Narrative Perspectives and Dramatic Text Structures

Narrator and Perspective

The narrator can tell the story in the first person (narrator-character) or third person (narrator-observer). The degree of knowledge regarding the facts is determined by the narrator's perspective or point of view adopted, which can change throughout the story.

Narrative Movements

• Scenes: In these, story time and discourse time are equal; they often include dialogues.
• Abstracts: These synthesize the events of the story; the discourse time is less than the story time.
• Pause: The story time stops while the discourse provides a description or comment; the story time is zero.
• Ellipsis: Parts of the story are omitted; the discourse time is zero.

Types of Perspective

• Total Perspective: The possibilities of knowledge are unlimited. The omniscient narrator knows the history of the story, down to the most insignificant details, even penetrating the consciousness of the characters.
• Internal Perspective: The narrator's perspective is restricted to the perception of one or more characters.
• External Perspective: The narrator acts as a simple observer of actions, without intruding into the characters' thoughts.

Dramatic Text and Representation

The dramatic text is distinguished by the main text, formed by the words of the characters, and the secondary text, comprising the stage directions (acotaciones).

Forms of Dramatic Discourse

• Dialogue: The verbal exchange between characters where they act alternately as transmitters and receivers.
• Monologue: A speech of considerable extent without verbal exchange; the character's discourse is not aimed at any other party, but at themselves. When a character reflects on their situation, revealing thoughts to the viewer, it is called a soliloquy.
• Aside: Brief interventions, often comic, where a character speaks on stage so that other characters cannot hear them, but the public can.
• Stage Directions: These provide instructions on non-verbal aspects of the scene. They may appear at the beginning of the drama or during the actions and words of the characters.

Theatrical Representation

The representation of a play involves a double kind of communication: that established between the fictional characters on stage and that between the actors and the public. The theatrical spectacle is the form of the dramatic text, combining the words of the characters and non-verbal elements. There are two levels of analysis: the level of history and the level of discourse.