Linguistic and semiotic representation of pessimism in The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/eejpl.2023.10.1.volKeywords:
English literary fairy tale, indirect indicators of pessimism, linguistic semiotics, pessimism, pessimistic tonality, verbal triggers of pessimism, symbolsAbstract
This paper focuses on the indirect means of verbalising the phenomenon of pessimism in the texts of literary fairy tales from the point of view of linguosemiotics. The study aims to identify the linguistic and semiotic means that create the pessimistic discourse of Oscar Wilde's collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Pessimistic discourse is treated as a person-centred type of discourse, represented by a complex system of means that reveals the speaker's pessimistic worldview and is characterised by its aims, style, and tenor. The study employs semantic and lingo-semiotic analysis of the ontological phenomenon of pessimism in fictional texts, using content analysis to ensure the reliability and validity of the results. Furthermore, the four-stage methodological procedure used in this research allows us to define a general literary context of the analysed works, select the research material, determine the frequency characteristics of the symbols as lingo-semiotic means that create the pessimistic tonality and discourse of Oscar Wilde's collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales. The research identifies the symbols of nature (seasons, flowers), the material world (colours, everyday objects), distance and death (as an ontological category) as verbal triggers of the author's pessimism implemented in the narrative through the contextual markers of basic, adjacent and related qualitative features of pessimism reflecting its social, psychological and cognitive aspects. The study contributes to the development of linguistic semiotics, psycholinguistics and discourse studies by enriching the knowledge of idiostyles. The proposed methodology of the given research is considered promising within the framework of different genres.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
* Corresponding author: Alla Pavliuk,
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Deely, J. (2001). The Quasi-Error of the External World: An Essay for Thomas A. Sebeok, in memoriam. American Journal of Semiotics, 17(4), 477-509.
Deely, J. (2009). Purely Objective Reality. de Gruyter Mouton.
Dewey, G. (2014). Relative Frequency of English Speech Sounds. Harvard University Press.
Dienstag, J. (2009). Pessimism: philosophy, ethic, spirit. Princeton University Press.
Extremera, N., Duran, A., & Rey, L. (2007). Perceived emotional intelligence and dispositional optimism-pessimism: Analysing their role in predicting psychological adjustment among adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 42(6), 1069–1079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.09.014
Im, Y. (2017). “A seriousness that fails”: reconsidering symbolism in Oscar Wilde's “Salomé”. Victorian Literature and Culture, 45(1), 163–175. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1060150316000486
Keivom-Lockhart, J. (2013). The Relationship between Situational Optimism / Pessimism and Donating Intentions. MSc thesis. The University of Canterbury.
Milam, J. (2002). Adaptation to a life-threatening diagnosis: Dispositional optimism and pessimism and posttraumatic growth among patients with HIV. Ph.D. thesis. The University of Southern California.
Norem, J., & Illingworth, K. (1993). Strategy-dependent effects of reflecting on self and tasks: Some implications of optimism and defensive pessimism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 822–835.
Peirce, Ch.S. (1991). Peirce on Signs: Writings on Semiotic by Charles Sanders Peirce. J. Hoops (Ed.). The University of North Carolina Press.
Peterson, C., Maier, S., & Seligman M. (1995). Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control. Oxford University Press.
Rombach, M. (2011). An Analysis of Optimistic and Pessimistic Language in Earnings Press Releases. GRIN Verlag.
Sandner, D. (1991). Navajo Symbols of Healing. Healing Arts Press.
Schopenhauer, A. (2015). The Essays of Studies in Pessimism. Full Moon Publications.
Seif, Farouk, Y. (2019). De-Sign in the Transmodern World: Envisioning Reality Beyond Absoluteness. Peter Lang AG.
Shtepa A. (2018). The role of artistic details in the structure of the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by O. Wilde. Philological Sciences, 29, 51–54.
Skaggs, S. (2017). FireSigns: A Semiotic Theory for Graphic Design. The MIT Press.
Toirova, N. (2019). The significance of the symbols of Mirror and Portrait in teaching symbolism on the basis of “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science, 4(4), 1073–1708. https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4424
Tresidder, J. (2005). The Complete Dictionary of Symbols. Chronicle Books Publications.
White, L., & Dillingham, B. (1973). The Concept of Culture. Burgess Publishing Company.
Sources
Wilde, O. (1888). The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Roberts Brothers.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Svitlana Volkova, Valentina Boichuk, Alla Pavliuk, Nataliia Yefremova
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