The Role of Focalization in Prioritizing or Marginalizing Characters in Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” and “Pride and Prejudice”

This thesis examines the role of focalization in shaping character hierarchy, narrative authority, and reader interpretation in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Based on narratological theories developed by Gérard Genette, Mieke Bal, Susan S. Lanser, and Alex Woloch, the study investigates how narrative perspective regulates access to characters’ thoughts, emotions, and judgments, and how this unequal distribution of access influences character prominence within the novels. This study employs a qualitative comparative approach based on close reading and narratological analysis and explores the ways Austen organizes focalization to privilege certain characters while limiting access to others. The analysis focuses particularly on the relationship between focalization, moral development, gender, and narrative authority. It shows that characters with sustained internal focalization become more psychologically developed, authoritative, and central, while characters with limited focal access remain more marginal in the narrative. The study also shows that focalization is not only a technical device, but a way of guiding moral evaluation and shaping hierarchies of visibility and authority. The findings suggest that character hierarchy in Austen’s fiction is shaped not only by plot or theme, but also by the unequal distribution of focalization. By controlling access to consciousness, Austen distinguishes central characters from marginal figures and links narrative perspective to moral authority and social meaning.