"Who then is this?"

At different points in the narrative continuum of Mark's Gospel, the narrator himself adresses and allows varios characters in the story world to adress the issue of Jesus' identity. This raises the question: What role does the question of Jesus identity play in the narrative plot of Mark's Gospel? In attempting an answer to this question particular attention is given in this study to the axes of communication from the author over the text to the reader of Mark's Gospel.