“Wherever she went she seemed to take joy and brightness with her. In the cottages of the poor her fair face shone like a sunbeam. She would sit for a quarter of an hour talking to some old woman, and apparently as pleased with the admiration of a toothless crone as if she had been listening to the compliments of a marquis; and when she tripped away, leaving nothing behind her (for her poor salary gave no scope to her benevolence), the old woman would burst out into senile raptures with her grace, beauty, and her kindliness, such as she never bestowed upon the vicar’s wife, who half fed and clothed her. ” (5)
In Lady Audley’s Secret, M.E Braddon uses various formal devices in the realm of diction, structure, and figurative language to richen the content of the text. In terms of diction, she uses contradictory phrases to illustrate her characters. For instance, when introducing Lucy, we are told that “wherever she went she seemed to take joy and brightness with her. In the cottages of the poor her fair face shone like a sunbeam”(Braddon 5). By writing that her “pale face shone like a sunbeam” Braddon uses descriptive diction intertwined with figurative language, and contradictory terms of pale and sunbeam in order to illustrate that Lucy’s face brought joy to those in it’s presence, through the delicate nature that exudes from her pale face. In addition to diction, the structure is unique here, as can be seen in a sentence structure shift between the first two sentences, and the third. The third sentence is long, to compliment the description of the impact that Lucy’s presence has on others, in this case, the old woman. The length of the last sentence is significant and separate from the first two because the first two sentences discuss the physical description, whereas the second describes the effect that her presence has on others. In addition, the lack of figurative language in the last sentence is significant as well, for the concrete adjectives serve the purpose of a realistic effect on the old lady. Lucy does not literally exude sunlight, however, her “grace, beauty, and joy” is very real, and spark a very literal reaction in the woman that includes an intense pleasure. By using these different literary devices, Braddon successfully embellishes his characters through figurative language, diction, and sentence structure.
my favorite point here: the length of the 3rd sentence.
my least favorite point here: the pale sunbeam (light can be pale!)
some excellent details in here chris. i like how the paragraph has drive, but don’t try to force a five-paragraph essay structure onto a close reading (though x, y, and z, the author makes her meaning). make the thesis more content oriented: e.g., “though the passage describes LA’s beauty and grace, it reveals that what’s most important is the effect these traits had on others.”