Bible
Isaiah Chapter 6 addresses Isaiah's commission, and is a perfect example of the use of narrative structure, format, and style in the Hebrew Bible. A plethora of Tate's literary elements pertain directly to Isaiah, and reading Isaiah with Tate's elements in mind enhances understanding of the text. In particular, Isaiah 6 reflects Old Testament narratology: the method by which the story is being told. Hebrew narratology retains core elements, some of which are adhered to and some of which are subverted in Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6 is told from a first person point-of-view, evident from the first line: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple," (Isaiah 6:1). The first person point-of-view establishes a literary, thematic, and semantic bond between implied reader and implied narrator. Moreover, the first person point-of-view engenders trust. Isaiah is speaking to the reader personally, encouraging a personal response. The reader may situate himself or herself within the text. Finally, the narrative structure of Isaiah 6 differs from those in other sections of the Pentateuch precisely because of the point-of-view. The narrator is clearly defined, and speaks directly to the reader. In other Biblical passages, especially in the Old Testament, the narrator is less clearly defined.
Although Isaiah is the first person implied narrator, the passage of Isaiah 6 also uses the characteristic omniscient narrator employed throughout the Hebrew Bible, as Tate points out. Isaiah himself is not the omniscient narrator; rather, he is the implied author. The omniscient narrator that Tate refers to seems notably absent in Isaiah 6, which is told from a more personal point-of-view. Yet God fills the role of omniscience, as it is God who tells Isaiah what to do next, and Isaiah obeys. An intratextual and intertextual analysis reveals that there is an overarching...
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