The Role of the Narrator in Byrons Don Juan Essay examples -- Don Jua

The Role of the Narrator in Byrons Don Juan The teller of Don Juan takes the conventional role of omniscient narrator. He states the facts but also adds in his personalised thoughts on the characters. From the beginning he lets the reader know that he is in search of a fighter aircraft. He cannot find a hero in his contemporary time, therefore he will return to the hero who has stayed a hero through time. The hero is my friend Don Juan (5.8). There is no doubt that the narrator feels a close relationship with the hero and the hero will be treated as casually as friend. He relates that the commonplace course for a poetry is to start in the middle, that is the usual method, but not mine (7.1). He will start at the beginning and give opinionated views of Juans parents. Immediately the narrator establishes control, and therefore sets the intuitive feeling of the poem. He lets the reader know that Juans parental skills are lacking (according to him) and if he was Juans parent he w ould do things differently. Of young Juans mischievousness, if they been but both in their senses, theyd have the young master To school, or had him soundly whippd at home, To give instruction him manners for the time to come (25.5-8) Certainly this establishes his authority. As the reader, we want to deliberate him. Obviously (to the reader) Juans parents are negligent in their duties and the reader sees herself agreeing that she too would do the same. He guides us to be prejudiced to Juans parents and this trust develops between narrator and reader that carries throughout the poem. Of course the narrator like any brand will deny their input. A particularly amusing part of the poem is where the narrator in self-parody tells us For my part I say nothing--nothing--but This I will... ...rity over the hero. The narrator alone has the power to keep Don Juan alive. In addition, the narrator is really the personality of the poem. We are told Don Juans actions, but is the narrator that flavors it. It is interesting that Lord Byron decided to include the narrator so conspicuously but definitely to the poems advantage. Works CitedBostetter, Edward E., Twentieth Century Interpretations of Don Juan. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, 1969. Boyd, Elizabeth French, Byrons Don Juan A Critical Study. NY Humanities Press, 1958. Byron (George Gordon, Lord Byron), Don Juan, ed. Leslie A. Marchand. capital of Massachusetts Houghton Mifflin, 1958. McGann, Jerome J., Don Juan in Context. Chicago U of Chicago Press, 1976. Steffan, Truman Guy, & Willis W. Pratt, eds., Byrons Don Juan A Variorum Edition. 2nd ed.. 4 vols.. Austin U of Texas Press, 1971.