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In one of her more widely read novels, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen chooses a few different methods of narration that serve to advance the type of story she wished to convey. Choosing a method of narration is vital to the success of the novel considering the advancement of the plot and the method in which discovery, change and character growth are intended to occur. It is highly important that she change the style, because her theme of discovery demands a subjective look, but objective instances. The audience needs to be somewhat on the same track as the main character, but also needs to be able to anticipate some of the upcoming events of the novel. Pride and Prejudice has the feel of a first person narrative, however at the outset of the novel, it is not quite clear to the reader which character they are to be focusing on, with whom they are to identify and sympathize with. Indeed a quarter of the way through the novel Austen makes it increasingly clear that Elizabeth is the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, but why the delay in this unveiling? Much of the storyline develops through Elizabeth�s reaction to the events taking place. As a reader we find ourselves often situated within Elizabeth�s consciousness, which we see much of the second half of the story evolve through. Had the first part developed similarly, the reader would be left to an opinion just as biased and prejudiced as Elizabeth�s. In such a situation the reader would only discover Darcy�s true nature and true feelings at the point in which Elizabeth does, and would find the approach somewhat bereft and perfunctory. Because of the society in which the characters live, conversing has to come through special means. The majority of interfamilial contact occurred at some sort of social event, including dinners and balls. These events were filled with dialogue, which Austen displays, saturated with gossip. If direct conversation was not possible, letters conveyed all important messages. The theme of the novel (being overcoming prejudice by way of discovery) creates a certain attraction toward dialogue. This is due to the fact that a person�s own speech reveals their character without bias, in an objective manner, rather than a subjective manner (or a first-person opinion of them). Had Elizabeth been depicted as reacting to some of the key conversations, rather than Austen actually displaying them verbatim, we would not have been allowed the chance to form our own opinion of those characters, and would be forced to see things in a jaded manner, as Elizabeth does. We see such an occurrence in Bronte�s Wuthering Heights. Nelly Dean, the housekeeper, is telling the majority of the story to Lockwood who is in turn relating it to us. It is reasonable to assume that much of the story remains in tact from Nelly�s telling to Lockwood�s. However, Nelly, having been present as most of the events took place, had the opportunity to form biases against certain people, and ultimately misconstrue what actually took place in favor of other parties. Austen instead allows the reader to make his or her own insights into the characters via dialogue. After all, a character/person can only deceive to an extent, often, regardless of their intentions, their true nature is revealed through their words. Because of his considerable amount of dialogue it is surprising that anyone should actually find Mr. Darcy contemptible. If close attention is paid solely to what he says, Mr. Darcy is quite admirable. The reader may become slightly defensive toward Darcy because of his frequent lack of conversation, however he explains: �I certainly have not the talent which some people possess�of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done� (116). This emphasizes the actual importance and earnestness of what Mr. Darcy does says and brings up the point that not only can dialogue display a character�s inner thoughts; the lack of conversation can say something significant about a character as well. We see that Mr. Hurst, though described as a withdrawn, sluggish character, also has incredibly scarce dialogue. This not only tells the reader that Mrs. Hurst�s husband is not an important character in the plot, but it also tells us something about Mrs. Hurst and her sister Caroline, and generally about the upper middle class women of the time. The marriage of Mr. And Mrs. Hurst reflects the �sacredness� of marriage in this era. Mrs. Hurst is assumedly an attractive relatively intelligent woman, yet she has bound herself to a boring sloth of a man. Gossip also plays a large role in this novel. Wickham�s reputation is the object of a majority of the gossip that takes place. Elizabeth is told a lie by Wickham which is then maintained by word of mouth. Many other characters support her viewpoint, including young women who are attracted to him. It seems that Wickham is so deceitful a liar that he is admired before a town is plagued by his debts. Later Mrs. Gardiner, in a gossiping manner, informs Elizabeth of Wickham�s somewhat distasteful character. Mrs. Hurst and Caroline suggest to Elizabeth that Georgiana Darcy is a haughty and arrogant girl, just as Elizabeth believes her guardian to be. Although Elizabeth already has a soured opinion for Darcy, it is the gossip of her fellow ball-goers that truly condemns him. No one seems to like Darcy, and so they all, instead of truly getting to know him, reinforce each other�s opinions through gossip. The letters of the novel are the next major facet of Austen�s narrative approach. At the time of her authorship, the epistolary novel was thriving. Richardson�s Pamela was a novel of this sort, in which the text of the novel was conveyed entirely through a series of letters. We see hints of this form in Pride and Prejudice. There are ten letters within the text of the current edition. However, the first draft of the novel, then titled First Impressions, was a true epistolary piece. The ten letters come from a number of different sources. Mr. Collins, Jane, Mrs. Gardiner, Caroline Bingley, Mr. Darcy, Lydia Bennet and Mr. Gardiner all contribute to the advancement of the plot with their letters. The first of the letters comes from Mr. Collins. His letter delivers the news of his visit and dictates a lot of what happens for the next section of the plot. However, the major letter of the novel comes from Darcy. Exactly midway through, Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter which begins the transformation of her opinion of him. Austen could have replaced the letter with dialogue, however, an immediate confrontation would have prevented the suspense and the finalization of the occurrence of events throughout the rest of the novel, possibly shortening the story by half. We see that all of the styles she uses come together to create an interesting story of discovery and suspense. Austen�s narration styles serve to properly accommodate the story she means to convey. Her authorship shines through in the choices she makes in her narrative style. If nothing else, her genius comes from the fact that she so readily challenged the borders of the contemporary trends in narrative style. |
| The Narrative Styles of Pride and Prejudice |
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