MEANS OF REVEALING THE CHARACTER IN THE SHORT STORY BY CATHERINE MANSFIELD “MISS BRILL”

Abstract

Abstract. The knowledge of instruments of interpretation in general and ways of character description in
particular is a necessary but insufficient condition for understanding the image of the characters and the idea of the literary work. It requires a more constructive and careful approach to the methods of characterization in terms of the functions they perform. On the example of the work by famous British writer Catherine Mansfield “Miss Brill” the authors illustrate the relationship between the characteristics of heroes and the means of their characterization with other components of interpretation, consider the role of stylistic devices in characterizing heroes, the protagonist in particular, and determine the role and functions in their characterization. The complex methodology of this study combined the following methods and types of text analysis: a textual analytical method of philological reading (in other words, a slow, thoughtful reading) of a literary work; contextual and semantic types of analysis of lexical material; linguistic analysis; comparative-contrastive method; hermeneutic method, which allows to objectively interpret the literary works. The leading research method in the study is the method of linguistic poetic analysis. The authors conclude that being the cornerstone, although not the only part of the text interpretation, character presentation can yield valuable clues to both understanding the real nature of the protagonist and evaluating the message of the whole literary work as its final destination. Based on the results of the study the authors identify the key points that serve as guidelines for interpreting the text, and present an example of analyzing a particular literary work.
Key words: text interpretation, Catherine Mansfield, “Miss Brill”, means of revealing the character,
protagonist.