Филологические науки/2. Риторика и стилистика

Преподаватель английского языка Максименкова Т.Н.

Международная Бизнес - Академия, Казахстан

Stylistic features of Oscar Wilde’s writings

The expressive means of a language exist as a certain system of literary devices within the literary form of the common language. The system of expressive means of language differs from that of another, not in the existence of some device but in the role which this device plays, and the place which it occupies in this system.

The syntactical level plays an important role in the system of language expressive means. Generally speaking, the examination of syntax provides a deeper insight into the stylistic aspect of the utterance.

Unlike the syntactical expressive means of the language, which are naturally used in discourse in a straight-forward natural manner, syntactical stylistic devices are perceived as elaborate designees aimed at having a definite impact on the reader. It will be borne in mind that any stylistic device is meant to be understood as a device and is calculated to produce a desired stylistic effect.

O. Wilde’s writings are more than literary masterpieces. They give readers and linguists a clear picture of stylistically coloured works.

The first syntactical expressive means used by Oscar Wilde is inversion.

According to Prof. Kukharenko V.A., inversion is very often used as an independent stylistic device in which the direct word order is changed either completely so that the predicate (predicative) precedes the subject, or partially, so that the object precedes the subject – predicate pair [2, с. 345].

Although Oscar Wilde doesn’t pay much attention to such expressive means as inversion, he also resorts to its usage in his plays: e.g. “Told me she that entirely disapproved of people marrying more than once” [3, с. 99].

The next syntactical expressive means is a repetition. As the word “repetition” itself suggests, this unit of poetic speech is based upon a repeated occurrence of one and the same word or word group.

According to Prof. Galperin I.R., repetition as a syntactical stylistic device is recurrence of the same word, word combination or a phase for two and more times [1, с. 126].

It shows emotional state of mind of the speaker as in the following example from Wilde: e.g. “I love you – love you as I have never loved any living thing. From the moment I met you I loved you, loved you blindly, adoringly, madly” [3, с. 101].

Wilde often uses parallel constructions, a perfect means of creating the clean-cut syntax of his plays.

By Prof. Galperin I.R.: “Parallel construction is a device which may be encountered not so much in the sentence as in the macro-structures. The necessary condition in parallel construction is identical, or similar, syntactical structure in two or more sentences or parts of a sentence” [1, с. 215].

Enumeration is the next syntactical stylistic device used by O.Wilde in his plays.

According to Prof. Galperin I.R., enumeration is a stylistic device by which separate things, objects, properties or actions are named one by one so that they produce a chain, the links of which, being syntactically in the same position (homogeneous parts of speech), are forced to display some kind of semantic homogeneity [1, с. 318], e.g. “Bad women as they are turned, may have in them sorrow, repentance, pity, sacrifice” [3, с. 118].

One of the most typical phenomenon of Wilde’s plays is ellipsis. But this typical feature of the spoken language assumes a new quality when used in the written language.

By Prof. Sosnovskaya V.B., ellipsis is an intentional omission from an utterance of one or more words [4, с. 243].

Ellipsis makes the utterance grammatically incomplete. The meaning of omitted words is easy to understand. The context helps to understand the meaning of such words and the whole situation, e.g. “Been dining with my people” [3, с. 123].

Syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices add also logical, emotive, expressive information to the utterance.

There are also certain structures, whose emphasis depends not only on the arrangement of sentence members but also on their construction with definite demands on the lexica-semantic aspect of the sentence. They are known as lexica-syntactical stylistic devices.

Chiasmus is a good example of them.

According to Prof. Galperin I.R., chiasmus is based on the repetition of a syntactical pattern but it has a cross order of words and phrases [1, с. 112], e.g. “All the married men live like bachelors, and all the bachelors like married men” [3, с. 133].

One more stylistic device used by Wilde is antithesis.

According to Prof. Galperin I.R antithesis is based on relative opposition which arises out of the context through the expansion of objectively contrasting pairs [1, с. 265].

Syntactically antithesis is just another case of parallel constructions. But unlike parallelism, which is indifferent to the semantics of its components, the two parts of an antithesis must be semantically opposite to each other, as in this example of O.Wilde: e.g. “Don’t use big words. They mean so little” [3, с. 98].

It is important to note, that Wilde’s antithesis is always accompanied by parallelisms, thus showing the difference of phenomena compared:

e.g. “Cecil Graham: What is a cynic?

Lord Darlington: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” [3, с. 99].

According to Professor Galperin I.R., irony is a stylistic device based on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings- dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings stand in opposition to each other [1, с. 360].

Here is an example of irony: e.g. “Oh, I love London Society! I think it has immensely improved. It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be” [3, с. 114].

Pun is the next stylistic device used by Oscar Wilde in his plays.

According to Professor Sosnovskaya V.B., pun (paronomasia, a play on words) is a figure of speech emerging as an effect created by words similar or identical in their sound form and contrastive or incompatible in meaning [4, с. 128].

