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The usage of similes in Oscar Wilde `The picture of Dorian Gray”

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2013

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Vilnius University

The usage of similes in Oscar Wilde “The picture of Dorian Gray”

Term paper


Contents

1. Introduction;

2. Theory part;

2.1. What is a simile?

2.1.1. Nature and function of similes;

2.1.2. Similes classifying;

2.1.3. Recognition and interpretation of similes;

2.1.4. Ways to use similes;

3. Practical part;

3.1. The analyse of random similes from roman “The picture of Dorian Gray”;

3.2. Similes without additional information;

3.3. Similes related to flowers;

3.4. The usage of word “monstrous” in similes of “The picture of Dorian Grey”

4. Conclusions;

5. Examples;

6. References;

7. Sources.


1. Introduction

Things are best of all learned by simile. (V.G.Belinsky). Similes are very usefull in a lot of areas. Some people tries to learn things by using similes, other writes literary works and uses similes to make text more colourful and more exciting. In this reaserch paper I will talk about usage of similies in one of the most popular nineteenth century Anglo-Irish playwright roman “The picture of Dorian Gray“.

This roman first time was published in 1890 and it was the only roman published by Oscar Wilde. Wilde was a proponent of the Aesthetic movement, which emphasized aesthetic values more than moral or social themes.

Roman “The picture of Dorian Gray“ is about man named Dorian, which was extremely beautiful and in his youth one painter, Basil Hallward, painted his picture. In that picture reflected Dorian Gray's soul. And he always wanted to be young and beautiful so he never grew old but the painting with time was getting more and more dreadful.

The main character- Dorian Gray had a friend, Lord Henry, which conveyed to Gray his world view, and Dorian became corrupted as he attempted to emulate him, though Basil, who painted the picture, pointed out to Harry that “You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing.“ So, Lord Henry was the biggest speaker in roman , and this character said the mainly sentences and aphorisms, as well as his speech was most intricate and picturesque.

To do speech intricate and picturesque, writter O.Wilde used a lot of similes. So, similes I mostly found in Lord Henry's speech.

The objectives of this research is to discuss the methods of O.Wilde, which he was using to construct similes in “The picture of Dorian Grey", to provide examples of different constructions of similes, to show the importance of similes in fiction literature and to group similes of “The picture of Dorian Grey“by the connective words.  Also to show the importance of word “monstrous” in the similes of the roman and to prove that Oscar Wilde was inclinable to use flowers and their types in some if similes.

The aim of this paper is to analyse simply similes, similes related to flowers, similes in witch is used word ”monstrous” and other random complex similes. Also to group different similes into spheres by different types and connective words.

In this paper firstly I will figure out what is simile and why it is used to. I will present the different minds of simile and its functions of different writers and researchers. Similes also will be classified by their functions, and ways why one or other simile is used to. And there will be presented different ways of classifying similes which were invented by popular linguists and the researches of language.

This paper will be divided into two main parts. In first- theory part will be main important information about similes, based on remarkable researchers and linguists thoughts. In second part- practical- I will analyse similes from the Oscar Wilde’s roman. Therefore, this practical part also will be divided into four smaller units.

In these units there will be analysed different types of similes. Firstly- random chosen complex similes, secondly- simple one-word similes without any other information, thirdly- similes in witch are mentioned flower or type of it, and the last, a little strange type of similes- similes in witch are mentione.....[read full text]

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In textbooks, they are used as pedagogic aids to teach abstract or unfamiliar concepts by employing concepts known by students. In journalistic texts, similes can be used as an ornament, but in most cases they serve a function: illustrating behaviours or individual experiences and describing entities in an appealing way to add interest.

In advertising texts, we can find a hyperbolic statement, which denies a likeness between the promoted product and others. In literary texts- be it fiction, poetry or drama- similes fulfil an aesthetic function, and are usually creative, a way of talking about something in a surprising way.

So, similes have a big importance in a various texts and especially in literary texts- the similes do text more colourful, figurative and interesting. The biggest and most popular literary works authors in their texts were using similes, metaphors and other tropes, because the main function of fiction literature is aesthetic- to raise the readers admiring. Writers use similes to explain things, to express emotion, and to make their writing more vivid and entertaining.

