Point of View

Point of view in Between the Acts is third-person omniscient. The narrator sees all and knows all, including the innermost fantasies and thoughts of the characters. This is an appropriate point of view for a novel such as this, in which much "action" occurs underneath the surface in the thoughts of the characters. For example, there is Isa's enmity toward Giles, and her lust for Mr. Haines and intellectual connection with William Dodge, whom she considers a "semblable" or twin. There is Mr. Oliver's heroic fantasies fighting savages in India, or the rich fantasy life of senile Mrs. Swithin who, influenced by a recently read history book, looks out her window and sees England as it was in prehistoric times, full of strange creatures and devoid of civilization.

The choice of third-person omniscient is also useful in Woolf's attempts to bombard the reader with bits of...