An Analysis of THE NECKLACE with Hymes’ SPEAKING Theory

【中圖分类号】I565.074 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2018）35-0008-01

THE NECKLACE is a drama script written by Maupassant， which is about Mathilde， who borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend to attend a party. Unexpectedly， the necklace was lost so she had to borrow money to buy a similar necklace and gave it back to her friend. She and her husband went through ten-years hard work. Finally， she was told the necklace was a fake one， which meant the ten years suffering was in vain. Dell Hymes developed the SPEAKING Model to promote the analysis of discourse as a series of speech events and acts. The first letters of SPEAKING are used for speech contents and categories. In this paper， the SPEAKING Model is applied to the analysis of this drama script from the 8 main aspects.

Setting and Scene： There are three scenes. The first scene was set in a park of Paris in 1870. It was started with the greeting between Mathilde and Jeanne. The second scene， which was a flashback， was set at the home of Mathilde and Pierre， where they talked about the dress and the jewellery for a party. Scene 3 was set in the park again and back in 1870， where Mathilde continued to tell Jeanne about her ten-year suffering and the story came to an unexpected end. Thus， there are two different settings.

Participants： There are three participants. Mathilde was a woman born in a lower middle class family but she always imagined herself in a high state of aristocracy. She married a low-paid clerk， Pierre， who experienced financial struggles with her. The third role was Matildes friend named Jeanne， who married a rich man and led a pleasant life.

Ends： The story ends up with an unforeseen fact that the diamond necklace was a fake one， which meant the hardships Mathilde and her husband suffered was meaningless. Through the story， the author reveals the honesty and insistence of Mathilde， but he mainly expresses his satire towards the materialistic society using necklace as symbol and his sympathy to the tragedy of the lower class people.

Act Sequence ： The story goes through the beginning， conflict， climax and ending. It starts from the meeting of Mathilde and Jeanne. Then the necklace leads readers into the main part of the story where Mathilde stated her ten years hard time. Eventually， the story has a surprising and satiric ending that everything Mathilde did in the past decade was in vain.

Key： The story is told in a communicative manner and a dramatic way. The way of the three persons communication is just like what people apply in the daily life. Therefore， the language is presented in a simple and plain way but has connotative meanings and an ironic effect.

Instrumentalities： Its a story presented through dialogues between family and between friends so the register is casual and the language is colloquial. However， it is a little rigorous as a written text. Additionally， the language styles of the three participants are different for their different identities and characteristics but all reflect the satiric theme.

Norms： In this story， some special social norms of the capitalist society in the late 1800s govern the happening of the events and the participants acts. For example， the reason why Mathilde thought she needed to have decent wearings was that the society had such kind of norms and desires for vanity.

Genre： The genre is a drama script with three scenes and is characterized by its simple plots， concentration of characters， delicate structures and an unexpected ending. It aims to show Mathildes tragedy and satirize the prevailing mentality of vanity in the French society.

In conclusion， with the application of the SPEAKING Model to the analysis of THE NECKLACE， readers can have a thorough understanding of the 8 main aspects of the SPEAKING Model and the drama script. Thus， the SPEAKING Model can be used to make a relatively comprehensive analysis of discourse.

References

[1]Hymes， D. Foundations of Sociolinguistics： An Ethnographic Approach [M]. Philadelphia： University of Pennsylvania P， 1974.

[2]劉道义. 全日制普通高级中学教科书英语（必修）第一册（下）[M]. 人民教育出版社. 2003： 16-18.

作者简介：

杨文佳，（1992—）女，硕士，助教，学科教学（英语）专业。