Thus, the title of one of Oscar Wilde’s plays, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, has a pun in it. But in order to understand this pun we must read the whole play, because the name of the hero and the adjective meaning “seriously-minded” both exist in our mind.

Pun is based on the effect of deceived expectation, because unpredictability in it is expressed either in the appearance of the elements of the text unusual for the reader or in the unexpected reaction of the addressee of the dialogue.

In case of homonym the two meanings of one word are quite independent and both direct. These two meanings of the pun are realized simultaneously and in the remark of one and the same person. Such examples are comparatively rare in Wilde’s plays. Most of Wilde’s puns are based on polysemy. Such puns are realized in succession, that is at first the word appears before a reader in one meaning and then -–in the other. This realization is more vivid in dialogues, because in such cases the pun acquires more humorous effect as a result of misunderstanding. In many cases the addressee of the dialogue is the main source of interference. His way of thinking and peculiarities of perception can explain this. Rarely the speaker himself is the source of interference (for example, if he has a speech defect). Almost all Oscar Wilde’s puns based on polysemy are realized in dialogues, in fact the remark of the addressee:

e.g. “Lady H.: she lets her clever tongue run away with her.

Lady C.: is that the only Mrs. Allonby allows to run away with her?” [3, с. 99]

Epithet is another stylistic device used by Oscar Wilde.

According to Prof. Galperin I.R., Epithet is a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning in an attributive word, phrase or even sentence, used to characterize an object and pointing out to the reader and frequently imposing on him [1, с. 89], e.g. “I tell you that had it ever occurred to me, that such a monstrous suspicion would have entered your mind, I would have died rather than have crossed your life” [3, с. 125].

One of the most frequently used, well-known and elaborated among the stylistic devices is metaphor. The metaphoric use of the word begins to affect the dictionary meaning, adding to it fresh connotations of meaning or shades of meaning.

According to Prof. Sosnovskaya V.B., metaphor, a most widely used trop, is based upon analogy, upon a traceable similarity [4, с. 290.]. But in the metaphor, contrary to the simile, there is no formal element to indicate comparison. The difference, though, is not merely structural. The absence of a formal indication of comparison in the metaphor makes the analogy based on more subtle to perceive.

As an illustration of Wilde’s skill in using every nuance of the language to serve some special stylistic purpose, we must mention his use of metaphors: e.g. “We live in an age of ideals” [3, с. 94].

Simile is the next stylistic device used by Wilde in his plays. Simile is a likeness of one thing to another.

According to Prof. Galperin I.R. the intensification of someone feature of the concept in question is realized in a device called Simile [1, с. 287]. Ordinary comparison and Simile must not be confused. They represent two diverse processes. Comparison means weighing two objects belonging to one class of things with the purpose of establishing the degree of their sameness or difference. To use a simile is to characterize one object by bringing it into contact with another object belonging to an entirely different class of things. Comparison takes into consideration all the properties of the two objects, stressing the one that is compared. Simile includes all the properties of the two objects except one which is made common to them: e.g. “All women become like their mothers” [3, с. 136].

Galperin I.R. states that hyperbole is the law of art which brings the existing phenomena of life, diffused as they are, to the point of maximum clarity and conciseness [1, с. 198].

Hyperbole is aimed at exaggerating quantity or quality. It is a deliberate exaggeration. In hyperbole there is transference of meaning as there is discrepancy with objective reality. The words are no used in their direct sense: e.g. “I have never loved anyone in the world but you” [3, с. 139].

Hyperbole may be also called the means of artistic characterization. Hyperbole is a device which sharpens the reader’s ability to make a logical assessment of the utterance. In order to create his hyperboles Wilde uses such words as “hundreds”, “thousands”, “all the time”, “nothing in the world”, etc.

In his four plays it is possible to observe some metonymies.

According to Prof. Kukharenko V.A., metonymy also becomes instrumental in enriching the vocabulary of the language and it is based on contiguity (nearness) of objects or phenomena [2, с. 420], e.g. “…a thing more tragic than all the tears the world has ever shed” [3, с. 115]

Oscar Wilde resorts to the use of a great number of stylistic devices in his plays.

One can find different syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices in Wilde’s plays such as parallel constructions, repetition, chiasmus, antithesis and many others. These expressive means help the author to create his clear-cut and elegant style, to give rhythm to his language. They give a musical value to every phrase.

Wilde’s writing is skilful, playing, and understandable to everybody. It has a great charm and brilliancy of the author’s personality.

Литература:

1. Galperin I.R. An Essay in Stylistic Analysis, Moscow, 1968.-367p.

2. Kukharenko V.A. Seminars in Style, Moscow, 1971.-473p.

3. O.Wilde Plays, Foreign Languages publishing house, Moscow, 1968.-349p.

4. Sosnovskaya V.B. Analytical Reading, Moscow, 1974.-326p.