Discovering fresh similes to use in your own writing also means discovering new ways to look at your subjects.


2.1.2. Similes classifying

Fromilhague(1995: 77-78) points out „A basic distinction is that between objective, originating from concrete physical experience, and subjective similes, stemming from individual association mechanisms, namely, ‘actually seeing as’ vs. ‘thinking as’“. Ortony (1993) remarks similes classification is that grounded in the semantic distinction between literal and non-literal comparisons.

Taking into consideration Bredin’s (1998: 77) remark about the mortality of similes, we can state that similes show various degrees of life and death, and fall along a scale going from the most stereotyped to the most creative. At one extreme, we situate conventionalised similes, the type of fixed expressions stored as units in the lexis.

At the other extreme, we situate creative similes, where a totally unexpected and surprising vehicle is associated with the topic. Between the two extremes, we can situate standard (ordinary) and original (fresh, but not totally unexpected) similes. Another distinction, suggested by Fromilhague (1995:83-84), is that between similes that mention the similarity feature, and the ones that do not.

Thus, we can distinguish between ‘explicit’ similes, that can also carry an explanation, and ‘implicit’ similes, that leave the onus of interpretation to the reader.


2.1.3. Recognition and interpretation of similes

Similes are easily recognisable by the presence of one of a variety of comparison markers. In English, the available markers include the following:

a) Verbs: seem, look like, act like, sound like, resemble, remind;

b) Adjectives: similar to, the same as;

c) Nouns: a sort of, some kind of;

d) Prepositions (in comparative phrases): like, as

e) Conjunctions (in comparative clauses): as if/though, as when.

 Such markers are not interchangeable: they impose different syntactic requirements on the constituents being compared, and often have different meanings. For example, be like signals a clear similarity, while be a sort of a loose similarity; the verb seem can signal both an objective and subjective similarity, while remind signals a subjective one (i.e. ‘thinking of x as’).

They also occur in different registers: similar to and resemble occur most typically in written, more formal discourse. Though a simile is easily recognised, it is not always easily understood: in most cases, the reader has to discover the aspects for the claimed similarity, Chiappe & Kennedy (2001: 270-271) think that this is the central problem in the interpretation of similes.

2.....

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Fadaee (2011:22) underlines, that “Simile is an overt one which explicitly and precisely explains the object and it is the first and simplest method for conveying the beauty of message which is used in poetry, prose and also usual conversations. Even children talking about their desires, use simile as a means of comparison”


3. Practical part

3.1. The analyse of random similes from roman “The picture of Dorian Gray”

In Oscar Wilde roman “The picture of Dorian Grey” at all I found 202 similes. 79- with connective word like, and 123 with word as. It all are very picturesque and scenic. Now I will analyse some of them.

1.    A grasshopper began to chirrup by the wall, and like a blue thread a long thin dragon-fly floated past on its brown gauze wings.

This simile is constructed with connective word like. There grasshopper is comparable with dragon-fly. The feature of their likeness is how they float. The author wanted to say that a grasshopper floating past on its wings looked very similar like it do dragon-fly. Or, another version- that author wanted to emphasize the grasshoppers floating by adding picturesque simile.

2.    It was such love as Michelangelo had known, and Montaigne, and Winckelmann, and Shakespeare himself.

In this simile Oscar Wilde compared someone’s love to the love in the popular classical literature writers works. In this simile as is used as connective word.

3.    The room looked as if it had not been lived in for years.

This sentence have a simile with constructive word as and assistant for it- if. There are comparable between room looking and feature, that there had not been lived in for years. There is no such concrete thing or object to compare with. There reader can understand that if in room is not lived long time, so it looks shabby and abandoned.

In this sentence writer leave the possibility to reader to himself understand whole context. Simile in this sentence per.....

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6.    The tulip-beds across the road flamed like throbbing rings of fire.

There we see how simile is used to describe environment and concrete objects of it. Tulip-beds in the roadside was not on fire, but reader can imagine that it was, because this simile do a big impression of flaming tulip rings across the road. There used connective word- like.

