The genre of the Realist Novel is best characterized as the fictitious attempt in narrative form to provide an effect of realism through the representation of often complex characters with mixed motives. In the case of these two novels, the language used depicts realism through a representation or illusion of reality by juxtaposing the moral and social conventions of society against the narrative. To achieve this, narrative devices such as "showing" and "telling" are used. For showing, devices such as dialogue are used to give dramatic effect so that readers can see and hear the abstract. For telling, devices such as focalization, free indirect speech or omniscient narrator are often used ...view middle of the document...
159). The reader is 'shown' Elizabeth's regrets and her willingness to admit her wrongful judgment allows us to sympathize and identify ourselves with Elizabeth as we observe this moral growth in her, as a result of her inner consciousness.This turning point also serves as the irony of the plot. Elizabeth, who prided herself on her rational thinking and character judging trait, was betrayed by her own prejudice to misjudge Darcy and is mistaken by liking Wickham because he flatters her pride. Irony is used by Austen to help readers understand more deeply the moral instructions about self deception and misjudgment by illustrating the ignorance of the character to reality by showing the irony of beauty in Wickham's looks being seriously eroded by his deceitfulness. (Morris, 1995)During Lydia's dialogue with Elizabeth about Darcy's presence at Lydia's wedding, the reader is 'shown' how deeply her changed perception of Darcy has affected her. The scenario, like most parts of the novel, is narrated through narrative focalization from Elizabeth's view. This device allows readers to make moral judgment on the heroine's behavior and to achieve sympathetic involvement through her point of view and is indeed a didactic way of educating the reader, by involving the reader in the process of moral improvement that the heroine enacts. (Morris 1995)Here, Austen uses the telling technique of describing Elizabeth's "utter amazement" and "burning with curiosity" (Austen p. 243) to convey to the reader how Elizabeth felt when she found out from Lydia about Darcy's presence at the wedding. This narrative device is economical and thus moves the story along at a faster pace without discouraging the reader to engage with the character. Austen also employs free indirect speech for this scenario when the narrator narrated "Mr. Darcy had been at her sister's wedding." where the reader can almost hear Elizabeth speaking as the intonation is clearly Elizabeth's. This device encourages the reader to step into Elizabeth's mind and share her confusions while her thoughts run wild with conjectures until she cannot " bear such suspense"; she must uncover the truth.As compared to Elizabeth, Darcy's pride was less complicated and easier to conquer. His initial prejudice against Elizabeth came from her low social status, poverty and her socially inept family and this latter proves to be his chief difficulty in admitting his love for her. However, his perception of her started to change when he "began to find it uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes….. attended to her conversation with others." (Austen p.16). The omniscience of the third person narrator allows the reader to access Darcy's inner consciousness and is 'shown' Darcy's growing feelings for Elizabeth. From this point onwards, Darcy's prejudice against Elizabeth started to fade as his love for her deepened.After overcoming their pride and prejudices against each other, they managed...
