Point of View

The Seafarer is a play, so the point of view of the story is not from a particular character’s perspective but instead from that of an outside observer. This outside observer is the reader, if the story is enjoyed as a book, or the audience, if the story is seen as it is meant to be in a play. This audience perspective affects the writing of the story in many ways. For example, the entire plot must be presented in dialogue format. As such, the author can only provide details if the characters themselves are aware of them. In different instances, the author uses newspapers to increase the knowledge of the characters so that certain occurrences can be described. For example, Ivan reads about Maurice Macken’s death, an important death in the play as it introduces Mr. Lockhart’s effect on the landscape...