小说会话分析透视人物性格——《妻子与女儿》柯克帕特里克夫人研究

Character study through conversation analysis in fiction—a study of Mrs Kirkpatrick in Wives and Daughters

英国维多利亚时期的女性小说家盖斯凯尔夫人以其细致入微的观察和传统的家庭女性身份塑造了许多丰富的女性形象。其最后一部作品《妻子与女儿》中的女性人物各有特色,反映出盖斯凯尔夫人对维多利亚时期女性褒贬结合的态度。小说女主角莫莉(Molly)的继母柯克帕特里克夫人(Mrs.Kirkpatrick)是一个典型的反面女性人物,作者也在文中多次暗示对该人物的不满和怜悯。传统的文学评论大多从政治、伦理等社会语境对小说进行分析,而本文将运用语言学中小说会话分析的相关理论对柯克帕特里克夫人这一人物进行探讨,从而更加系统地论证该人物的性格特点。

Mrs Kirkpatrick is a typical opposing character in Mrs Gaskell’s last novel Wives and Daughters . This paper will adopt relevant linguistic theories in conversation analysis in fiction to make a systematic analysis of the female character Mrs Kirkpatrick ’ s speech features and characteristics . Through the analysis of Mrs Kirkpatrick’s conversation ,the paper finds that she is used to using formal ,abstract , exaggerating words and complex sentences to express simple thoughts and shallow feelings .Based on these linguistic features ,it can be seen that Mrs Kirkpatrick is self‐centered but tries to please men to satisfy her vanity ,which can reflect Mrs Gaskell’s sympathetic yet discontented view of women at the Victorian Age .