Zoomorphisms as a means of the fear concept representation in the novels by Agatha Christie

Abstract

   The article reviews the interpretive potential of zoomorphisms as a means of secondary representation of the “fear” concept in the detective novels written by Agatha Christie. Since the “fear” concept plays one of the main plot-forming roles in her works, the features of its secondary representation are the valuable material for a literary analysis. The frequent verbalization of the “fear” concept with the help of zoomorphic metaphors, comparisons and phraseological units is an incentive to classify and analyze the latter and identify the underlying characteristics of their formation. This enables to indicate what causes fear, how it is experienced and to highlight the characters’ features as the subject and object of the emotion of fear in the works under study. The used methods are: a conceptual analysis and the method of cognitive modeling. As a result, we identify zoomorphic metaphors, comparisons and phraseological units, reflecting the cause of the emotion: uncertainty, physical and mental threat; features of the emotion experience: internally and externally manifested panic; the following characteristics of the object of the emotion: spite, cruelty, shrewdness, and those of the subject of the emotion: cowardice, weakness, independence. The article notes that the characteristics, underlying the formation of zoomorphic analogies, create an extended metaphor, in which the object of the emotion is compared with a predator or hunter and the subject of the emotion – with a victim.