Consideration of «The Man of Law’s Tale» through the lens of V. Propp’s narratological framework
Aleksandra Savvovna Pantazi
Докладчик
студент 3 курса
Московский педагогический государственный университет
Московский педагогический государственный университет
Ключевые слова, аннотация
The purpose of the article is to analyse G. Chaucer’s «The Man of Law’s Tale» from the point of view of V. Propp’s narratological theory in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the work, as well as to determine its genre. By dividing the plot of the story into narrative elements and comparing the obtained structural units with traditional «narratems», discrepancies with the original theory were revealed, which enables the conclusion that the chosen story belongs to the genre of myth rather than to the genre of folk tales typical for such an analysis.
Тезисы
Key words: «Man of Law’s Tale»; V. Propp’s narrative theory; narratemes; spheres of action
The article presents the reconsideration of G. Chaucer’s «Man of Law’s Tale» in terms of a narratological theoretical framework. The aforementioned tale stands out from other stories of the «Canterbury Tales» cycle due to its intricate narrative structure and its thematic exploration of justice, morality, and faith. The tale corresponds to the common mediaeval literary tradition genre of hagiography, which implies the description of a saint’s or a martyr’s life and the trials overcome in the name of faith. The in-depth analysis of this tale through the application of V. Propp’s narratological taxonomy allows for a better understanding of the canons of the mediaeval texts in general as well as narrative techniques and structural patterns within this particular tale. The aim of the research is to compare the plotline of the «Man of Law’s Tale» to Propp’s model of 31 narratemes and correlate characters of the tale with the theory of 7 spheres of action and, by this, attempt to define the genre of the tale. Therefore, the relevance of the research is justified by an unusual choice of theoretical framework, which emphasises the compatibility of Propp’s structure with Chaucer’s narrative techniques.The body of the article contains 23 points that are correlated and entitled according to Propp’s narratemes, each of which signifies a separate stage of plot development. Initially, this taxonomy was developed and designated for the analysis and categorisation of folktales exclusively. However, the diversity of themes covered in the chosen tale as well as its typicality for the mediaeval tradition enables the analysis on this theoretical basis. Nevertheless, the number of subparagraphs in the article does not equal the number of narratemes since not all of them can be detected vividly. Several stages of plot development are paired together and cannot be regarded separately, as they denote a complex action, the duration and outcomes of which constitute several narratemes at once. Moreover, the established sequence of narratemes is also violated yet is not typical for the original taxonomy. The second part of the article is devoted to the consideration of the characters of the tale in accordance with their spheres of action. The original theory allows for the possibility that one character can represent several spheres of action and perform multiple functions at once [Dogra, 2017: 415]. This is particularly relevant for the case of the «Man of Law’s» tale since the range of actors within a story is limited, and some of them are assigned two functions simultaneously. On the basis of these discrepancies, one may assume that the selected tale does not fit perfectly into Propp’s theoretical concepts and, therefore, cannot be regarded as a folktale. However, since the story contains religious motives and moral intents typical of mediaeval literature of this type, its genre can be attributed closer to myth as it carries a sacral meaning for the reader. Thus, the analysis once again underlines the uniqueness of the chosen story, revealing its underlying meanings and timeless messages.
References:
Dogra S. The thirty-one functions in Vladimir Propp’s morphology of the folktale: An outline and recent trends in the applicability of the Proppian taxonomic model // Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. 2017. Т. 9. №2. P. 410—419.
The article presents the reconsideration of G. Chaucer’s «Man of Law’s Tale» in terms of a narratological theoretical framework. The aforementioned tale stands out from other stories of the «Canterbury Tales» cycle due to its intricate narrative structure and its thematic exploration of justice, morality, and faith. The tale corresponds to the common mediaeval literary tradition genre of hagiography, which implies the description of a saint’s or a martyr’s life and the trials overcome in the name of faith. The in-depth analysis of this tale through the application of V. Propp’s narratological taxonomy allows for a better understanding of the canons of the mediaeval texts in general as well as narrative techniques and structural patterns within this particular tale. The aim of the research is to compare the plotline of the «Man of Law’s Tale» to Propp’s model of 31 narratemes and correlate characters of the tale with the theory of 7 spheres of action and, by this, attempt to define the genre of the tale. Therefore, the relevance of the research is justified by an unusual choice of theoretical framework, which emphasises the compatibility of Propp’s structure with Chaucer’s narrative techniques.The body of the article contains 23 points that are correlated and entitled according to Propp’s narratemes, each of which signifies a separate stage of plot development. Initially, this taxonomy was developed and designated for the analysis and categorisation of folktales exclusively. However, the diversity of themes covered in the chosen tale as well as its typicality for the mediaeval tradition enables the analysis on this theoretical basis. Nevertheless, the number of subparagraphs in the article does not equal the number of narratemes since not all of them can be detected vividly. Several stages of plot development are paired together and cannot be regarded separately, as they denote a complex action, the duration and outcomes of which constitute several narratemes at once. Moreover, the established sequence of narratemes is also violated yet is not typical for the original taxonomy. The second part of the article is devoted to the consideration of the characters of the tale in accordance with their spheres of action. The original theory allows for the possibility that one character can represent several spheres of action and perform multiple functions at once [Dogra, 2017: 415]. This is particularly relevant for the case of the «Man of Law’s» tale since the range of actors within a story is limited, and some of them are assigned two functions simultaneously. On the basis of these discrepancies, one may assume that the selected tale does not fit perfectly into Propp’s theoretical concepts and, therefore, cannot be regarded as a folktale. However, since the story contains religious motives and moral intents typical of mediaeval literature of this type, its genre can be attributed closer to myth as it carries a sacral meaning for the reader. Thus, the analysis once again underlines the uniqueness of the chosen story, revealing its underlying meanings and timeless messages.
References:
Dogra S. The thirty-one functions in Vladimir Propp’s morphology of the folktale: An outline and recent trends in the applicability of the Proppian taxonomic model // Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. 2017. Т. 9. №2. P. 410—419.