Underlying the china scene in William Wycherley’s The Country Wife (4.3.76-233) are the conceptual metaphor SEX IS CHINA and its linguistic realisations. By applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory to a historical dramatic text, this article has the main research purpose of supplying and analysing linguistic data on the role of these metaphorical devices in this Restoration comedy, and of examining how they concur in the unfolding of its plot in a comic direction. After presenting the research literature on the china scene and the practice of double entendre, the article outlines the theoretical framework to study literary metaphor and figurative techniques from a historical perspective, that is, scholarly work on literary and historical metaphor analysis. The data analysis considers the general metaphor SEX IS CHINA, its several target subcases and their linguistic realisations in the turns uttered by the characters in the china scene. The possible contributions of this investigation to the research literature reviewed in the theoretical section are that it linguistically demonstrates how Wycherley masters refined figurative language and strategies, and how articulate the china scene is from a cognitive standpoint.

China Metaphors: An Investigation of the Metaphorical Strategies in The Country Wife’s China Scene

virdis daniela francesca
Primo
2023-01-01

Abstract

Underlying the china scene in William Wycherley’s The Country Wife (4.3.76-233) are the conceptual metaphor SEX IS CHINA and its linguistic realisations. By applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory to a historical dramatic text, this article has the main research purpose of supplying and analysing linguistic data on the role of these metaphorical devices in this Restoration comedy, and of examining how they concur in the unfolding of its plot in a comic direction. After presenting the research literature on the china scene and the practice of double entendre, the article outlines the theoretical framework to study literary metaphor and figurative techniques from a historical perspective, that is, scholarly work on literary and historical metaphor analysis. The data analysis considers the general metaphor SEX IS CHINA, its several target subcases and their linguistic realisations in the turns uttered by the characters in the china scene. The possible contributions of this investigation to the research literature reviewed in the theoretical section are that it linguistically demonstrates how Wycherley masters refined figurative language and strategies, and how articulate the china scene is from a cognitive standpoint.
2023
China scene; Conceptual Metaphor Theory; Literary and historical metaphor analysis; Restoration comedy; The Country Wife; William Wycherley
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Virdis_China Metaphors.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: versione editoriale (VoR)
Dimensione 351.58 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
351.58 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11584/385923
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact