The figurative means of creating the image of a strong woman (on the basis of the novel ‘Gone with the Wind» by Margaret Mitchell)

Abstract

The article deals with figuratives means of creating the image of a strong woman in the novel ‘Gone with the Wind’ by Margaret Mitchell. The purpose of the article is to identify ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ in creating the image of a strong woman on the basis of linguistic-cultural concept of STRONG WOMAN.

Describing the portrait of Scarlett, the author accentuates on the adjectives such as beautiful, fine, pretty, sweet, nice, attractive, lovely, womanly, ladylike which are typical for Victorian lady’s descriptions. However, the adjective ‘handsome’ was used to describe the feminine beauty of the Victorian era.

The author indicates some untypical characteristics of Scarlett as a Victorian woman (financial independence, business, rejection of traditional responsibilities of wife and mother, the possibility to choose a husband) that make her masculine.

The author tries to identify the types of epithets and finds the metaphorical, comparative, hyperbolic, metonymic, peripheral, oxymoronic and ironical epithets. The article focuses on peculiarities of hybrid entities that are the result of intersection of the field of the epithet with the fields of other tropes - metaphors, metonymy, etc.

To sum up, the author concludes that Scarlett’s description gives the reason to consider her a strong woman. The article is related to gender issues and can be developed in this scientific directions.