Conversation Analysis And Characterization In Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire

Turn-taking analysis, central to Conversation Analysis proposed by American sociologists, Harvey Sacks, Emanuet Schegloff and Gail Jefferson, is one of the methods employed in the comparatively new field of drama stylistics. And the dramatic text usually sets out the turn-taking options exercised by dramatists to constitute or organize the dramatic dialogue characterized by turn-by-turn construction.This thesis attempts to examine the interactive structure of dramatic dialogue on the basis of findings in Conversation Analysis, turn-taking mechanism in particular, to explore how relationships between characters are constructed and negotiated not only through what they say, but also through how they convey their ideas in relation to other characters, and how the personalities of the characters are presented through the exchanges.It has been showed that in terms of the analysis of drama, stylistics has almost been concerned with the text rather than the performance, for the former is static and unchanging while the latter is transient. In this thesis, a play wilt be examined, within the framework of turn-taking system, in the following specific aspects: (1) turn- hange options and turn-change strategies; (2) turn distribution and turn length; and (3) turn sequencing. The data in this thesis are from the conversations of the characters in the scripted play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. The analysis will be focused on the conversations among the principal characters-Blanche DuBois, Stanley Kowalski, Stella Kowalski, and Harold Mitchell (Mitch). Further analysis of the patterns of turn-taking uncovered in this study is undertaken with the purpose of the revelation of the character relationship in terms of harmonious balance versus competitive dominance and sympathetic alignment versus antipathetic alienation, and a summary account of the personalities of the characters is presented based on the occurrences of the speech exchange.The present study shows that the interactive structure of dialogue characterized by a turn-by-turn construction has played an important role in the creation of dramatic characters. In other words, a character in a play is presented not only by what he says but also by how he says with relation to other characters. More specifically, dramatic significance depends on the speeches of the characters in a play as well as on the mechanism of the conversation, i. e. the dramatic dialogue between the characters. Turn-taking system works well in interpreting the dramas on the strength of the analysis of interactive structure of dialogue which is at the center of character creation in plays. The presentation of dramatis personae and the relationship between them is achieved by virtue of the examination of turn-taking mechanism in a play. It is hoped that this approach may contribute to the analysis of characterization with which traditional dramatic criticism has been typically concerned.