The Night Circus Literary Elements

Fiction; Fantasy

1873-1903 in various cities in the United States and Europe

Third-person omniscient.

Both tone and mood vary.

Tone:
whimsical, romantic, nostalgic, ebullient, foreboding

Mood:
Gloomy, desperate, romantic, magical, beguiling, dreamy

Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair are the protagonists of the story, while Hector Bowen and A.H. are the antagonists (along with the competition itself).

There are two major conflicts. The first one is person vs. person, for neither Celia nor Marco joins the competition voluntarily. The decision is made for them, and they have no say in it. Were they free to do what they want, they would definitely not compete. The second conflict is person vs. self. Celia’s story is the perfect example of it: her commitment to the circus prevents her from doing what her heart wants and causes an inner conflict.

The moment when Celia and Marco step into the bonfire is the climax of the story.

1. When Marco first tells Isobel about Celia, she discreetly reads her cards and turns over "The Lovers"; this foreshadows Marco and Celia's relationship.
2. All of Tara Burgess's questions and concerns foreshadow the revelation of the truth about how the circus actually works—and her ultimate fate.
3. Isobel's tarot reading for Celia foreshadows her love with Marco and the intense conflict that love creates.
4. Isobel's tarot reading for Bailey foreshadows his important role to play in the circus.
5. Poppet's discomfiting flashes of the future foreshadow what happens to the circus.

N/A.

1. There are numerous allusions to Shakespeare's "The Tempest"—e.g., Prospero, Miranda (Hector jokes that Celia should have been named Miranda, Prospero's daughter in the play).
2. The story of the wizard and the tree that Widget tells to Poppet is an allusion to the classic tale of Merlin and the beautiful, manipulative Vivian/Niniane.
3. Widget tells Bailey the Greek story of the Minotaur while in the Labyrinth.
4. Celia quotes Hamlet to her father (425).

See the separate entry in this ClassicNote on imagery.

1. "Bailey feels oddly at ease. As though he is closer to the ground, but taller at the same time" (222).
2. "I am intimately familiar with so much of it, and yet it is always surprising" (Celia, 287).

Celia and Marco's conversations with Hector and A.H., respectively, parallel each other. Neither of the older men wants to tell their competitors the true rules: neither tells them what is at stake.

"Every eye in the crowded ballroom turns in their direction" (309). An eye here is metonymy, denoting attention.

1. "Your curiosity gets the best of you, as curiosity is wont to do" (4).
2. "Then the iron gates shudder and unlock, seemingly by their own volition" (6).
3. "Bailey spends the entire day willing the sun to set, but it defies him and keeps its usual place across the sky..." (137).