Point of View

The Duke's story is told from the perspective of many different characters. Most of the Duke's story is told in his own words in the form of excerpts from his personal journal. However, these excerpts are frequently interrupted by brief accounts written from the point of view of various peripheral characters.

The Duke's journal entries give the reader the impression that we have access to the Duke's true mental condition. He writes intimately about his dreams, memories and other mental episodes. Although the Duke's journal entries give the impression that we have direct access to his experiences, the reader should bear in mind that the journal entries are written reports. As such, they are pieces of behavioral evidence and the Duke's mental condition is truly revealed to us only indirectly through his actions, i.e. the act of writing.

The accounts given by some of the...