On the Art of Dialogue Description in Pride and Prejudice
By reading the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a famous British woman writer, this paper focuses on the descriptive art of character dialogue in its language characteristics, and analyzes how the author uses and violates the principle of conversational cooperation to endow character dialogue with rich pragmatic meaning and vivid, lively and dazzling comedy atmosphere.
Keywords: dialogue art, cooperative principle, language style
By reading the original work Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a famous female writer, I attach importance to the art of conversation according to its linguistic features, and also analyze how the author uses and violates the cooperative principle to present her characters and create a comedy atmosphere.
Keywords: conversational art; Principle of cooperation; language feature
1. Introduction
Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's masterpiece, which was written in11890s. Its influence lasted for two centuries, and it has an influence on later writers. One of the important reasons is the language charm of the novel. Language dialogue is one of the most basic means to portray characters in literary works. The dialogues in Jane Austen's works are vivid, vivid, rich in meaning and intriguing. This paper attempts to analyze the dialogue style of the characters in Pride and Prejudice with the principle of conversational cooperation, and solve the mystery of the witty and humorous language style of the characters in Jane Austen's works.
2. The principle of conversation cooperation
The American philosopher H. P. Grice believes that there is a tacit understanding between the speaker and the listener in order to make the conversation go smoothly and achieve a specific purpose when people communicate. They follow a tacit understanding, which Gé nez calls the principle of cooperation.
The principle of cooperation requires that the words of each participant in the whole conversation conform to the goal or direction of the conversation. Specifically, it includes four criteria: (1) maximum quantity); ; (2) quality criteria; (3) relationship criterion; (4) attitude criteria.
The principle of quantity requires us to convey appropriate information when we speak, neither more nor less; The quality principle requires that the information provided is fully based and the speech is true and credible; Relevance principle requires speaking to the point and not saying anything irrelevant to the subject; The principle of modality requires the speaker to be clear, orderly, concise and to the point. Don't use ambiguous words and avoid redundant words and sentences.
In communication, people don't always obey the rules, but violate, use or give up some rules. Listening to these uncooperative words will not lead to the failure of cooperation, but assume that the speaker is cooperative, which is related to some attitude, purpose or conflict factors, so as to construct the contextual structure and infer the speaker's intention. In fact, people's communication behavior is carried out at two levels: observing the usage criteria and violating the criteria, which leads to the difference in cognitive level between the two sides. In literary works, the formation of such differences and cracks shapes different typical personalities and describes different psychological activities, thus serving the theme.
Jane Austen deliberately violated the principle of conversational cooperation in the dialogue between characters, produced illocutionary force, successfully portrayed characters, expressed complex emotions, set off the theme and laid the tone of humor and irony.
2. 1. violates the principle of quantity
Mrs. Bennett: "These girls, where are they when I need them badly?" Elizabeth: "All you have to do is find a soldier in a red uniform, Mom." Elizabeth's answer clearly violates the quantitative standard, because in her answer, she gave her mother less information than her mother expected her to provide. This kind of conflict often occurs between quantity standards and quality standards. But in the case that Elizabeth really doesn't know the exact addresses of her sisters, in order to follow the quality criterion, she violated the quantity criterion, that is to say, she can't say anything without sufficient basis. If she casually tells her sister's street, then she violates the quality standards and will not produce conversational implicature. It is precisely because of the violation of the quantitative standards that Elizabeth's character appears to be skillful, humorous and easy to talk, and also reflects her sister's shallowness, levity and willfulness.
