, while simultaneously using a somewhat ironic third-person narrative voice in order to provide critical social commentary on the social attitudes of the Highbury society depicted in Emma. Emma’s voice allows the reader to gain an unadultered insight into the lives of the people of Highbury, providing the narrative with a Austen uses a somewhat similar dichotomous technique in Persuasion, in which she splits the novel into two halves -- one in which advocates for the traditional system of formality, and another that works to eradicate the very same system that she extolled so highly in the first half. Under the deceptive guise of “political inaction,” Austen actually provides commentary on the underlying social and political issues that pervade the novel through the literary technique of heteroglossia (Parker 359).

    Read More

  • Jane Austen's Writing Style

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jane Austen's writing style is a mix of neoclassicism and romanticism. Austen created a transition into Romanticism which encourages passion and imagination in writing instead of a strict and stale writing style. It is very emotional and follows a flowing not structured form. Mixing these two styles was one of Austen's strongest talents, which gave her an edge in the literary world. No other author in her time was able to create such a strong transition between writing styles. Austen used her sharp and sarcastic wit in all of her writing including in one of her most famous works; Pride and Prejudice. She could create a powerful and dramatic scene and immediately lead it into a satirical cathartic scene. We see these in various locations in Pride and Prejudice. She was able to use her experiences as well as her intense knowledge to create meaningful insights into her words, regardless of what topic she would be discussing. She often talks about marriage, or breaking the roles of what a person should be. She made controversial works that praised imperfections which praised the...

    Read More

More about Free Indirect Speech with Quotation Marks in Austen's Works

Open Document