CONCEPTUAL METAPHORICAL MODELS AS A MECHANISM OF CHARACTER CONSTRUCTION IN CHARLOTTE BRONTE’S NOVEL JANE EYRE

Abstract

The article examines conceptual metaphorical models as mechanisms for constructing the protagonist’s portrait in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing interest in cognitive linguistics in literary texts as a space for modelling metaphorical experience, as well as by the insufficient scholarly attention to the cognitive-poetic dimension of portrait descriptions in Victorian prose fiction. The theoretical framework draws on conceptual metaphor theory, the theory of conceptual integration, the semiotic concepts of R. Jakobson and R. Barthes, and the linguopoetic tradition of O. O. Potebnia and L. I. Bieliehova. On the basis of portrait descriptions of Jane Eyre, three dominant conceptual metaphorical models have been identified: EYES ARE A SOURCE OF LIGHT/FIRE, THE BODY IS A SOCIAL HIERARCHY, and PLAINNESS IS MORAL VIRTUE. It is demonstrated that each model constructs a distinct dimension of the character image – psychological, social, and ideological, respectively. The model EYES ARE A SOURCE OF LIGHT/FIRE operates through the systematic projection of the source domain of light and fire onto the sphere of the heroine’s psychological and moral life, compensating for her physical plainness by establishing the exceptional expressiveness of her gaze. The model THE BODY IS A SOCIAL HIERARCHY reveals the opposition between two metaphorical systems of social identity: the dominant Victorian system, which associates physical attractiveness with high social standing, and an alternative system, which locates true nobility in a person’s natural features, independent of class origin. The model PLAINNESS IS MORAL VIRTUE performs a subversive ideological function, reframing physical plainness as moral virtue and opening a space of selfassertion for the heroine beyond the boundaries of the dominant value system. It is argued that the three identified models do not function in isolation but form a coherent, interconnected system in which the heroine’s physical inconspicuousness is consistently reframed as a basis for affirming her psychological depth, social dignity, and moral worth. The application of conceptual integration theory makes it possible to account for the qualitative distinctiveness of this image: the meanings that arise from the interaction of the metaphorical models are qualitatively new and cannot be reduced to the meaning of any individual model in isolation.