Focalization of key meanings in the portrait ekphrasis

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the explication of key meanings in the ekphrastic novel by Oscar Wilde “Picture of Dorian Gray” through the prism of emotional state and attitude of the protagonist in the situation of perception of his own portrait. Structured by antithetic principles novel is based on the semantic dominant of wonderful / disgraceful. The wonderful implies beauty and youth of Dorian and is opposed to his soul and morality, experiencing fatal transformations associated with the moral decay of personality. Thus, the object of research becomes the semantic dominant of wonderful / disgraceful alongside additional key meanings (semantic antinomies) it is based upon. The subject of research is the linguistic markers of focalization of key essences in the portrait ekphrasis, which resemble the character’s evaluation and comprehension of such categories as wonderful / disgraceful, beauty / ugliness, youth / old age, etc. Focalization is viewed as one of the cognitive mechanisms of ekphrasis, which emphasizes most significant from the character’s perspective information that translates his subjective, emotionally colored attitude to the object of perception. Determination of the key meanings is achieved through accumulation of linguistic means, namely lexical-semantic markers and markers of nonverbal communication code. Such means enhance the expressiveness and focus attention of the audience on the sharp comparison of the concepts and images, highlighting the main motif, semantic dominant that serves as the foundation for the entire novel.