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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 "THIS SINGULAR PERFORMANCE": THE MULTIPLE VOICES OF THE SHOVMAN OF VANITY FAIR DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Stephanie Anya Richardson, B.A., M.A. 1990 Dissertation Committee: Approved by E. P. J. Corbett A. Shapiro Advisor J. Phelan Department of English VITA April 17, 1955 .............................. B o m - Ft. Beiming, Georgia 1977 .............................B.A., University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 1979 .................................... M.A., The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 1985-Present Instructor, Department of English, Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, Tennessee FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: English TABLE OF CONTENTS VITA ............................................................. ii CHAPTER PAGE I . THE CONCEPT OF V O I C E S ..................................... 1 II. THE FIVE VOICES OF THE NARRATOR OF VANITY F A I R ............. 29 III. READER MANAGEMENT: RHETORICAL EFFECTS OF THE VOICES IN VANITY F A I R ............................................... 68 IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS ABOUT THE VOICES IN VANITY F A I R ........ 100 LIST OF REFERENCES............................................... 121 ill CHAPTER I THE CONCEPT OF VOICES In life, one is often puzzled by the "Vanity Fair" of daily existence, what Thackeray critic Robin Gilmour calls "the power of selfishness and pride," (27) the emptiness of many rewards. One hears differing voices from friends and acquaintances, the voice of avarice, the voice of immorality, the voice of envy. One feels lost about which voice to heed, but one must make decisions. In Thackeray's Vanity Fair, the reader is often puzzled by the "Vanity Fair" of the characters' lives, the power of selfishness in those lives, and the emptiness of many of the characters' rewards. The reader "hears" the narrator use differing voices; some of the voices of the narrator are gentle; others are vicious. The reader must make decisions about the characters or the novel's meaning or about the messages of the voices. To create the effect of a person's hearing conflicting views and to make the reader feel like a "lost wanderer in the great struggling crowds of Vanity Fair" (Thackeray 251), Thackeray has his narrator assume various voices throughout the novel. Thackeray uses this technique for a variety of purposes; these purposes are explained in Chapters III and IV of this study. 1 2 A quick sample of three of the voices will serve to show a few of the differences in tone, idiom, and diction that help to distinguish one voice from another. Well, William Dobbin had for once forgotten the world, and was away with Sinbad the Sailor in the Valley of Diamonds, or with Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Peribanou in that delightful cavern where the Prince found her, and whither we should all like to make a tour. (Thackeray 47) I should like to know what well-regulated mind, merely because it is transitory, dislikes roast-beef? That is a vanity; but may every man who reads this, have a wholesome portion of it through life, I beg. (Thackeray 485) The lady in black, the boy's mamma, laughed and blushed, and looked exceedingly pleased and shy as the dinner went on, and at the various feats and instances of esnieplerie on the part of her son. (Thackeray 603) (Note in this last example that the narrator, in assuming this voice, knows neither Amelia's nor Georgy's names, even though they are major characters in the novel.) The voice in the first passage is chatty, and fanciful; the voice in the second passage is hearty and generous. The voice in the third passage is that of someone who is unacquainted with major characters and who does not know their names. It would seem that some sort of "voice play" is at work in Vanity Fair. To analyze this "voice play” will be one of the objectives of this study. The response of critics to Thackeray's "commentary" or "sound track" or "voice play" (or whatever term one chooses) is eye-opening. Thackeray's contemporary John Forster writes that intrusions about morals are "heaped upon us with a redundant profusion" (470). Another contemporary of Thackeray, Robert Stephen Rintoul, writes that "there are also obvious drawbacks to continuous perusal [of the novel], such as direct addr.esses to the reader" (709). In 1953, Arthur Calder-Marshall objected to Thackeray’s "desire to make friends with his readers" (212). Dorothy Van Ghent calls Thackeray’s interpositions "inane and distracting" (139-40). Many critics seem to find the so-called "commentary" annoying. However one feels about the narrator's interposings, the major issue is to unlock their secret and to uncover their method of operation. To begin to uncover such a mystery, one looks at the interposings of the narrator (such as the three quoted above). These interposings, all made by the motley-clad, omniscient narrator of Vanity Fair, all seem, to me, to reflect a different "personality." The sentence structures differ; the diction differs; the tones differ. I submit that each of the passages is "spoken" by a different "voice." Voice is the image of the narrator Thackeray projects through his manipulation of various elements of the narrative situation (this definition comes from Dr. James Phelan of the Ohio State University). Its main elements include an implied physical location, a psychological stance, a degree of involvement, and grammatical person. (These elements also come from Dr. Phelan.) The term "voice" has been used before to discuss Thackeray's narrative techniques (notably by J. Hillis Miller, see his Victorian Fiction. 72), so it seems to be an effective term. Other critics, besides Miller, see various "roles" or "guises" (only Miller uses the term "voice") for the narrator of Vanity Fair. Harriet Blodgett sees the narrator's "roles" as those of puppeteer, preacher, self-conscious author, jester, fool at the fair, and manipulator (212). Kathleen Tillotson, in her Novels of the Eighteen- Forties . sees the following "roles" for the narrator: manufacturer of the narrative, "producer* of particular characters, responsible, omniscient narrator, irresponsible, baffled spectator, mere reporter, moral commentator, preacher in cap and bells (252). John Sutherland sees the narrator's "guises" as those of ass-eared fool, harlequin, and showman ("Expanding" 164). While the perusal of the works of these critics has been most helpful to me, I feel that the term "voice" is more useful than the terms "roles" or "guises" (or other related terms). The term "role” implies an actor's part. I do not see the narrator primarily as an actor; he is not pretending to be someone else, although he may adopt roles at times. The term "guise” implies a false, deceitful appearance. I do not see the narrator as deceitful; he assumes different voices for different, valid purposes, certainly not to lead anyone astray. The rhetorical term "ethos" implies persuasion through good character, benevolence, and intelligence. The narrator does not always exhibit good character, nor is he uniformly benevolent. Only the term "voice," to me, implies an expressed opinion, which, surely, each interposing in Vanity Fair is. The study of voice seems to be one way of uncovering the mystery about the so-called "commentary" of Vanity Fair. If one looks at the narrator's interposings in the light of the four voice elements (listed previously in this chapter), an interesting pattern emerges. Five voices present themselves, each with its own personality, parlance, prejudices, and preoccupations (for ways of distinguishing the voices, see Chapter II of this study). Here follows a list of the five voices. 1. Voice 1: The detached, ironic club-man's voice. Voice 1 mentions specific names (his wife Julia, his friend Jones, Miss Bullock, Mr. Smith, Miss Brown, Mrs. White, Dr. Raine, and others). Voice 1 is witty, clever, urbane, and sophisticated, and, when the narrator assumes this voice, he is fond of anecdotes (the "rack punch" anecdote, for example). The club-man speaks, generally, in the first person. 2. Voice 2: The keyhole-peeper's voice. Voice 2 interposes very quickly, with comments that resemble asides.