When stories are told in the third person, they are usually told in the third-person omniscient or third-person limited point-of-view. In the latter variety we see that the narrator shows us the thoughts and actions of one character, usually the main character. Sometimes the narrator will state these thoughts explicitly. For example: "Madam Bovary thought to herself, 'how nice it would be to have son!' She considered how fortunate boys were to have so many opportunities." This style of writing is a combination of direct speech and reported speech. But Gustave Flaubert did not use these forms of speech when writing his novel Madam Bovary. Instead he wrote in a style known as free indirect speech. Below you see a passage from this novel.

She hoped for a son; he would be strong and dark; she would call him George; and this idea of having a male child was like an expected revenge for all her impotence in the past. A man, at least, is free; he can explore all passions and all countries, overcome obstacles, taste of the most distant pleasures. But a woman is always hampered. Being inert as well as pliable, she has against her the weakness of the flesh and the inequity of the law. Like the veil held to her hat by a ribbon, her will flutters in every breeze; she is always drawn by some desire, restrained by some rule of conduct.

Notice that we, as readers, come to see the world through Madam Bovary's perspective, and the narrator does not have to indicate explicitly that these are her thoughts. Free indirect speech gives us the sense of first-person narration, while told through third-person narration. 

Related lessons

• Narrative technique