Thema: comparative study of metaphor/metonymy metaphor: its definition, types and stylistic use

STYLISTIC USE OF METAPHOR IN THE PLAY "HEARTBREAK HOUSE" BY BERNARD SHAW

The title of the play "Heartbreak House" already contains the phrase with the metaphorical meaning – that is "heartbreak house". It is an example of simple metaphor. In our opinion, the word "heart" is the bearer of imagery, as it is not consumed in the direct literal sense, but in figurative, therefore, in the metaphorical sense. In general, the expressions of this type as "you broke my heart", "broken heart" are the closest option considered, and the phrase "heart cries," "heart moans" are often used both in prose and in poetry, but a half of the presented options can be found in the phrasebook. The image of a loving heart or a broken heart is often characterized by the images in the works of any writer, working on the "literary field". Consequently, we found that the presented above metaphor is not a case of the author's occasional usage, but quite the contrary, it is a striking example of poetic metaphor. In other words, the metaphor may be called the shaped common language metaphor, portable nature of which is clearly felt by the speaker.

The choice of such a bright imaginative metaphor, included in the title, is not random for the author. Shaw points out to this fact in the preface to the play, saying that in the drama, he shows two forces opposed to each other. Allegorically they can be called "Heartbreak House" and "Horseback Hall". The dwellers of "House" are intellectuals and the dwellers of "Hall" are rustlers. Social struggle is drawn by the playwright as a collision of these two forces.
It is clear that the metaphorical interpretation of the phrase "heartbreak" is different from the literal: the expression, which in its literal meaning is used to describe the physical characteristics, as in case with sick people, with imaginative reading highlights a class of non-living objects, however, having a hint of its semantic being, as a result that none of the items belonging to the class of the internal organs cannot be selected in the same way as the "heart", while expressing the same idea.
Correlating the analyzed language shaped component - the metaphor "heartbreak" to the theory of Black, we can distinguish the so-called "focus" of metaphor and its surroundings - the "frame." And then we will make an attempt to explain why the "frame" in conjunction with the "focus" gives metaphorical imagery.
So, focus metaphors (i.e. clearly metaphorical word inserted in the frame of direct meanings of words) is used to convey meaning, which in principle could be expressed literally. We can conclude that the focus of this metaphor is the word "heart". The author uses it instead of the other series of concepts (hopes, expectations and others), which are abstract in contrast to the quite materialized concept of "heart." "The word is the deputy (or means of transmission) not a separate experience got in the past, but the combination of the general characteristics". This statement of Ivor Richards is the common formulation of creation of metaphor.
The second component of the structure of a simple metaphor - "break" is a frame. A new and different context of the word "heart," that is the focus of metaphor, expands the meaning of focus through the frame. The word, being focus of metaphors, has not changed its meaning in the "system common associations"; it only expanded its meaning.
To clarify the situation: the analogy comes on the mind of the reader immediately, but a closer examination of metaphor shows that one analogy is not enough: the change of value occurs through contextual conditionality in the broad sense of the word "context." It follows that when talking about the metaphorical phrase "heartbreak", we have to take into account the remain, i.e. "surrounding"; that is, full name of the play "Heartbreak House." The whole aesthetic manifesto of Bernard Shaw can be displayed in the following words: "The expression of statement - these are the alpha and omega of the style." The style for Shaw is primarily an idea which embraces life, restoring its realistic images that influence people's minds.
This transition to the problem of imagery and style in general is not casual in our work. The image is a source of the major semiotic concepts, the structure of which is created by the interaction of fundamentally different plans, the plane of expression and the plan of content. Metaphor is often defined through an appeal to the image created by the figurative meaning of language units. This image in the narrow sense is a composite moment under creating of an image of a literary character and sometimes an artistic symbol, as in our case. The image of the house, where hearts of young and more mature people break, was created by Shaw with the help of metaphorical transfer, which used as a "tool" of imagery and symbolism, along with other tropes.
Generalizing all the statements given above, we can draw the following picture: the expression "Heartbreak House" is metaphorically by virtue of figurative meaning of the word "heart", which used as a focal point and under a certain contextual extensions form a value, which, on the one hand, is due to the development of the play, the name of which is the considered metaphor; but on the other hand, this value reveals the figurative concept of "house", as the extended meaning.
