Elizabeth Gaskell and Victorian Narrative Techniques
Christmas and Sunshine: Literary Analysis
Omniscient Point of View in Victorian Fiction
A story told from the third-person point of view features a narrator who is not a character in the story but an outside observer. Some third-person narrators are omniscient, or all-knowing. An omniscient narrator knows and can reveal the thoughts of multiple characters.
The third-person omniscient point of view was popular with Victorian authors. They used this perspective to:
- Reveal characters’ thoughts
- Express opinions about those characters and their dilemmas
Reading Skill: How to Identify Mood
The mood of a literary work is the feeling or atmosphere a writer creates for the reader. Fiction writers can create mood through imagery, descriptive details, word choice, and setting. Sometimes the mood of a story changes as the plot progresses. For example, using bleak imagery and descriptive details can create a mood that is not festive.
Reading Purpose and Authorial Intent
Read this story to determine the author’s purpose for writing it.
Historical Background: The Victorian Era
The early Victorian era was a time of political reform, as the old aristocracy reluctantly gave way to a more democratic system. The Tories, a political party that represented the interests of wealthy landowners, opposed these democratic reforms. They scorned the Whig party for supporting measures that gradually allowed the middle class to become a major force in British politics. Gaskell chronicled the clashes between these parties, as well as the manners, morals, and living conditions of Victorian society.
Biography: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; born September 29, 1810, Chelsea, London, England – died November 12, 1865, near Alton, Hampshire) was an English novelist, short-story writer, and the first biographer of Charlotte Brontë. She was the daughter of a Unitarian minister.
Her first novel, Mary Barton, reflects the temper of Manchester in the late 1830s. Its timely appearance in the revolutionary year of 1848 brought the novel immediate success, earning the praise of Charles Dickens and Thomas Carlyle. Dickens invited her to contribute to his magazine, Household Words, where her next major work, Cranford (1853), appeared.