Silas Marner - Dialogue

It is important to note specific details such as language choice, use of dialect and pacing, which can be indicated through punctuation to represent interruptions and pauses in a character’s speech. When reading a work of fiction spend some time to consider the following: How is the speech of each character differentiated from others?

In what way does vocabulary vary between characters? Does a character’s dialog change over time, or in different situations? Does it make any difference which characters are speaking together?

Dialog tells you much more than about individual characteristics. Plot often depends on dialog, especially where speech prompts an event; speech also often conveys information which you might not otherwise know, for example those events which happened before the story begins, or how characters expect to see future events unfold. In Silas Marner this is information which the narrator usually tells the reader directly, so it is worth noting what dialog is reserved for instead.

One practical method of preparing for a literature exam is to memorize dialog. Create a list of the most significant examples of dialog for each character, paying special attention to those that convey their characteristics or occur at a turning point in the text.

The quiz below focusses on knowing who is speaking each of these lines. Consider the significance of these lines before answering the questions. What do they tell the reader about the character who speaks them? Would it be possible to imagine another character speaking the same lines? If not, why not? Also think whether the dialog also gives us information about the person being addressed, or whether it foreshadows or explains later events.