This novelis   n ot quin the traditional sense of the word. It consists of a 999-line poem by an unsociable genius and a commentary on it. The poem, written by John Shade just twenty days before his death, is largely about his life and views written in verse form, in a series of couplets grouped into four cantos. The commentary alternates between four types of stories, blending them together in a slightly incomprehensible manner. The commentator, Joseph Kinbote, was a neighbor of John Shade, and writes about: his relationship with the poet; the meaning behind Shade’s words; a satirical-like needling of traditional poems; and the story of an exiled king and the assassin who wishes to kill him. Kinbote frequently jumps from one subject to another, which, although confusing, gives the impression that the entire commentary is just a stream of consciousness.

Themes: Sarcasm is present in great amounts in Pale Fire. Kinbote makes fun of the traditional way of writing poetry, which was to have copious amounts of footnotes, often one for each line. This puts a revolutionist outlook on the book.

Point of View: The point of view shifts in the story from first person (monologues by Shade and Kinbote) to third person (the story of Jakob Gradus and Charles II).

Characters/types: The main character in this is debatable. Kinbote is certainly doing the most active writing part, but Shade has evidently more effect on his writing than anyone else does. These two main characters, along with secondary figures Jakob Gradus and Charles II, make up the bulk of the story.

Shade’s Pale Fire is full of figurative language. He refers to himself as inanimate objects, personifies nonliving things, makes many allusions, and generally uses surreal situations to describe his thoughts. Kinbote notes the extreme amount of allusions – and is often wrong, noticing allusions where there are none, and missing allusions that are present.

The content of the poem is the most important aspect in the novel. It is the element that persuades Kinbote to write what he does, and offers insights into the truly unique and different mind of John Shade, who has a lot to do with Kinbote’s life, and in some way everyone’s life.

Initial incident - Because this novel is not written with the traditional manner of plot-revealing, it is hard to select an "incident" that would start this story off. However, the event that precipitated the writing of the commentary is the writing of Pale Fire and subsequently Shade’s death, before he could finish the last line of the poem.

Climax - The climax in the novel would most likely be when Jakob Gradus, the killer supposedly looking for Charles II, gets a ride to the place where Shade and Kinbote live next to each other. It is a climax because the reader is not sure what the killer will do; and it is extremely surprising when Shade is killed instead of Kinbote.

One conflict is that between the exiled king of Zembla (Charles II) and Jakob Gradus, who is trying to kill him. Kinbote believes himself to be Charles II and that the person who killed Shade was actually Gradus thinking Shade was the king. This conflict is resolved in one way – the "assassin" does not try to kill "Charles II" – but it is not resolved because it is never established whether the killer was Gradus and furthermore Kinbote may not be Charles II but merely a paranoid foreigner.

It is truly ironic how Kinbote believes that Shade’s poem will be all about him. This profuse display of egotism is proved wrong when he finally gets hold of the work and realizes that it is not about himself ("Charles II") but an autobiography in verse. All his expectations are crushed. Furthermore, instead of becoming angry with Shade, Kinbote decides to satire commentaries on poems by writing one himself.

In the poem by John Shade, he reflects on the first time he fell in love with his wife Sybil. He reflects on a specific field trip they went on as high school students and how she looked as they sat listening to a lecture. This serves to remind the reader that this poem is about the life of John Shade and all that was in it, stressing the autobiographical nature of it.

John Shade foreshadows the death of his daughter (a suicide) by hinting at her possible mental breakdown. Hazel, his daughter, at the age of sixteen believed that a poltergeist was present in their home, this by virtue of seeing a basket move of its own accord. This example serves to remind people of all the possibilities of the future that might spring from one event.

The story is told in the first person by Shade and sometimes by Kinbote. Kinbote also uses the traditional third person omniscient to illustrate some of the exchanges between himself and Shade, and between the assassin and others.

The novel is set in the town of New Wye, Appalachia, U.S.A. It is a fairy mountainous area, and quite far from any large cities or towns.

Character one: John Shade

A. Main Character

Character two: Charles Kinbote

A. Main Character

Events are often not what they seem, for they may turn out in a completely unexpected way.

Dr. Kinbote is the symbol of "the person next door" in the sense that he does not really know what is going on with his neighbors, is completely uninvolved with what he believes he is, and cannot fathom why.

Shade alludes to poet Robert Frost in Pale Fire (Line 426, page 203). This is another bit of irony at work in the poet, with his fascination with ice and crystallization. The word frost is just a play on the poet’s name.

1. A. Dramatic Irony

B. "’You are looking for Dr. Kinbote?’ ‘Yes.’ (283)"

C. This is part of a conversation between a woman giving directions and Jakob Gradus, the assassin. He is looking for Kinbote, but somehow ends up killing John Shade. The irony in this is great, as Kinbote and Shade lived next to each other.

2. A. Allusion

B. "I was the shadow of the waxwing slain . . .(33)"

C. This shows John Shade referring to himself as a bird who attacks its own reflection in the window and eventually kills itself.

3. A. Foreshadowing

B. "’Doesn’t he live somewhere near Mr. Shade?’ (283)"

C. This is the woman giving directions – the reference to Mr. Shade hints that the killer will decide that the poet is his target.

4. A. Symbolism

B. " . . . a didactic katydid. (45)"

C. This symbolizes Shade’s interest in insects, and also Shade himself as a teacher, but an insect.

5. A. Verse

B. "All colors made me happy: even gray.

My eyes were such that literally they…(34)"

C. This couplet form is testimony to Shade’s great ability as a poet – he was able to rhyme a 999-line poem in a few days before his own death.

6. A. Personification

B. "Come here, come here; flirting her tail aloft . . . (35)"

C. This personification of the mockingbird shows what Shade heard in nature, the kinds of sounds he ascribed to differing animals.