AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

Abstract

In this thesis, I aim to study the realisation of characters in Jane Austen s Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. In addition, I also study characterisation in filmic adaptations of the same novels. These adaptations are Joe Wright s Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Ang Lee s Sense and Sensibility (1995). In relation to the novels, I find that speech, free indirect discourse, actions and letters are all important character indicators in these narratives. However, the perhaps most decisive element through which the various characters are perceived, is through how the narrators of the respective novels influence the reader through ironic statements, biased comments, and sarcastic descriptions. Such narrators are not present in the filmic narratives, and thus the most valuable source of characterisation is absent. Consequently, characterisation in these films is divergent from characterisation in the novels. The most obvious difference between novels and films is the move from the ironical and anti-romantic tone of the narrators in the source novels to an emphasis on romance and melodrama in the films. The filmmakers have chosen to give Austen s narrative frame, the somewhat schematic and formula based love story, more importance by enforcing and introducing romantic elements. In Austen s novels I believe it is clear that these simplistic narrative frames are ironic manifestations in themselves, and the protagonistic characters who people these narratives are developed in order to promote the necessity of certain values or virtues, such as sense, feeling, and a sound moral, whereas antagonistic characters and minor characters tend to represent more unvirtuous traits. There is a distinction between the sympathetic and the unsympathetic in the films as well, but several of the characters, both virtuous and unvirtuous ones, have been altered in order to fit into a more romantic realisation of these narratives. Several characters seem to have been modified due to the ideal of the contemporary romantic comedy, and the films also play upon the dramatically romantic features of the Gothic novel. This impression is reinforced through the use of scenery and dialogue, and also the use of highly emotive music emphasise the melodramatic scope of the films. As a consequence of this, it is evident that the irony in Austen s novels is sacrificed for the benefit of romance and harmony. Further, I find that several scenes have been included or exchanged, whereas others have been omitted. Again, through how these changes manifest themselves, it is obvious to suggest that the romantic and harmonious moods are preferred over Austen s ironic, problematic and realistic approach. Anyhow, the discrepancy between Austen s depictions of characters and thematic scope on the one hand, and the realisation of the same characters and thematic focus in the discussed adaptations on the other, does not mean that these are not good, interesting and entertaining films. The question is rather whether the films, through the emphasis on nostalgic…