On Bleak House’s Manipulated Narrative Techniques

Charles Dickens is recognized as one of the most prominent novelist of the Victorian age. Bleak House is published in installments from March, 1952 to September, 1953. Since Dickens adopts the omniscient point of view and the first person point of view simultaneously, the contemporary critics always have the mixed response to the novel. However, as time goes on, more and more scholars turn their attention to the dual points of view and begin to research its unique feature. In this novel, Dickens designs several plot lines and shapes many characters. Taking the case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, the progress of Esther Summerson, and the secret of Lady Dedlock as main narrative lines, Dickens presents the readers with the whole story.This thesis would analyze the dual points of view, the characters’ speech and the narrative time on the basis of the theory of narratology, which is put forward and developed by Gerard Genette and his successors. In addition, while discussing the characters’ speech, I would also refer to the five basic modes of speech presentation advanced by stylisticians Geoffrey N. Leech and Mick Short.In the thesis, I would firstly analyze the omniscient point of view and the first person point of view in detail. The omniscient one, which is unlimited in physical space, could widely comprehend the occurrences in the novel. Esther, the first-person narrator, is more sentient and infuses vitality into the novel. In Bleak House, the omniscient point of view and the first person point of view have their respective traits and complement each other. While discussing the first person retrospective point of view, I would research the paradoxical paralipsis, and clearly expound the transformation of Esther’s narrative. In fact, the formation of Esther’s self-consciousness is just manifested in the conversion of her narrative. Since there are many characters in the fiction, I would specially discuss the modes of speech presentation in Bleak House. Through alternately adopting DS, IDS, FDS, FIS, and NRSA, Dickens enriches the images of the characters, effectively adjusts the speed of narration, and gets a better presentation of the themes of the novel. At last, I would systematically analyze the narrative time from order, duration, and frequency and explore its important role in plot development.To sum up, Dickens subtly manipulates the dual points of view, the modes of speech presentation and narrative time in Bleak House. Through studying these exquisite narrative techniques, this thesis deeply explores the narrative authority of the omniscient narrator and the self-consciousness manifested in the female narrative. Besides, it also will enable us to have an in-depth study of the novel and get a better comprehension of the themes of novel.