A Pragmatic Analysis Of Characterization In The Narrative Discourse Of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations In The Light Of Politeness Theory:

Amal Essayed Abdul Fattah Abdul Mageed

Many studies have emphasized the importance of politeness phenomenon in studying literary characterization (see, for example, Culpeper (2001) and Bennison (1993)). The present research examines in detail the characterization of the major characters of Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations from a pragmatic approach. Politenessphenomenon is the selected pragmatic criterion according to which theresearcher traces the characters’ development and analyzes theircharacterization from a linguistic perspective. The pragmatic model oflinguistic politeness applied in this research is the one suggested byBrown and Levinson (1987) since it is considered the mostcomprehensive work in the area of linguistic politeness. In addition tothis model, the research benefits from other theoretical notions; namely,Leech’s (1983) notion of a ’speech situation’ and Searle’s (1979)classification of ’speech acts’.The procedure followed in this research is to analyze the differentrelationships existing in the novel through analyzing the most significantconversations in such relationships as speech situations with specificcontexts. Throughout these conversations, participants (i.e. the fictional characters) perform certain speech acts with specific illocutionary(pragmatic) functions using certain politeness strategies. As far as thisthesis is concerned, the choice of a certain strategy depends primarily ontwo main factors: the relative power (P) and the social distance (D). Thethird factor mentioned by Brown and Levinson (1987) – the rank ofimposition (Rx) – is excluded in this thesis because the thesis does notaddress the cultural aspect of politeness. Instead, the ’affect’ factor – i.e.the degree of intimacy between the two participants is highly consideredduring the analysis of certain relationships in the novel. Generally, the analysis of the characters’ speech acts and the different politenessstrategies they use to perform them throughout the three stages of thenovel in the light of the P and D factors and the context (backgroundknowledge) of each speech situation offers a satisfactory elucidation ofthe characterization of those characters. The purpose of this study is thus twofold: to present a pragmatic model of linguistic politeness and apply itto the fictional dialogue of a narrative, and to offer a detailed linguistic(pragmatic) analysis of a literary concept, i.e. ’characterization’, in thisnarrative work.Great Expectations is the selected text for the present researchbecause of its highly social nature, which has to do with thesociolinguistic aspect of politeness phenomenon. Besides, the novel’smajor theme is the idea of ’social class’ and ’social status’ in the Victoriansociety, which has a close connection to the two variables (P and D)affecting the characters’ choice of a certain politeness strategy. Thus, thenovel’s major theme facilitates the application of the proposed pragmaticmodel and is elucidated by the application of such a model. In addition,the novel is a social drama set in Dickens’s Victorian society that showed a wide interest in matters of politeness or what was known as ’etiquette’;so the application of politeness phenomenon to such a Victorian work ishighly appropriate. Finally, a large portion of the novel consists ofcharacter-to-character dialogues and this helps applying the selectedtoolkit by analyzing such dialogues in the light of the politeness choices(strategies) of the characters. Changes in these choices from one stage of the novel to the other help the researcher trace the development of thecharacterization of those characters. In short, both the content and theform of Great Expectations offer a suitable material for the application ofa pragmatic model of politeness (B–L model) for the investigation ofcharacterization.This thesis falls into five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction.It gives a statement of the context and scope of the study, a statement ofthe research questions and some account of the objectives andsignificance of the study. It presents also definitions of some significanttechnical terms occurring in the title of the thesis and inside the workitself. Besides, it provides a brief account of Charles Dickens as anEnglish novelist: his birth, life and works; his use of ’language’, whichrefers basically to his use of ’dialogue’; and his method of portrayingfictional characters. Finally, the chapter sheds light on the novel underinvestigation (Great Expectations) ; namely, the main incidents and themajor characters inhabiting the world of the novel.Chapter Two is a review of the literature of politenessphenomenon. It gives a brief account of politeness theories whichpreceded Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model. It gives also an adequatedescription of Brown and Levinson’s model; namely, the concept of‘face’, ‘face-threatening acts’ (FTAs) and the parameters of the amountof face threat. Besides, it discusses briefly the five major super-strategiesproposed by Brown and Levinson for performing FTAs. Finally, thechapter gives an idea about the critiques of this model as well asexamples of studies that have dealt with the relation between power andpoliteness and studies that have applied politeness theory to literature.Chapter Three presents the main theoretical framework in thelight of which the analysis of data is done. The theoretical frameworkconsists mainly of the four major politeness super-strategies proposedby Brown and Levinson in their model of 1987– the bald-on-recordstrategy, positive politeness, negative politeness and off-recordstrategies– with their numerous sub-strategies realizing these majorstrategies. The fifth politeness strategy proposed by the two authors –”Don’t do the FTA” – is not a part of the thesis’s theoretical frameworkbecause the thesis’s main concern is the analysis of the FTAs performedthrough the different politeness strategies.Chapter Four deals with the data, analysis and pragmaticinterpretation. It presents the pragmatic analysis of characterization in the novel through analyzing the different relationships in the novel inthe light of the proposed theoretical framework. Chapter Five is the conclusion in which the researcher sheds lighton the most important findings relevant to the four major kinds ofpoliteness strategies.