THE USE OF SIMILE IN CHARLES DICKENS’ NOVEL HARD TIMES

Abstract

The present study, a total of four chapters, attempts to investigate the use of simile in Charles Dickens’ novel, Hard Times. It also sets to cast light on the author’s motives behind the use of such a figure of speech (simile). This investigation aims at laying a finger on Dickens’ overuse of simile in the novel, focussing on its structure and meaning. The present work is divided into four chapters. Chapter One presents a theoretical background where the focus is on two linguistic devices, metaphor and simile. Metaphor is the general term which is used to refer to different figures of speech. Simile, which is our main concern in this inquiry, is one of these figures. The theoretical background is the source from which the basic working model of simile in the present study is derived. Chapter Two highlights the author’s critical review, emphasizing his themes and style. Chapter Three is a corpus-based investigation of simile in Hard Times, trying to find out Dickens’ motives behind the use of such a linguistic device. The adopted simile model is descriptive and it consists of particular structural and semantic components such as the tenor (T), the vehicle (V), the ground (G), the marker (SM) and the topic (Tp). A proposed definition of simile is also presented here. Chapter Four attempts to find out a suitable teaching way of the use of simile in Dickens’ Hard Times. Dickens overuses simile in the novel to describe his fictional places, his people, their actions and feelings. All in all, this inquiry reveals that this linguistic device operates in an active manner and that the decoration’s view needs more reconsideration. Finally, some suggestions are presented for further research on the subject.