The Marble Faun Literary Elements

The Marble Faun Literary Elements

Genre

Romance Novel

Setting and Context

Fantastical version of Rome, Italy

Narrator and Point of View

Third person narration, travel guide-like

Tone and Mood

The novel has a mysterious tone mixed with a gothic mood

Protagonist and Antagonist

The four characters Kenyan, Miriam, Hilda and Donatello are the protagonists. While the mysterious pursuer is negatively connoted, the true antagonist of the book are the main character's emotions.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel can be found in Donatello's lack of self control when it comes to his emotions towards Miriam.

Climax

The climax of the novel is the murder on top of Capitoline hill.

Foreshadowing

The comparison of Donatello to the marble statue foreshadows his reckless and emotional behavior later on.

Understatement

The book does not utilize understatement a lot, as most of the action is described in some form of metaphorical hyperbole.

Allusions

Throughout the novel, allusions to all kinds of mythological and historical figures and events are made. This happens mainly through the description and strategic placement of art and its meaning to the characters.

Imagery

The novel is strong in using imagery of the historical city of Rome. The tower of Hilda, or the nighttime excursion to the Capitoline hill conjure up images of a gothic and intriguing city. Additionally, the whole novel references and describes different art pieces, using their image as a metaphor for some action or reaction within the group.

Paradox

The reaction of Donatello to his crime, as well as Hilda's reaction to it, can be seen as paradoxical. The former is described as a representation of a faun, who would not be affected by murder, the latter is not directly involved and goes crazy over it.

Parallelism

Within the allusions to different art pieces and historical figures, the novel parallels its characters to these figures. Each of the four main characters is paralleled to some historical or mythological individual.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The title of the book can be seen as a metonymy, as the marble faun is used as a representation of the whole ancient art history and the connected mythology.

Personification

In their metaphorical existence, the four main characters personify extreme human traits. Miriam is the femme fatale of all ages, Kenyon the rational thinker. Hilda is innocence and religion, while Donatello is more than just a human.

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Cite this page