ABSTRACT
The self is created by experience of the world, while the images of the world are formed from the view of a participant in this reality, a self. Thus the concept of social commentary incorporates both the 'I' of the speaker and the story which is narrated. The autobiographical character may be said to exemplify the 'personal voice'. This is a subjective, limited voice. In Ecclesiastes Qohelet has no existence as a character outside of first person speech. G. Ogden has described the use of a 'programmatic question' to structure Ecclesiastes. Qohelet's self-expression encloses an experience of the world outside the self. This approach to characterization establishes Qohelet as a character through 'doing', specifically through his own performative utterances. Whereas speech per se leads to a self-reflexive being, adding insight opens up the content of that reflectivity to the reader and helps to shape the narrator as person. Thus Qohelet offers, in Ecclesiastes, a personal interpretation of meaning in life.
