scholarly journals DISCOURSE CATEGORIES: A CASE FOR ENGLISH RESTORATION DRAMA

Author(s):  
Olena Marina

In this article, the notions of discourse and discourse categories are considered within the framework of a cognitive-communicative paradigm. In particular, three groups of discourse categories: cognitive, communicative and metadiscursive are considered in this paper. Within the group of cognitive discourse categories, I consider Restoration ideology and argue, that the institution of theatre and the dramatic discourse of the period became powerful means royal propaganda. I argue, that the dramatic discourse of the English Restoration performed two main functions: entertainment and dissemination of a new ideology. In this paper, I substantiate that the religious discourse of English Puritanism was replaced by the secular Restoration one. Within the group of cognitive categories, I also single out basic discourse-generative concepts of the dramatic discourse of the English Restoration. As to the group of communicative discourse categories, I focus on the values, chronotope, and the participants of the dramatic discourse of the English Restoration. I argue, that Restoration discourse disseminated libertine values such as licentiousness and debauchery. As to the chronotope of the dramatic discourse of the English Restoration, in this article, I state that the events in Restoration drama take place mostly in popular and familiar to both readers and viewers places of the London of the seventeenth century and discourse participants are mostly representatives of a wealthy upper middle class and the nobility. Within the group of metadiscursive discourse categories, I focus on the existing variety of genres inherent in the dramatic discourse of the English Restoration.

This paper aims to explore LIBERTINISM as a discourse-generative concept of the English Restoration and its manifestations in the 17th century drama. In the focus of attention are: the dramatic discourse of the seventeenth century and social and historical conditions that predetermined the origin and development of libertinism in the Restoration drama. In this article, I argue that during the Restoration LIBERTINISM thrived along with such concepts as EMPIRE, HONOUR, LOVE, MODE, SCIENCE, TRADE, and WIT. It is stated that after years of bans and prohibitions libertinism began to develop as a reaction against an overly religious dominant worldview that was imposed on the English people during the Interregnum. It is confirmed that libertinism was widely disseminated in the play-houses which were reopened by Charles II after almost a twenty-year break. In this article, I argue that libertinism takes its ideas from the teachings of René Descartes and Thomas Hobbes; it viewed as extreme hedonism and rejection of all moral and religious dogmas. Charles II himself set an example which was emulated by his courtiers and therefore libertine modes of behaviour were demonstrated to the general public as role models by the aristocracy which regained power with the Restoration. I also claim that as during the English Restoration many play wrights either were libertines or wrote about libertine behaviour and adventures in their plays, the dramatic discourse of the seventeenth century gave rise to a new type of English identity–the English Restoration libertine-aristocrat. Accordingly, the dramatic discourse and dramatic performances of the seventeenth century were the means of establishment, reiteration, and dissemination of the libertine ethos.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas H. Jucker

AbstractFictional texts constitute complex communicative acts between an author and an audience, and they regularly depict interactions between characters. Both levels are susceptible to an analysis of politeness. This is particularly true for early eighteenth-century drama, which – in the context of the age of politeness – established new dramatic genres to educate and edify their audiences. Characters were used to demonstrate good or bad behaviour as examples to be followed or avoided. Early eighteenth-century drama was a reaction against what was considered to be the immorality and profanity of Restoration drama of the seventeenth century. Two plays serve as illustrations and a testing ground for an analysis of fictional politeness that considers both communicative levels; the play itself and the interactions within the play. Richard Steele’s sentimental comedy “The Conscious Lovers” (1722) gives an example of good behaviour by being exceedingly polite to the audience in the theatre through characters that are exceedingly polite to each other; and George Lillo’s domestic tragedy “The London Merchant, or the History of George Barnwell” (1731) shows the “private woe” of everyday characters in order to warn the younger generation against wrongdoing and to propagate middle-class virtues and moral values.


Author(s):  
Minor Mora-Salas ◽  
Orlandina de Oliveira

This chapter demonstrates how upper middle-class Mexican families mobilize a vast array of social, cultural, and economic resources to expand their children’s opportunities in life and ensure the intergenerational transmission of their social position. The authors analyze salient characteristics of families’ socioeconomic and demographics in the life histories of a group of young Mexicans from an upper middle-class background. Many believe that micro-social processes, especially surrounding education, are key to understanding how upper-class families mobilize their various resources to shape their children’s life trajectories. These families accumulate social advantages over time that accrue to their progeny and benefit them upon their entrance to the labor market.


Author(s):  
Sarah Bilston

Sensation writer Mary Elizabeth Braddon makes plenty of jokes at the expense of the suburbanites reading her novels, poking fun at the interests they shared, the ambitions they nursed. Yet the suburbs function narratively in her works as places of movement, opportunity, and change. Braddon deploys the plot arc of the suburban popular novel (first discussed in chapter 3) to lift worthy heroines out of the lives into which they were born. Striving heroines begin in dusty, down-at-heel Camberwell; if they work hard, and are lucky, they are rewarded with the pleasures of upper-middle-class Richmond.


2020 ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Lea Shaver

This chapter describes the book Underpants Dance, which only depicts four white people out of all the thirty characters. However, the book still shows quite a significant underrepresentation of America's diversity. In this story, none of the people of color are important enough to have names. They serve only as a sprinkling of color in the background. The book's settings and events also reflect a distinctly upper-middle-class lifestyle. The chapter further explains that there is nothing wrong with any single children's book being culturally specific to a white, upper-income, American experience. The problem is that this pattern is so strong that children's literature as a whole is systematically less attractive or even alienating to children who do not fit that mold.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document