ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Definition: Frame Narrative. FRAME NARRATIVE: A story within a story, within sometimes yet another story, as in, for example, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . As in Mary Shelley’s work, the form echoes in structure the thematic search in the story for something deep, dark, and secret at the heart of the narrative.

Detailed explanation-2: -A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories.

Detailed explanation-3: -A classic example is the film The Princess Bride. It begins with a grandfather reading a story to his grandson (the frame). Throughout the story-within-the-story, Westley, the protagonist, repeats the phrase “As you wish” to Princess Buttercup, the woman he loves.

Detailed explanation-4: -A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes called nested stories.

Detailed explanation-5: -As its name suggests, a frame story is a narrative that frames or surrounds another story or set of stories. It usually appears at the beginning and end of that larger story and provides important context and key information for how to read it.