In the event of writing a literary piece, an author employs various techniques in the development of stories, in a bid to relay a certain message(s). Among the techniques authors employ during story development of literary pieces is the use of literary devices such as themes, characterization, setting, the plot as well as symbolism. Literary pieces such as books and novels contain different stories or messages depending on the author's point of view, experience or interest. Books are designed to tell stories, share experiences, as well as impart certain knowledge that interests an author. Jennifer Blake is among the authors who relay their points of view on certain contemporary issues, which she develops around various literary devices. In her book, “Royal Seduction," Blake tells the tale of a love story that is characterized by various dynamics and twists (Blake, 2010). Through the various literary devices, which the author skillfully employs throughout the story’s development, the author cannot only capture, but also maintain the audience’s attention. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to demonstrate the writer’s understanding and thought on how Blake tells this romantic love story to her audience as well as who that audience is and why.
Most are the time when romantic novels and books are written with the sole purpose of targeting women or members of the female gender (Blake, 2010). This is because love stories and romance mostly appeals to women; thus it would only make sense for authors writing romantic books and novels to targets such people as it would ensure delivery of the message in the novel or book. Similarly, Blake’s “Royal Seduction” targets women who are interested in love stories where they anticipate a happy ending for either the hero or heroine of the story. As a result, authors have devised a specific technique in story development and delivery, which appeals best to the emotions of their readers, thus employment of one of the artistic proofs, pathos.
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In Blakes “Royal Seduction,” the technique of pathos is employed in a bid to appeal to the emotions of her audience, which in this case is that of the female gender. The language employed by the author is not only intriguing but also familiar to her target audience, as they know all too well the feeling of being in love as well as the dynamics of love. Studies have indeed indicated that women are guided more and controlled by emotions compared to men, thus their being appealed by romantic novels than men. As a result, by suing the artistic proof pathos, Blake can appeal to the emotions of women, thus gain an audience and readership from women. The author makes the book’s hero a woman, which is a great technique of capturing and maintaining her audience’s attention, which is also another way of employing pathos to appeal to her audience (Blake, 2010). Women are known to enjoy love stories that show how strong the members of the female gender can be, which Blake demonstrate by using Angeline, a woman, as the story’s heroine.
Blake, through her character Angeline, the story’s heroine, develops her story using the literary device characterization, a technique employed by authors to capture the attention of the audience. Authors typically pick a single character that they develop the major theme of the story around, which is a technique used to make readers invested in the story since they would like to know what happens to that character at the end of the story. For instance, in “Royal Seduction,” the story is developed around Angeline in a way that makes her readers invest in the character Angeline, thus capturing and maintaining the reader’s attention in a bid to know what she does and how the story ends for the character (Blake, 2010). Therefore, the author skillfully uses the literary device characterization to gain and maintain the readers, which is key towards relaying of her message.
Blake also employs the literary device of setting to tell the story, which all the more captivates the readers, thus maintaining their attention. The setting is a key literary device in story development as it provides the reader with a vivid image of the conditions surrounding the characters in the story, thus why certain things occur in the story. For instance, Blake’s book demonstrates a Southern setting, where most of the times women were at the mercy of men, which makes it obvious why the story uses a female hero. For instance, the characteristics of men in the Southern setting is demonstrated when the author writes,
“ There is nothing Angeline can do to persuade him that she is not Claire - until Rolfe seduces her and finds her to be a virgin. Still, even though Rolfe has not found the woman he sought, he knows that Angeline helped hide her cousin and vowed to use whatever means he must to pry the information from her” (Blake, 2010).
This goes to show how much men could go to any lengths to get what they want irrespective of who it negatively affects, in the book Rolfe is determined to get what he wants even if it means seducing Angeline to get to her cousin, Claire.
Similarly, the author brings in a twist where Angeline is shown as eventually caring about Prince Rolfe when she saves his life and cares for him when he is wounded during the attempt on his life. Initially, all Angeline cared about was ensuring the Prince does not get to know of the whereabouts of her cousin Claire, and the author portrays Angeline as strongly maintaining that even in the event of the Prince’s seduction. When an opportunity presents itself for Angeline to escape, she does the opposite and even goes ahead to save the life of Prince Rolfe when one of his bodyguards tries to kill him (Blake, 2010). The element of seduction as portrayed by the author gives the book an element of sexual appeal, through the idea of seduction, which is among the techniques used in capturing and maintaining the attention of readers, who in this case are women. Sex appeal sells to both men and women, but when it is coupled with romance, it appeals more to women than men, thus Blake’s use of both sex appeal and romance to appeal to her female readers.
The author also employs another technique in her story development to engage her readers, this capturing and maintaining their attention. The manner in which the author engages the audience is through invoking a form of “dialogue” when she poses questions to the readers. For instance, Blake writes, she has her chance to escape when someone tries to kill the Prince, but she finds herself saving his life and tenderly caring for his wounds. It seems that one of Prince Rolfe's bodyguards is trying to kill him. But who? And why should Angeline care...?,” to creates curiosity in the reader’s mind (Blake, 2010).
Creating an instance in the story, where the reader’s curiosity is invoked is among the techniques employed by the author during storytelling. This is because once the reader becomes curious about a certain thing or character in the book, they become interested in reading the rest of the story in a bid to discover what happens at the end. For instance, in the book by asking the question “And why should Angeline care...?,” Blake makes her readers curious to answer the question (Blake, 2010). To do that, the reader has to go through the rest of the story to know the answer to that question, thus readership. Every technique in a story, especially in a romantic novel or book is aimed at capturing and maintaining the reader’s attention as authors are usually interested I relaying a certain message through the story, thus require readership. Readership is only achieved if an author can develop the story in a manner that captures and maintains the reader’s attention, therefore by invoking the reader’s curiosity, an author is assured of maintaining the readers’ attention, thus achieving the goal of readership.
In addition to giving her heroine, Angeline, certain qualities that make her readers invested in the character, she also sheds some light on secondary characters to complement her heroine, Angeline. Angeline is depicted as a character who displays a lot of common sense as well as bravery since she is portrayed as standing up to the men around her while trying to do the right thing (Blake, 2010). As a result, the author employs a smooth and descriptive writing style that is characterized by an elevation of the main character Angeline as well as fleshing out of secondary characters.
The secondary characters such as Claire, Prince Rolfe are fleshed out and given unique personalities, which are meant to complement how the author develops the story around Angeline, who is the story’s heroine and main character. The manner in which the author uses a descriptive form of writing/ styles also brings out the story’s Southern setting, which is a technique meant to promote readership of any form of literary writing. Similarly, the story’s plot was somewhat different from the typical plot use to develop romances, as it does not necessarily point out the story’s villain (Blake, 2010). However, the fact that the author uses a descriptive method of writing does not necessarily appeal to every reader, as some may deem it as making the story longer than it should be.
Overall, the book is indeed enjoyable and captivating as it employs various literary devices to demonstrate how romances can be told in a different, but interesting angle. By suing a female hero, the author manages to gain popularity among women readers, thus an established target group of readers. Similarly, the twists of the story such as Angeline’s role from wanting to do nothing with Prince Rolfe to saving his life and even tending to his wounds is an interesting way of intriguing readers, thus fostering readership. Authors employ literary devices in a bid to gain the readership that is all too well captured in Blake’s book, “Royal Seduction,”, which is similarly a fitting title for the book as it indeed occurs in the story.
Reference
Blake, J. (2010). Royal Seduction . Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks Casablanca.
