Leiden University Student Repository

Windig, Anna Marietje (2014)

Signifying wounds: Metaphoric Wounds and the Concept of bodily Trauma in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus

Master thesis | Literary Studies (MA)

This thesis tests the premise that there is a connection between bodily trauma and meaning, and thus between words and wounds, reflected in the metaphorical usage of the word ‘wound’ in Shakespeare’s plays Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus. Conceptual metaphor theory, which claims that our thinking is metaphorical in nature, is used to ascertain the underlying metaphorical concepts that demonstrate that ‘wounds’ are indeed connected to the concept of meaning. The linguistic analyses are aided by the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP). Moreover, the metaphor of the wounded body reflects both the language and the political realities of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.

Shakespeare

MIP

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Titus Andronicus

Coriolanus

Wounds

Bodily trauma

Metaphor identification

Author

Windig, Anna Marietje

Note

This research has both linguistic and literary components, which have greatly enhanced each other. Literary findings are validated by the linguistic analyses, and the linguistic analyses gain significantly in depth and perspective by the literary interpretations. Thus, these two fields are shown to be mutually beneficial.

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Dijkhuizen, Jan Frans van

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en