The Marlborough house and its environs
The imagery of the Marlborough house is enhanced through the contrast the narrator develops against the image of St. James’s Place which appeared like a ‘heap of architectural elements flung into a bin.’ The visualization of the fence around the house’s forecourt as enormous is facilitated by its comparison to a giant iron strainer. The specifics of the description proceed as:
“Next to St. James’s Palace, which was getting to look like a heap of architectural elements flung into a bin, Marlborough House shaped up as a proper building. The fence around its forecourt was a giant iron strainer, stopping everyone…”
The Duke and his bed-chamber
Stephenson employs vivid as well intense descriptions to facilitate the development of visual images of the Duke of Marlborough seated in the chair “like a beetle on a glacier” alluding to the vast whiteness of the room. Next to him is a table and the visualization of his damp mustache is enhanced by the narrator drawing the reader’s attention to it. The imagery proceeds as:
“Like a beetle on a glacier, the Duke of Marlborough sat in a chair in the white immensity of his bed-chamber. Next to him was a table. The stubble on his scalp was dense: obviously, it was Shaving-Day…”
Respect
The image of respect dominates the presentation of Marlborough as he half rises from his chair and bows to Daniel who almost drops the silver ball he is holding as a result of shock. The imagery becomes more ubiquitous as the other people in the room bow their heads even deeper and Daniel’s shock multiplies:
“Marlborough half rose from his chair and bowed to Daniel—who nearly dropped the bowl. The other five participants in the levée—candle-holders, shirtbearers, wig-powderers, mostly Earls or better—bowed even deeper. Daniel could still see little, but he could hear snickers as he staggered the last few yards.”
John Churchill
Attention to details dominates the narrator’s presentation of John Churchill. The narrator begins drawing the reader’s attention onto Churchill’s beauty and becomes more specific with details of his facial features: his large eyes, his elderly age, doughy, bald, and bleeding. The use of these descriptions facilitate a visual conception of the appearance of the man:
“John Churchill had been the most beautiful young man in England, perhaps even in Christendom. The divine unfairness endured even now unto the Duke’s sixty-fifth year. He was old, doughy, bald, and bleeding, but he actually did have a noble countenance—far from being true of all nobles—and his eyes were as large and beautiful as ever, unmarred by the sagging flesh and writhen brows that so oft made old Englishmen fearsome to behold.”