Example 2: In the second chapter, Mr. Bennet visited Bentley, so Mrs. Bennet and her daughters had the opportunity to associate with Bentley. But Mr. Bennet didn't tell them, so they were still in the dark. The dramatic effect of dialogue mainly comes from the lack of pragmatic premise. When Mr. Bennet was on duty, Mr. Bennet kept talking about Bentley, saying that Bentley would like Lizzie's hat, and they could introduce Bentley to others. The other party (that is, the wife and daughters) were puzzled by Mr. Bennet's words ("we don't know what Mr. Bentley likes like that"), and then they thought it was ridiculous ("impossible" and "impossible"). That's bullshit！ "), and finally Mrs. Bennet got bored herself ("I hate Mr. Bingley "). Mr. Bennett deliberately violated the quantitative standard and concealed some information about his visit to Bentley. His deliberate violation of the principle of cooperation accords with the delicate relationship between Bennett and his wife, and also with Mr. Bennett's suspenseful personality. More importantly, it is an indispensable narrative strategy for Austin. In fact, the Bennett couple's intention to visit Bentley did not conflict. Although he disapproves of his wife's snobbery, he can't escape the bondage of social reality himself. If he doesn't make good arrangements for his daughters, once he dies, they will be homeless, so he can only provide them with opportunities as much as possible. Therefore, if Mr. Bennett doesn't intentionally violate the cooperative principle in the dialogue, not only will the humor and satire of the work disappear, but the dialogue between lovers will also become vulgar and boring.
2.2. Violation of quality principles
Example 3: At the beginning of the novel, when the burly and handsome Darcy meets Elizabeth for the first time at the dance, the arrogance of the upper class makes him unaware of Elizabeth's loveliness. He thinks she is ok, but she is not beautiful enough to impress him. The huge gap between social status and living background prompted Darcy's arrogance to sow the seeds of prejudice in Elizabeth's heart. Elizabeth's middle-class family is looked down upon by the upper class, and her relatives and friends around her are not well educated, and sometimes they make a fool of themselves in public, which makes Elizabeth feel ashamed and unwilling to be at the mercy of fate. Therefore, when Darcy changed his mind and asked Elizabeth to dance, she was surprisingly arrogant and refused. She has to consider her dignity and try her best to defend it. Therefore, this sentence "Mr. Darcy is always polite." He got an answer that violated the quality principle, effectively retaliated against Darcy, won his personality and showed his personality. These words are ostensibly a compliment to Darcy, but in fact they are an accusation of his arrogance.
Example 4: When Mrs. Bennett asked her husband to visit Mr. Bentley as soon as possible, Mr. Bennett insisted on not seeing him and said flatly, "I assure you, this is beyond my ability." From the second chapter, we can know that Mr. Bennett actually had plans to visit Bentley, but he deliberately violated the quality policy and didn't tell his wife the truth. He has no intention of talking about it with his talkative wife. According to Mrs. Bennett, his "uncooperative" is to make her laugh ("You entertain me." ), which is the discourse basis of irony, thus triggered a dramatic conflict between Bennett and his wife, and fully demonstrated the distinctive personality of the characters in this conflict: the husband is deep and cunning, the wife is superficial and vulgar, and the husband is vulgar.
Example 5: Wickham kidnapped Elizabeth's sister Lydia and eloped. After Darcy's treatment, Wickham was forced to marry her, saving Lydia's reputation. When the whole family celebrated, Mr. Bennet talked about Wickham: "He is the best young man I have ever met. He smirked, smirked and had sex with everyone. I am very proud of him. I even despised Sir William Lucas himself and produced a more valuable son-in-law. " (P 3 10)
Mr Bennet said Wickham was the best young man he had ever met, and he was proud of him, even better than Sir William Lucas's son-in-law. As a matter of fact, everyone knows that Mr. Bennet has always had a bad opinion of Collins and is firmly opposed to his daughter marrying him. It is obviously against the quality standard to say that Wickham is a more shameless person than Collins. This, of course, is ironic. "Wickham is a shameless man." In the atmosphere of family and neighbors getting married, Mr. Bennett was so worried that he had to express his embarrassment and helplessness with self-deprecating and habitual contradictory expressions similar to black humor, and also praised and praised word by word. The author's irony is embodied in such contradictions. This fully shows Austin's profound attainments of irony and humor in characterization.
