Lady Audley’s Secret

MHRA style

Attached is the novel

1) CRITICAL ESSAY: You must give your essay a title
INSTRUCTIONS: Focusing on one of the works studied in class, examine the effects of literary style and narratological strategy in light of the theoretical approaches used in class, namely theatricality and typology.
LENTH: 1500 words, excluding bibliography but including quotations.
QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR INVESTIGATION AND ARGUMENT:
!!! It is not necessary to answer all the questions, or to pay attention to the chronological order in which they appear. For whatever Block you have chosen, your essay should examine the EFFECTS of literary style and narratological strategy:

THE EFFECTS OF LITERARY STYLE AND NARRATOLOGICAL STRATEGY:

DO YOU RECOGNISE A FORMULAIC APPROACH?

The ‘Fourth Wall’: In what ways and by what means do the chosen texts manage to construct or destroy the illusion of reality? Do they seek to charm or shake the audience, and to what purpose?

Be receptive to the genre-specific narrative strategies that make theatricality visible. How is suspense created? What makes the reader read on? Are certain characters constructed to be theatrical/anti-theatrical? Does the text invite identification or stigmatization?

What type of reasoning strategy does one of the protagonists adopt to guide and justify their own actions? Do they construct themselves as particularly competent or incompetent? Do they invite identification? How so? What type of knowledge does he/she produce? Can their actions/insights be seen as a commentary on the context in which the work was produced?

How is suspense created? What makes the reader read on?

CONCLUSION: GIVEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF ITS GENRE, IS THE TEXT FORMULAIC OR DOES IT RESIST IMITATION AND CATEGORISATION?