Turning to the analysis of the text of the play, we should note that the author of the play gave the examples of nominative metaphor, describing the room of the boat-house. For instance:
"On the port side of the room, near the bookshelves, is a sofa with its back to the windows. It is a sturdy mahogany article, oddly upholstered in sailcloth, including the bolster, with a couple of blankets handing over the back."[13, p.38].
In given above sentences there is a bright example of the use of metaphor as a technical way of creating the names of objects. Here the word "back" comprises the nominative character, referring to any object (in our case referring to the sofa) as a designation of its main part.
Another example:
"Between the sofa and the drawing - table is a big wicker chair, with broad arms and a low sloping back…"
The collocations "arms of a chair' and "low sloping back" are metaphors, performing the nominative function. However, not only the description of the furniture contains lexical metaphors, which have become a kind of everyday language. We will not dwell on them because of the fact that this type of metaphors is the norm in any language; they are, so-called, dead metaphors.
For further visual analysis of metaphors, we take the following example:
"…He resembled it. He had the same expression: wooden yet enterprising. She married him and will never set foot in this house again." [13, p.41]
Speaking these words, the old Shotover condemns the decision of his youngest daughter to marry a man, who seems, in his view, the wooden figure of a ship. In this case the word "wooden" implies an unfeeling, and even hard-hearted person. It is worth noting that the role of the word "expression" is very interesting. Here it is used with explicit transfer value of the body (face) on one side and the internal state (characteristic of the hero) on the other hand.
If we turn to the issue of the functioning of this metaphor, it is not so easy to determine the field to which it refers mostly: its nominative function is undeniable - it characterizes and classifies the object. Performing in a sentence as the characterizing function, the metaphor gets the indeterminate attributive value - from figurative to the value of the broad scope of compatibility. With that this metaphor refers to a particular object, and it claims it within the values, ​​related to object's characteristics directly: "unfeeling" and "hard-hearted".
The next considered metaphor is brought in the broader context for its demonstrate in conjunction with the other stylistic device - with a simile - which in the aggregate give the figurative image; it's important for understanding of text of the play and it is, at the same time, the starting point for the further development of the plot. So, the example:
"You've made the acquaintance of Ellie, of course. She is going to marry a perfect hog of a millionaire for the sake of her father, who is as poor as a church mouse; and you must help me to stop her."
In this example "a perfect hog of a millionaire" is a metaphor, and "as poor as a church mouse" is a simile. The image of a man like a hog, is drawn by this metaphor, characterizes both the object and the character, who expresses this idea. The situation is such: Mrs. Hushabye, introducing the young Ellie to lady Utterword, tells about Ellie’s intention to marry Boss Mangan and gives him this characteristic.
Talking about this metaphor considering the pragmatic aspects of language, we can say about the areas, which link given linguistic units with the context, first of all it is the sphere of speech acts. As for the context, Samuel R. Levin says: "It involves the speaker, the listener and the extralinguistic situation of communication.". We can say about the main idea, lying in the base of the speech act as about something that besides the expression the own meaning, it can make some actions: it can assert something, ask about something, order and others; all these actions are acts, which the speaker makes, saying one or another sentence.
In our case there is a demonstration as a certain action, which be made by the thought in parallel with its intended purpose. To support the image of given statement, Mrs. Hushabye gives a simile which, in fact, is the antonym of previous metaphor - a hog of a millionaire, Ellie's groom, is opposed her father, who is as poor as a church mouse. The simile includes the well-known idiom which contains the highest level of expressivity. This fact lets us say that given metaphor also carries an expressive function.
As we have already said, given metaphor is a starting point for the further development of the plot. But now we will speak a little bit of something else. So-called the subtext of this play, which is not expressed directly, but is only guessed, is a fine thread throughout the play: we're talking about the ideological expression of real class struggle, moral crisis and conflict in the play.
Shaw uses a lot of zoomorphic metaphors in this play. So, at the end of the 1st act captain Shotover asks Hector:
"What then is to be done? Are we to be kept forever in the mud by these hogs to whom the universe is nothing but a machine for greasing their bristles and filling their snouts?"