Third person limited omniscient
Encyclopedia
The third-person omniscient is a narrative mode in which the reader is presented the story by a narrator with an overarching point of view, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, regardless of the presence of certain characters, including everything all of the characters are thinking and feeling. "Third-person omniscient" should not be confused with "third person limited" or "third person intimate" in which the narration is restricted to relating the thoughts, feelings about knowledge of a "point of view character." Third-person omniscient is the most common narrative mode chosen for sprawling, epic stories such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, George Eliot
's Middlemarch
, or Stephen King
's The Stand
, It
and Under the Dome
.
The godlike, all-knowing perspective of third-person omniscient, allows the narrator to tell the reader things about the main character that the reader does not know, and things that none of the characters know, or, indeed, things that no human being could ever know (e.g., what the first conscious creature felt like as it climbed out of the primordial ooze, in Douglas Adams
' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Hence, third-person omniscient is most often associated with sweeping, epic stories, while third-person limited narratives do not stray beyond the characters' knowledge and experiences and so are most often associated with more intimate stories, or epic stories experienced from the intimate perspective of the individuals involved. Nevertheless, Jane Austen's novels are third-person omniscient, sometimes giving us information of which the character of focus (as against point of view character) could not be aware, but Austen's novels typically focus closely on a very small number of characters and their milieu.
Third-person omniscient point of view
maintains the omniscient narrator's viewpoint throughout the piece, by contrast with the third-person limited point of view, which limits narration to what can be known, seen, thought, or judged from a single character's perspective at a time (the point of view character), but may change that point of view many times during the piece ("third person multiple" is the term sometimes used to describe this variation of "third-person limited").
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
's Middlemarch
Middlemarch
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes...
, or Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's The Stand
The Stand
The Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...
, It
It (novel)
It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The story follows the exploits of seven children as they are terrorized by the eponymous inter-dimensional predatory life-form that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It"...
and Under the Dome
Under the Dome
Under the Dome is a novel by Stephen King, published in November 2009. It is a partial rewrite of a novel King attempted writing twice in the late 1970s and early 1980s, under the titles The Cannibals and Under the Dome...
.
The godlike, all-knowing perspective of third-person omniscient, allows the narrator to tell the reader things about the main character that the reader does not know, and things that none of the characters know, or, indeed, things that no human being could ever know (e.g., what the first conscious creature felt like as it climbed out of the primordial ooze, in Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Hence, third-person omniscient is most often associated with sweeping, epic stories, while third-person limited narratives do not stray beyond the characters' knowledge and experiences and so are most often associated with more intimate stories, or epic stories experienced from the intimate perspective of the individuals involved. Nevertheless, Jane Austen's novels are third-person omniscient, sometimes giving us information of which the character of focus (as against point of view character) could not be aware, but Austen's novels typically focus closely on a very small number of characters and their milieu.
Third-person omniscient point of view
Point of view (literature)
The narrative mode is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. Narration, the process of presenting the narrative, occurs because of the narrative mode...
maintains the omniscient narrator's viewpoint throughout the piece, by contrast with the third-person limited point of view, which limits narration to what can be known, seen, thought, or judged from a single character's perspective at a time (the point of view character), but may change that point of view many times during the piece ("third person multiple" is the term sometimes used to describe this variation of "third-person limited").