Филологические науки/1.Методика  преподавания языка и литературы

Смолова Т.В., Познякова Т.М.

Гомельский государственный университет им. Ф. Скорины

COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE

CHARACTER-IMAGE ANALYSIS

The article gives an account of the use of comparative technology for the analysis of H.S. Walpole’s literary characters in the lessons of analytical reading.

In two of his stories “The Etching” and “A Picture” in the collection “The Silver Thorn” H.S.Walpole, a prominent English writer, created bright complex literary characters, marked by their verisimilitude. The author used the so-called combined method of character portrayal which is widely presented in literature. Both direct and indirect methods can be analysed from the following aspects of character presentation to make a comparative analysis.

1) Physical, where the author gives us the outward description of his characters. As long as there exists a vivid connection between characters and their appearance in fiction, a vast material for debating can be found. The author can directly connect the outer features with those of the character’s personality in both couples or, on the contrary, consciously mislead the reader. For example, in the description of Vanessa the narrator says: “Vanessa, with her red gold hair, her body straight as a dart, and slim as a flower, her vitality, cleverness, humour... was one of the most startling and remarkable people in the artistic and literary London of that time. It was not only her beauty, but her quickness of perception, her ability to enter into anything at a moment’s notice.” At the final stage of the story he states the following: “ And yet always my unhappiness increased, now someone seemed forever whispering in my ear criticism of her, that she was theatrical, unstable, even, God forgive me, false”.

2) Emotional, where the author depicts the emotional state of his characters, their prevailing or incidental mood. Here for revealing the emotional state of the characters of both couples the analysis of small gestures can be helpful. This can be demonstrated to students in the episode between Frances and Billy Gabriel: “With one movement she was at the table, then had the Whistler in her hands, then had torn it, again, again, and again, into a hundred pieces.” “Then ...he faced her with hatred in his eyes. He was going to strike her, then he stepped right back...” Simon: “With a shock about my ears as though a thousand waters had broken in upon me, I stared at the picture... and then I knew with a sudden flash of humiliating discovery that it was not Vanessa’s weakness ...”

3) Moral aspect of character portrayal can be vividly demonstrated by the analysis of the characters’ words and actions. It is common knowledge that actions speak louder than words, but, again, students have here an opportunity to compare how much the couples’ words correspond to their actions.

4) The spiritual aspect analysis can depict the couples’ world of beliefs, human values, the sphere of interests, aims and aspirations, which really reveal a human personality. For example, the shy and timid Billy Gabriel not only acquired the whole world of spiritual happiness in his beloved etchings but also found in them the reflection of his dream. In spite of the violent opposition of his wife he managed to make his dream come true and to become “immensely happy.” Students can analyse and compare this aspect in the portrayal of France, Simon and Vanessa.

5) Social aspect analysis involves evaluating their role in society (whether large or small), value or worselessness of their existence, social activity or passivity and contribution to social life and development.

After the discussion of the above mentioned methods (direct and indirect) students can analyse the author’s creative attitude to his characters in both stories when analysing the nature of the characters:

a) Simple or complex. Simple (flat) characters are built around one prevailing feature. Complex (well-rounded) ones include a variety of them. The more complicated the characters are the more versatile and convincing they prove to be.

b) Static or developing (Frances, Billy or both? Vanessa, Simon or both?) To answer this question students are to analyse and compare the personages’ routine or creative activity (if positive) in their life stories or the process of degradation (if negative). Did Frances understand her husband at the beginning of the story? Let’s read her inner speech at the beginning: “It was his imperceptions that called out her “managing ways” more frequently. The things that he did not see, the way that he idled his time, dreaming! How he would sit ... just staring in front of him, smoking his pipe...”. Now let’s analyse her thoughts at the end of the story: “And why did he leave her? She can’t think. She can’t understand it at all. Some silly little quarrel about a drawing or a print. All about nothing”.

c) The author can present the development of his characters in a parallel way or in an opposing one. Thus, students are offered to analyse and compare the characters’ stories in terms of similarity or difference in their development, which will bring them to understand the personages’ motives.

d) Some authors (H. S. Walpole among them) apply their personal artistic method in the process of creating a character-image. Describing a personage at the beginning of the story and presenting him/her in a striking opposition at the end of the story may be regarded as a conscious attempt to mislead the readers. Such a method provides students with an opportunity to apply an analytical and comparative approach in the process of reading. So, is Frances really as reasonable as she is portrayed at the beginning of the story? “A rock of common sense … in her scorn of emotional trifles ... in her contempt for nerves”. What kind of person is she at the end of the story? We read: “She wrote him again and again imploring him to return... She longed for him sometimes so that it was like appendicitis or even a cancer. She will love him to the day of her death.” Was it her personality that really changed in the course of events or was it our impressions of her that changed? Students are supposed to analyse and compare this approach in terms of the other couple: Vanessa and Simon.

In order to apply a detailed comparative analysis of character-images in a story, one can also trace the author’s methods in terms of presentation of the character through the eyes of another character. A neutral and disinterested person is expected to describe another one with verisimilitude which will not be impaired by his or her personal attitude. But “beauty lies in lover’s eyes”! “In a paradise of incredible happiness” Simon could only describe Vanessa in the way natural for any poet in love, who proposed and was accepted.

The authors of the presented article do not claim to have mentioned all the methods of comparative analysis used in a lesson. Practice reveals the fact that it is impossible to apply all of them within a lesson, otherwise the quality of comparative analytical work might suffer. The analyses of speech characteristics, stylistic devices, as well as the analysis of the author’s approach to naming his characters can also be practised within a series of lessons. Experience proves the importance of comparative technology usage in the lessons on analytical reading. Apart from the idea of penetrating into the author’s message, the described approach helps students improve their knowledge, consolidate their skills of systematizing facts and notions, of generalization and drawing conclusions and develop their creative and logical thinking.