Keywords: THESIS3

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## Implicit self-representation

In the case of implicit self-representation the receiver is faced with the task of interpreting symptoms rather than decoding signs. One is paralinguistic: voice quality. For example: Tobias is just a boy, not too bright, his voice high and effeminate. Anthony's voice is high but never effeminate. Todd wants his revenge, so his voice is low and booming.

There are other symptoms. Does the language of particular dramatic figure approximate that of a social or regional subcode? We have had several examples of this: Mrs. Lovett speaks Cockney, as does Tobias, and O'Higgins/Pirelli has an Irish accent.

A transphrastic question5.21 is a question of how an individual sentences relates to another: strictly logical, by association or just a loosely knit jumble. Every figure in Sweeney Todd can be places in one or more of these categories. The table on page will clarify this.

Figure 5.8: Transphrastic figure-characterization

Also, the use of differing speech figures in varying frequencies can delineate one figure from another: certain sentence types (statements and questions), the predominance of hypotaxis and parataxis, active or passive forms, the use of parallellisms and antitheses, an abstract to concrete vocabulary, figurative or literal speech, the emphasis on certain semantic ways and frequency of certain idiomatic or cliché'd expressions, the length of phrases and speeches etc. These also serve to expose a figure's temperament and various dispositions.

For instance Mrs. Lovett uses short phrases (in general), while Todd's at times are even shorter (cf. Epiphany), but normally his phrases are longer than Mrs. Lovett, who also uses some figurative speech in her utterances. In the following tables, I hope to clarify the different temperaments and dispositions:

Figure 5.9: Speech figures: statements and questions

Figure 5.10: Speech figures: active and passive forms

Figure 5.11: Speech figures: abstract and concrete vocabulary

Figure 5.12: Speech figures: figurative and literal speech

Figure 5.13: Speech figures: length of speeches and phrases

Linguistic behavior is also dependent upon the relationship between the characters. Mrs. Lovett talks in almost motherly way to Tobias, while her tone toward Todd is more conspiratorial. The same axiom applies for other figures.

Even the forms of the speeches reveal something of the disposition of a character. For example, a strong tendency towards monological speech, can be construed as an indication of egocentricity. And, as we have seen, Todd himself is inclined to use monological speech indicating his introvert nature.

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