An Analysis Of Characters’ Attitudes In Jane Eyre In The Light Of Appraisal Theory

The appraisal framework, which was first introduced by Martin in the early1990sis an extension of interpersonal meaning in Systemic Functional Linguistics. In thelinguistic domain, by Martin’s analysis, the appraisal theory is composed of the systemof attitude, together with the systems of engagement and graduation. Attitudinal systemis further categorized into affect, judgment and appreciation.Attitude is concerned with feelings, including emotional reactions, judgments ofbehavior and evaluation of things. Engagement deals with the play of voices aroundopinions in discourse. Graduation aims at grading phenomenon whereby feelings areamplified and categories blurred.Attitude itself is divided into three parts: Affect, Judgment and Appreciation.Affect deals with resources for construing emotional reactions and registering positiveand negative feelings: do we feel happy or sad, confident or anxious, interested or bored?Judgment is concerned with resources for assessing behavior according to variousnormative and social principles. It deals with attitudes towards behavior, which weadmire or criticize, praise or condemn. Appreciation looks at resources for construingthe value of things, including natural phenomenon and semiotics, according to the waysin which they are valued or in a given field.The present study carries out a practical analysis of the selected dialogues betweenJane Eyre and Mr. Rochester under the guidelines of the Appraisal Theory to find outhow appraisal resources and appraisal features can reveal the characters’ attitudes.Attitude resources can reveal the emotional changes of Jane and Mr. Rochester. Byattitude resources, negative or positive relationship at different stages can be clearlydisplayed．Based on the analysis of the appraisal resources in the dialogues betweenJane and Mr. Rochester, the features of their attitudes can be clearly presented to thereaders, which can improve readers’ understanding of the main characters, theme andlinguistic features of the novel from the perspective of the Appraisal Theory.Meanwhile, the present study has proved that the Appraisal Theory is an effective toolto explore literary works and provides us with a unique perspective for betterunderstanding and appreciating classical literary works.