A Study Of The Repetition In The Bible

Repetition as an important narrative technique is widely used in literary works, and it is particularly noticeable in the Bible as a literary classic. According to Alter's theory, the repetitions in the Bible can be classified into such five categories as Leitwort, motif, theme, sequence of actions and type-scene. Based on Alter's theory, this thesis attempts to analyze the repetitions in the Bible from three aspects:the repetition of themes, the repetition of type-scenes and the repetition of sequence of actions, aiming to examine the specific forms of repetition in the Bible and to explore narrative and cultural functions of repetition in the Bible.This thesis is composed of four chapters. The repetition of themes is analyzed in the first chapter. The Bible covers such a wide range in contents. God's benevolence and salvation and men's rebellion and return are two core themes in the Bible. The author of this thesis discovers that the repetitions of themes in the Bible are mainly realized by repetitions of words, motifs, plots and events; the second chapter focuses on the repetition of type-scenes in the Bible. The author analyzes three repetitions of betrothal scenes as the scenes of Isaac's betrothal to Rebekah, Jacob's betrothal to Rachel and Moses'betrothal to Zipporah, and three repetitions of the scenes of God's epiphany to the blessed as the scenes of God's epiphany to Abram, God's epiphany to Jacob and God's epiphany to Moses, considering that there is close association between a type-scene and a certain hero's personality and fate and holding that the similar repetitions of type-scene make the heroes comparable, which makes the biblical narration a whole entity. The third chapter discusses the repetitions of sequence of actions. The author classifies this kind of repetition into the following two categories based on Alter's theory:two consecutive repetitions and many consecutive repetitions. The repetitions of actions of God and human beings are discussed on basis of these two kinds of repetitions. The author of this thesis, by analyzing a number of instances of two consecutive repetitions in the Bible, holds that this kind of repetition can be classified into such three kinds as echoed repetition, restated repetition and synonymous repetition. As for many consecutive repetitions, the author holds it is mainly used to bring peripeteia, reinforcement and enhancement of credibility in repetition. In the fourth chapter, the author probes into the main narrative functions and cultural functions of the repetitions in the Bible, holding that the narrative functions of repetition in the Bible are chiefly embodied in following three aspects:commentary, foreshadowing and emphasis, and the cultural functions are to strengthen the sense of recognition of the Jewish culture, to demonstrate the key concepts of the Christian culture.