Free indirect style

Third-person narration that incorporates a character’s thoughts, expressions or judgements without directly quoting them or introducing them with a phrase such as ‘she thought’.

Austen also uses free indirect style, blending third-person narration with a character’s distinctive thoughts. In Chapter 22, the narration adopts Elizabeth’s judgement: ‘Charlotte, the wife of Mr. Collins, was a most humiliating picture!’ The exclamation carries Elizabeth’s emotional shock even though the sentence is not spoken dialogue.

Third-person narration that adopts a character’s vocabulary, tone or thoughts without directly quoting them or repeatedly announcing ‘she thought’.

Part (a), AO2: distinguish the narrator’s judgement from a character’s viewpoint. With free indirect style, explain whose thoughts colour the narration.

Distinguish Austen’s narrator from a character’s opinions, especially when free indirect style brings their voices together.

Explain how a method creates meaning: identifying irony or free indirect style is only the beginning of analysis.

Third-person narration that takes on a character’s thoughts, vocabulary or tone without directly quoting their thoughts or repeatedly introducing them with ‘she thought’.

Free indirect style allows a character’s own reasoning or emotional tone to enter third-person narration. Readers hear the character’s perspective without a direct speech quotation or an introduction such as ‘she thought that’.

Narration that adopts a character’s thoughts, expressions or judgements while retaining third-person grammar, without directly introducing them as speech or thought.

Free indirect style blends third-person narration with a character’s own way of thinking. It allows us to experience a judgement from within while still having room to question it.

Third-person narration that incorporates a character’s thoughts, expressions or judgements without quotation marks or an introductory phrase such as ‘she thought’.

Austen also uses free indirect style, blending a character’s thoughts into third-person narration. After Charlotte’s engagement in Chapter 22, the narration exclaims, “Charlotte, the wife of Mr. Collins, was a most humiliating picture!” This is narration coloured by Elizabeth’s distressed judgement, not Charlotte speaking aloud.

Third-person narration that adopts a character’s thoughts, vocabulary or tone without presenting them as directly quoted speech or thought.

Definition

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AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

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Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

OCR GCSE English Literature · J352

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720