The Sickness Unto Death Literary Elements

The Sickness Unto Death Literary Elements

Genre

Philosophical fiction

Setting and Context

As this is a nonfiction there is no setting.

Narrator and Point of View

Kierkegaard narrates the book in the third-person.

Tone and Mood

The tone is complex; the mood is powerful.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Kierkegaard is the protagonist; despair is the antagonist.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the book occurs when Soren Kierkegaard begins his argument of the parallels between despair and sin.

Climax

The climax of the book is reached when the definition of sickness unto death is given to the reader as a spiritual death and despair.

Foreshadowing

The power that death creates is foreshadowed by the opening statement made in the book.

Understatement

The significance of spiritual guidance is understated throughout the book.

Allusions

The book alludes to Kierkegaard's own beliefs about what despair really includes in the world around us.

Imagery

The imagery of suffering humans is present in the novel.

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

There is a parallel between the similarities of despair in Christianity and the arguments made in the book.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

Personification is not used as a technique as it is a nonfiction book.

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