The Playmaker Literary Elements

The Playmaker Literary Elements

Genre

Historical Fictional Novel

Setting and Context

Set in the 18th century in a British Penal Colony in Australia

Narrator and Point of View

Third-person point of view

Tone and Mood

The tone is tense, and the mood is optimistic.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The central character is Baker.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is that the criminals and rejects are shipped to Australia without knowing their purpose is to populate the new region.

Climax

The climax comes when actors memorize Farquhar's play despite not knowing how to read the Australian language.

Foreshadowing

The British criminal justice system and colonization foreshadow Farquhar's play.

Understatement

The power of romance is understated.

Allusions

The novel alludes to life in the British penal colony during the 18th century.

Imagery

The images of prison, prisoners' death, and criminals' shipping depict the sense of sight to readers, thus enhancing sight imagery.

Paradox

The main paradox is that love has no boundaries. Despite knowing that Mary is a petty thief, Baker falls in love with, and they have a son together. However, Baker knows very well that he has another wife in England.

Parallelism

N/A

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

Colonization is personified as futile.

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