THE SEA MOTIF IN IRIS MURDOCH’S NOVEL “THE UNICORN”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31494/2412-933X-2019-1-9-22-27Keywords:
sea motif, gothic novel, mythological ideas, motif of death, tragic modus.Abstract
The paper examines the special features of the sea motif in I. Murdoch’s novel “The Unicorn”. It looks at the previous studies on this work (by Yu. Lokshyna, A. Matiichak, S. Pavlychko and I. Tuliakova), which show that this motif has not been a subject of thorough research, that makes the theme of the paper topical. The purpose of the study is to determine the peculiarities of the sea motif in the novel “The Unicorn”, identifying its relations with the main characters and major motifs, and also its correlation with mythological ideas about water. The paper highlights that the sea motif as an element of gothic landscapes accumulates ambivalent semantics, characteristic of mythopoetic texts. It stresses that the sea motif correlates with many characters of the novel, demonstrating different connotations in these relations. The study underlines that its interaction with the main character Marian Taylor is outlined most vividly. It is articulated to readers in this personage’s reflections. Such correlation with the female character seems logical since there is a gender reference to water, inherent to a mythological picture of the world. The paper characterizes the specific features of visualization of the sea motif consisting in the use of a wide range of colors to depict its controversial and dynamic nature. It outlines personification of this motif and correlation with the motif of death that generates tragic modus of the literary work, accentuated with a poetic intertext – Paul’s Valery poem “The Graveyard by the Sea”. The analysis made it possible to draw a conclusion that the polyvalent sea motif realizes ambivalent semantics through the relations with the female and male characters and also with the motif of death. These accents connect it with mythological ideas about this primordial element, whose attributes are chaos, hostility and danger. The sea motif in “The Unicorn” evolves in the traditions of a gothic novel with immanent gloomy landscapes which serve as a background of mysterious and enigmatic events.
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