7.     He buried his face in the cushions, as though he was praying.

In this sentence simile is used to describe how action was performing. Simile is composed with main connective word as and assistant- though.

8.    They passed words to each other as players at a game pass counter.

There we see the similarity of actions. If we know how players at a game pass counter, we can understand how characters of roman passed words to each other. This simile generally prefers the function of conveyance. And connective word of simile is as.

9.    She answered, lingering over his name with long-drawn music in her voice, as though it were sweeter than honey to the red petals of her mouth.

This simile is a bit slightly- reader can understand it in two ways. First- her voice was sweeter than honey, and second- music in her voice was sweeter than honey. But it have no big matter. The main idea is that she talks very sweet and gently. This simile is not short- it have some additional information- it is also said that honey is sweet to the petals, and this point prefers the function of aesthetic.

It is just for beauty, it don’t say any important information to the reader about the story or its characters. As you can see, the connective word of simile- as, have the assistant- though.

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13. There were times when it appeared to Dorian Gray that the whole of history was merely the record of his own life, not as he had lived it in act and circumstance, but as his imagination had created it for him, as it had been in his brain and in his passions.

Sentence is very elaborate- there are three words as and two of them are connective similes words. In the first part the similarity is denied, the second part shows the thing with what the times are comparing (with the times he had lived in act and circumstance), and the third “as” is not connective, it just shows that in that time “it had been in his brain and in his passions” thus there “as” prefers the function of complement of information.

14. Chattering to themselves like monstrous apes.

There we see the good example of simile, which is used to describe behaviour of people. Chattering is described using simile- like monstrous apes, thus reader can understand that chattering to themselves was angry and diabolical. The connective word used in this simile- like.

15. The brain had its own food on which it battened, and the imagination, made grotesque by terror, twisted and distorted as a living thing by pain, danced like some foul puppet on a stand and grinned through moving masks.

In this complex sentence we can find simile in simile. There are two similes with different connecting words- as and like. There writer shows the similarity between terror and living thing and also between pain and foul puppet. There is some additional information, which is also important.


3.2. Similes without additional information

Before that I was analysing random examples of similes in Oscar Wilde roman “The picture of Dorian Grey”. Now I will analyse concrete similes, which do not have any additional information and are the simplest. I will group them by their connective words.

In the table no. 1 you can see different simply similes, which are grouper in two groups according to their connective words. I collected the simplest similes, which have no additional information and grouped them. As you can see, from total number- 202 similes, not complex similes, without supplementary information are o.....

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1.    Lips that were like the petals of a rose.

2.    The sky above was like a faded rose.

3.    He was like a common gardener walking with a rose.

4.    The tulip-beds across the road flamed like throbbing rings of fire.

5.    She trembled all over and shook like a white narcissus.

6.    A faint blush, like the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver, came to her cheeks.

7.    Lay there like a trampled flower

8.    The fuming censers that the grave boys, in their lace and scarlet, tossed into the air like great gilt flowers had their subtle fascination for him.

9.    I saw her white face at the window, like a spray of jasmine.

10. Adonis, who looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves.

11. Her body swayed, while she danced, as a lilies sways in the water.

12.

Figure No.1

In figure no.1 it is shown the tendency of Oscar Wilde how he uses different flowers names’ to construct similes. As I mentioned before, in all roman, from 202 similes there are 20 related to flowers, it is more than 9 per cents. Writer liked to use different names of different types of flowers.

Therefore, this figure illustrates the amount of different types of similes in “The picture of Dorian Gray”. As you can see, roses are used maximum times- I found 7 picturesque similes related with roses and their needles, petals, leaves. Also there are 6 similes which are also linked with flowers but the name of flower is not mentioned, writer silent about the concrete flower, so in the 6 variants he generalizes similes connected with flowers.

Other types of flowers- tulips and jasmine author used twice. And only once he used names- narcissus, dahlia and lilies. Very expressive and charming simile author wrote by using lilies type of flower. From the examples above it is numbered by 11. There women’s dancing is comparable with lilies swaying in the water. Similes like this awake readers’ imagination and let them ea.....

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