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Title A Feminist Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear

Author(s) Syeda Rubab Sarfraz

Abstract The present study critically analyses the stylistic devices employed by female characters in Shakespeare’s plays The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear. It focuses on the ideo-stylistic analysis of female speeches in the mentioned texts. For this purpose, the researcher has not only analysed the use of various stylistic devices used by female characters qualitatively but has also documented the frequency of the stylistic devices such as simile, metaphor, comparative, weak form, use of comma, rhetorical question, sign of exclamation and first person pronoun employed by each female character to support the findings of her ideo-stylistic analysis quantitatively as well. The methodology employed in the present research is mixed approach because the texts have been analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. On one hand, the research explores the embedded ideologies in the speeches of female characters, this has been done by critically decoding different layers of loaded language and stylistic devices to lay bare underlying ideology /s in the speeches of the mentioned female characters and how particular use of stylistic devices correlates their mindset with the dominant tendencies of the age and on the other hand, these findings have also been quantitatively represented in the form of pie charts and graphs. The frequency of occurrence of stylistic devices used by Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, Katherina and Bianca is 252, 263, 178, 381 and 124 respectively. The researcher has employed Mills’ (1995) model of feminist stylistic analysis and Fairclough’s (2012) model of critical social analysis (CSA) after making certain amendments in accordance with the nature of the present data. Additionally, the findings of the research highlight that no use of stylistic device is ideology free. The change in form results in changing the function of the language. Moreover, the findings of the research highlight that the way one employs different stylistic devices to express his/her ideas becomes one’s identity marker and up to great extent implicitly or explicitly illustrates the mindset of the language user.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

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Department English

Language English

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