A Cognitive Stylistic Analysis Of Death Of A Salesman

Mental Space Theory has already become an important part of cognitivelinguistics since1985, when Gilles Fauconnier introduced the theory systematically.Mental spaces are small conceptual arrays constructed for use in thought and action.Mental Space Theory is an interdisciplinary study of cognitive science. The thesis wasaimed to analyze the mental spaces of main characters in the dramatic text of Death ofa Salesman from an entirely new cognitive stylistic perspective. The author alsoattempted to find out how mental spaces can influence the meaning construction ofreaders, and how readers can grasp the vivid characters and entrenched ideas of theheroes and heroines in the drama.At the same time, mental spaces have been widely employed in cognitivestylistics: appreciation of short poems, novels, but little has been carried out ondramatic text analyses. Though the classic drama Death of a Salesman of ArthurMiller (1949) has been studied from many different perspectives, it has rarely beenstudied in a cognitive stylistic way from the Mental Space Theory perspective. Theauthor made an attempt to carry out the study. The thesis investigated applications ofthe mental space approach to the study of Death of a Salesman. Conceptual BlendingTheory is proposed by Fauconnier (1997), developing from Mental Space Theory.Therefore, it is argued that two mechanisms are responsible for the interpretation ofthe dramatic text: mental spaces and conceptual integration.The author concisely introduced cognitive stylistics, space-builders and types ofmental spaces in theoretical framework part, mainly carried out the research of themental spaces and networks established in the utterances of Willy, Linda, Biff andHappy when readers read the dramatic text, and then hoped to find out the moreeffortless way to interpret the tragic theme. Readers can grasp the entrenched thoughtsof Willy, believing that Willy lives in his own false world where selling is the best joband his elder son Biff is successful. But in fact, Willy is a salesman without pay andBiff is confused without a job. Linda loves Willy unconditionally, asking the two sons to treat Willy nicely. Biff finally learns the cruel reality while the younger son Happystills lives in his fantasy.Through the analysis, it is obvious that the cognitive stylistic analysis from theperspective of Mental Space Theory is a great attempt for the study of the drama, andthis approach is apt for readers to understand the characters and the theme of thedrama. In addition, it is a breakthrough for discourse analysis by applying MentalSpace Theory to the analysis of dramatic texts; through the complete newinterpretation of mental spaces and conceptual integration, it is easier to understandthe characters and the theme. In sum, the thesis argues further that mental spaces andconceptual integration can open a new way in the research of dramatic texts.