A Study Of The Personalities Of Cromwell In Wolf Hall From The Perspective Of Turn-taking

In 1974,H.Sacks,E.A.Schegloff and G.Jefferson proposes the turn-taking theory,which is the core theory of conversation analysis.Turn-taking was applied to analyzing daily conversation at first,and then some scholars utilized it in analyzing institutional talk,such as classroom teaching,doctor-patient interaction and courtroom discourse and so on.In the late 1980 s,dramatic stylistics rapidly developed,therefore,turn-taking theory was utilized to the study of drama discourse.Teleplays,as a form of drama,have recently been paid more and more attention to.The analysis of the power relationship based on turn-taking theory is more common,while the character analysis of roles in teleplays is few.Wolf Hall,a six-part British television series first broadcast on BBC in January 2015,is an adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels,Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies,both of which win the Booker Prize.However,this BBC miniseries with the highest rating is spread in a limited scope in our country.There is hardly any research on Wolf Hall from the perspective of linguistics,especially from the perspective of turn-taking.Thus,the author hopes that it can help the audience to get rid of the stereotypical knowledge,interpret the history from a new angle and figure out the new faces of historical figures.Li Huadong and Yu Dongming(2001)put forward a quantitative turn-taking framework with five aspects.The turn-taking framework can reveal the characters' relationships,their personalities,value orientation of them and the development of the plot in the plays.Based on the turn-taking analysis model,the research will be done to analyze the personalities of the hero Cromwell with the 27 selected groups of conversations from Wolf Hall as the corpus.Cromwell-centered conversations are categorized into five groups on the basis of different role relationships: seven conversations between Cromwell and Wolsey,seven conversations between Cromwell and Ann Boleyn,six conversations between Cromwell and King Henry,five conversations between Cromwell and his Family,and two conversations between Cromwell and Thomas More.By combining quantitative method with qualitative method,the thesis reveals the personalities of Cromwell in BBC miniseries Wolf Hall from four aspects: the initiation and control of topics,turn-length,turn-types and turn-control strategies.Through the analysis of the selected corpus and interpretation of the conversation contents,the results are shown as follows: Firstly,the turn-length and the number of turns can present the power position of the characters.Generally speaking,the person with dominant power and leadership will take the longer turns and gets more number of turns,while,if the person with a lower status is needed by or has confrontation with the one possessing higher power,the topic will be controlled by the former person.Secondly,the characters' personalities can be reflected by the contents of the conversations and can also be revealed by the choices of turn-types and turn-control strategies.By detailed analysis,the image of Thomas Cromwell is shown as incisive and vivid.For Cardinal Wolsey,Cromwell is a resourceful,rigorous and loyal adviser.Cromwell and Anne Boleyn change from enemies to friends and their partnership finally breaks up.When Cromwell and Anne Boleyn have the same goal,he is a discreet and responsible partner,but when Anne is useless for him,he can be cool and ruthless.By gaining the trust of Henry step by step,for King Henry,Cromwell is an eloquent,considerate and candid servant with great power.In his household,he is a tender husband and a supportive and tireless father.His love and care for his family are shown thoroughly.Cromwell finally reconciles with his father who beat him violently when he was drunk.He turns from an indifferent son to a son who can understand his father.His admiration for Thomas More does not influence his hatred to More's betrayal to Wolsey,which reflects that he is upright.When More is in prison for the difference of religious positions from Anne,he is obliged to save him.This thesis is composed of five chapters.Chapter One briefly introduces research background,significance of the study,research question,research method and thesis structure.Chapter Two is literature review,including the previous studies on conversation analysis,turn-taking analysis and Wolf Hall.Chapter Three deals with the theoretical framework,which includes turn-taking system,frameworks of turn-taking in drama and framework adopted in this thesis.Chapter Four is the body of this thesis which emphasizes on the analysis and discussion of the selected datum from the perspective of turn-taking,and the summary of the personalities of the hero,Cromwell.Chapter Five is the conclusion in which the major findings,the limitations and the suggestions will be given.The thesis aims to help the audience have a better understanding and appreciation of Wolf Hall from the perspective of turn-taking in the linguistic field.At the same time,it is hoped that reference can be provided in lines-designing and figures-creating in teleplays.It is expected to give some enlightenment to interpersonal communication.