The Well of Loneliness Literary Elements

The Well of Loneliness Literary Elements

Genre

Lesbian Fiction

Setting and Context

Just before World War One, in the home counties of England, London and Paris

Narrator and Point of View

The point of view is that of Stephen

Tone and Mood

The tone is lonely and uncomfortable; the mood is both loving, in terms of the relationship between Stephen and her father, and antagonistic, in terms of the relationship between Stephen and her mother.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Stephen is the protagonist, her mother the antagonist.

Major Conflict

There is conflict between Stephen and her mother regarding her sexuality; her mother thinks she is aberrant and does not want to accept her homosexuality.

Climax

Convinced that she is unable to make Mary happy, Stephen pretends to have an affair and drives Mary into the arms of her close friend Martin.

Foreshadowing

Angela shows her husband a love letter she received from Stephen which foreshadows her mother discovering her sexuality as an adult.

Understatement

Mary is lonely which is an understatement because she is also extremely along, having no friends and being rejected by the upper echelons of society from which she hails.

Allusions

There are many allusions to wartime Paris, including the most dangerous areas, action at the Front, and the acts of heroism by ambulance drivers and stretcher bearers.

Imagery

No specific examples.

Paradox

Stephen does not want Mary to be lonely, but by driving her away she is putting herself in a situation where she is incredibly lonely herself.

Parallelism

There is a parallel between the way in which Mary is estranged from polite society in France and the way in which Stephen was estranged from her family and social circle in England.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Inverts is the term used even by Stephen to encompass the group of homosexual friends that she spends time with.

Personification

No specific examples.

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