Stylistics Analysis of A Drama Passage

Name: Wilson Ejercito
Class: Bachelor of Arts in English Language 3

Subject Professor: Dr. Chona Adlawan
Subject: Stylistics
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STYLISTICS ANALYSIS OF JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE'S RIDERS TO THE SEA DRAMA PASSAGE
[An island off the West of Ireland. Cottage kitchen, with nets, oilskins, spinning-wheel, some
new boards standing by the wall, etc. CATHLEEN, a girl of about twenty, finishes kneading cake,
and puts it down in the pot-oven by the fire; then wipes her hands, and begins to spin at the
wheel. NORA, a young girl, puts her head in at the door.]
NORA: (in a low voice) Where is she?
CATHLEEN: She's lying down, God help her, and maybe sleeping, if she's able.
[NORA comes in softly, and takes a bundle from under her shawl.]
CATHLEEN: (spinning the wheel rapidly) What is it you have?
NORA: The young priest is after bringing them. It's a shirt and a plain stocking were got off a
drowned man in Donegal.
[CATHLEEN stops her wheel with a sudden movement, and leans out to listen.]
NORA: We're to find out if it's Michael's they are; some time herself will be down looking by the
sea.
CATHLEEN: How would they be Michael's, Nora? How would he go the length of that way to the
far north?
NORA: The young priest says he's known the like of it. "If it's Michael's they are," says he, "you
can tell herself he's got a clean burial by the grace of God, and if they're not his, let no one say a
word about them, for she'll be getting her death," says he, "with crying and lamenting."
STYLISTICS ANALYSIS OF THE PASSAGE

The play titled Riders to the Sea is written by John Millington Synge. The drama passage is
composed of seven turns which was alternately distributed to the speakers of the conversation.
The conversation presented two speakers namely, Nora and Cathleen and the two talks about a
lady who is lying in the bed probably in her room and sleeping if she can, that denotes that the
lady they are talking is troubled. Upon arrival of Nora, she answers the question what she got
about the priest bringing a shirt and a plain stocking.
The conversation is simple and informal, with the use of informal words to describe the
situation. Words such as sleeping if she's able denote that the lady is troubled by some
thoughts that enable her to be awake and find difficulty in sleeping or resting.
Graphological Level
The text consist of seven turns which was distributed among the speakers. The first turn goes
with Nora and followed by the second turn of Cathleen. This was followed by the third turn
from Cathleen and the fourth is Nora's, the fifth is Nora's and followed by Cathleen's turn as the
sixth and the seventh and final turn goes to Nora. Given this, there is three adjacency pairs in
the conversation, the first one is turn one of Nora and the second turn from Cathleen, this first
adjacency pairs are Questions/answers pair which means that a question was thrown to the
second speaker while the following turn aims to answer the question. This makes the first turn
designed to ask while the second is an informative acts.
Throughout the passage, three adjacency pairs are to be observed which are all designed to ask
questions and to answer the question. This makes the three turns to be designed for asking and
seeking information while the second ones are informative acts which means that these turns
aims to give answer to the preceeding questions and gives information about what the
conversation is about.
First Adjacency Pairs (Questioning/Answering)
NORA: (in a low voice) Where is she? - Turn 1 (Designed to ask a question)
CATHLEEN: She's lying down, God help her, and maybe sleeping, if she's able. - Turn 2
(informative act, aims to answer the preceding Question)
Second Adjacency Pairs (Questioning/Answering)
CATHLEEN: (spinning the wheel rapidly) What is it you have? - Turn 3 (Designed to ask question)
NORA: The young priest is after bringing them. It's a shirt and a plain stocking were got off a
drowned man in Donegal. - Turn 4 (Information act, aim to answer the question from turn 3)
Third Adjacency Pairs (Questioning/Answering)
CATHLEEN: How would they be Michael's, Nora? How would he go the length of that way to the
far north? - Turn 6 (Designed to ask question)
NORA: The young priest says he's known the like of it. "If it's Michael's they are," says he, "you
can tell herself he's got a clean burial by the grace of God, and if they're not his, let no one say a
word about them, for she'll be getting her death," says he, "with crying and lamenting." - Turn 7
(Informative Act, aims to answer the preceding question)
In addition, it is also observable in the text the phrases inside the parentheses which are used
to describe and give the readers the view if what the soeaker is doing, therefore giving the
readers the ability and luxury to see and imagine the setting of the play. Example of this are the
following:
[NORA comes in softly, and takes a bundle from under her shawl.]
This describes how Nora approached the setting of the play, the manner of approaching and
what she did upon arrival.
CATHLEEN: (spinning the wheel rapidly) What is it you have?
This, as well, describes what thespeaker is doing whole in that conversation, however, unlike
the first example, the parentheses occur inside tge speaker's line.
Syntactic Level
Syntactic level explores the structure of sentences in the text. As it is obvious, the text is a
drama oassage from an one act okay written bumy John Millington Synge. In addition, the
wtiter ir playwright uses simple sentences and structure of sentences. Examples are the
following:
The young priest is after bringing them. (Simple Sentence-SVO)
We're to find out if it's Michael's they are; some time herself will be down looking by the sea.
(Compound Sentence-SVO)
Reference
In the text there are several reference that can be observed. The following are examples:
Where is she? - Turn 1
Referring to the lady that the are talking about.
She's lying down, God help her, and maybe sleeping, if she's able. - Turn 2
The "her" in God help her is referring to the same lady that both the soeaker are talking. The
"she" in the conversation.
Contractions
Contractions is linguistic process of ommiting a word or letter from a word or two to shorthen the
syllabus count of the sentence. Examples are the following:
She's- Turn 2 (She is...)
We're - Turn 5 (We are...)
Lexico-Semantic Level
In the text, several words and phrases are to be found that possess denotative meanings, such
as the following:
...Sleeping, if she's able. - turn 2 (this denotes that the lady that bith soeakers are talking is in
troubled mind.)
She's lying down, God help her,- Turn 2 ( the words God help her, it denotes that the speakers
are in bond ties between the lady they are talking aboutbecause of the affection and care that
they are showing through the words in this phrase.)

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Name: Wilson Ejercito

Class: Bachelor of Arts in English Language 3

NORA: (in a low voice) Where is she?

CATHLEEN: (spinning the wheel rapidly) What is it you have?

STYLISTICS ANALYSIS OF THE PASSAGE

First Adjacency Pairs (Questioning/Answering)

Second Adjacency Pairs (Questioning/Answering)

Third Adjacency Pairs (Questioning/Answering)

CATHLEEN: (spinning the wheel rapidly) What is it you have?

The young priest is after bringing them. (Simple Sentence-SVO)

Where is she? - Turn 1

Referring to the lady that the are talking about.

She's- Turn 2 (She is...)

We're - Turn 5 (We are...)

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