ICOME6 Abstract

Aili Lundmark
Uppsala University
Email aili dot lundmark at engelska dot uu dot se

Fair or Foul: Adjectival Descriptions of Characters in King Horn and Havelok the Dane

Over the last few decades, several studies have shown that adjectival descriptions are fundamental to characterization (see, for example, Hene 1984; Wallin-Ashcroft 2000; Norberg 2002; Sveen 2005; Bäcklund 2006; Lilja 2007). The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how prominent characters, such as knights, maidens, and villains, are described by adjectives or adjective phrases in the Middle English romances King Horn and Havelok the Dane. I will focus on whether there are significant differences in adjectival use between the two romances, and whether there are patterns in terms of the gender (woman vs. man) and nature (good vs. evil) of the character.

To show whether there are such differences and patterns, I will classify adjectival descriptions into categories based on meaning, so-called semantic domains, drawing on Hene’s (1984) framework. Adjectives like ded and strong, for example, belong to the domain Physical and Physiological Conditions, while blithe and bold belong to Mental Properties and Conditions, and gnede and large to Sociability.

My interpretation of the adjectival descriptions is context-dependent, and I will pay special attention to polysemy of frequent adjectives such as fair, god, and foul, which may fall into several different domains. Some preliminary results from a pilot study show that fair can express several different senses when used about characters, such as “beautiful”, “bright”, “fine”, and “pleasant”. In many cases, several senses seem to be implied at the same time. The different senses of fair are related to at least three semantic domains, namely Dress and Appearance, Mental Properties and Conditions, and Sociability.

This study throws light on characterization strategies in Middle English romances and shows how linguistic analyses can contribute to our understanding of literary texts.

References

Bäcklund, Ingegerd. 2006. Modifiers Describing Women and Men in Nineteenth-Century English. In: Nineteenth-Century English: Stability and Change, ed. by Merja Kytö, Mats Rydén, and Erik Smitterberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 17–55.
Hene, Birgitta. 1984. “Den dyrkade Lasse och stackars lilla Lotta”: En syntaktisk-semantisk studie av personbeskrivande adjektiv och adverb i populära ungdomsböcker. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
Lilja, Sara. 2007. Gender-Related Terms in English Depositions, Examinations and Journals, 1670–1720. Studia Anglistica Upsaliensia 132. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Norberg, Cathrine. 2002. Whores and Cuckolds. On Male and Female Terms in Shakespeare’s Comedies. Luleå: Department of Languages and Literature, Luleå University of Technology.
Sveen, Hanna. 2005. From “Honourable” to “Highly-sexed”: Adjectival Descriptions of Male and Female Characters in Victorian and Contemporary Children’s Fiction. Studia Anglistica Upsaliensia 129. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Wallin-Ashcroft, Anna-Lena. 2000. Great Men and Charming Creatures. On Male and Female Terms in Eighteenth Century Novels. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Modern Languages, Umeå University.