2.3. Violation of the principle of relevance
Ex. 6: When Darcy said that he was meditating on Elizabeth's beautiful eyes, Miss Bingley immediately attacked Elizabeth's humble origins. She replied, "You will have a charming mother-in-law. Of course, she will go to Pemberley with you." (P 24) Darcy just said Elizabeth's big eyes, and Miss Bingley called Elizabeth's mother Darcy's "mother-in-law", which obviously violated the principle of relevance. It seems absurd that she imposed unfounded associations on Darcy. It is precisely at a deeper level that it is a satire and warning to Darcy. The implication is that if Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth, he will have to accept that a vulgar and uneducated mother-in-law like Elizabeth often lives with them. In fact, this is Darcy's heart disease. Miss Bingley, Darcy, despite her fierce words, had to persuade Mr. Bingley to leave Netherfield, forcing him to break off his love for Elizabeth. If the distinguished Bingley team did not fall in love with Darcy, how could they be so sensitive and tell the truth?
Besides, in the second chapter of the novel, when Mr. Bennett goes around in circles to reveal the important news of his visit to Mr. Bentley to the whole family in order to seek the best effect, his wife's words can be said to be the best example of violating the principle of relevance. Here, the family sat together and talked about the possibility of meeting Mr. Bingley at the neighbor's party. Mrs. Bennett's reprimand to her daughter has nothing to do with the topic under discussion, which seems to break the rules of relationship, but the dialogue goes on as usual and the principle of cooperation is observed at a deeper level. Because Mr. Bennet understood the meaning here, he said, "Why does Lydia cough when your mother is unhappy?" I can see that he knows very well that this is because his wife is angry with her husband and complains that he refused to visit Mr. Bingley first for the benefit of his daughters, but it is not easy to vent. He had to take it out on his daughter and continue to arouse her husband's sympathy with her neuralgia.
2.4. Violation of the principle of mode
People don't use language itself to provide us with a simple way of speaking, but beat around the bush and chew over words, making listeners feel that there is something strange in it.
Ex. 7: "My reasons for getting married are: firstly, I think it is right for every well-off clergyman (like me) to set an example of marriage in his parish. Second, I believe this will greatly increase my happiness; Thirdly, perhaps I should have mentioned earlier that this was the special suggestion and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I had the honor to call the patroness ... "(Chapter 19).
When Collins proposed to Elizabeth, he stated three reasons why he wanted to get married in this way. This confession is a vivid portrayal of his character. A sermon-style proposal speech is like a mechanical routine document. From this, we can see that the author's description of Collins is a snob with indifferent feelings, dull and shallow thoughts, seemingly knowledgeable and pretentious. The author intends to make Collins violate the conversation norms, expose his stupidity and servility, and make it a joke, so that readers can agree with Elizabeth's refusal to marry him and the theme of the novel, that is, although girls from local middle and small aristocratic families and their mothers regard property as the main goal of their marriage pursuit, Elizabeth will never give up her spiritual pursuit for economic benefits, showing her distinctive values, teasing Collins from the opposite side and comparing Elizabeth from the front, so that readers can be wise and rational for her.
3. Concluding remarks
Pride and Prejudice, with the theme of marriage and family turmoil, describes the life and communication of so-called decent families in the countryside they are familiar with, like "painting carefully" on "two-inch ivory", which seems trivial, but the small world can reflect the big world, so it can always arouse intriguing interest of both refined and popular tastes. Scott, an English poet and historical novelist, once said, "It describes people's daily life. This kind of talent is the most gratifying thing I have ever encountered. " It is Jane Austen's exquisite language description skills that make the characters in her works vivid and fascinating.
4. References:
1. Jane Austen. Pride and prejudice. Bibliography and Chronology-David Cambre Publishing Co., Ltd., 199 1(3)
2. Zhang Ling, translated by Zhang Yang. Pride and prejudice [M]. People's Literature Publishing House, 1993
3. Translated by Sun Zhili. Pride and prejudice [M]. Yilin Press, 1990.
4. Lei translation. Pride and prejudice [M]. Beijing Yanshan Publishing House, 2002
5. Liu. Stylistic analysis of the art of dialogue description in Pride and Prejudice [J]. Xiangtan Normal University, 1999
6. Li Yaxin. Analysis of the dialogue style of characters in Pride and Prejudice [J]. Journal of PLA Foreign Languages Institute, 1997
7. Tang Xuan. The art of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice [J]. Journal of Hunan Institute of Light Industry, 2003
For reference only, please learn by yourself.
I hope it helps you.