Shirley Literary Elements

Shirley Literary Elements

Genre

A novel

Setting and Context

The actions take place in Norhern England, at the beginning of the 19th century

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person narration

Tone and Mood

The mood and tone are very peaceful, except for revolts of the workers, and Caroline’s illness when the atmosphere is intense

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonists are Shirley, Caroline, Robert Moore and the most of the other central characters, and the antagonists are those workers who broke Robert’s machines at the factory

Major Conflict

The main conflict resides more in social problems than in personal. The love lives of both Shirley and Caroline seem to problematic, but unemployment, war, and some other social factors are the main issues.

Climax

The climax comes when Robert is dangerously wounded, and Caroline comes to him then finally told each other about their feelings. At the same time, Shirley opened up her heart to her beloved Louis, and he also declared his love to her.

Foreshadowing

Continuing revolts of local people foreshadow that something bad might happen, add it happens – Robert is seriously wounded during one of the encounters.

Understatement

The importance of technological revolution is understated; the author’s sympathy is more with the people who suffer because of it. However, in the future the development of technologies proved to be beneficial.

Allusions

The novel alludes to the wars with Napoleon, and to the economical crisis in England at that time..

Imagery

Imagery is widely used in nature descriptions, and in characters portrayals; this is characteristic to literature of those times

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

Shirley’s and Caroline’s loves develop parallel to each other, and to the rest events of the story.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

“cloudlets sailed afar and aloft across the sky”

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