THE MYTHIC THEMES, STRUCTURES AND SYMBOLS IN ENGLISH BAROQUE NOVELS

Abstract

The article deals with the mythopoeic analysis of English Baroque novel “Aretina” (1660) by George Mackenzie. The aim of the study is to examine the mythic themes, structures and symbols in English Baroque novels. This article reports to the results of Laurence Coupe and his classification of mythic paradigm, distinguishing the paradigm of the fertility myth, the paradigm of the creation myth, the paradigm of the myth of deliverance, and the paradigm of the hero. The interest to heroic novels among English noble people in the 17th century is explained with the fact that well educated people always have interest to the history and interpretation of human nature. Also, English artists represent Great Britain as a successor of the ancient Rome. The main concept in English baroque novels is heroism represented through the mythopoeic narrative strategy of the hero. In the novel “Aretina” by G. Mackenzie, the human life is shown as an allegory of vertical movement (“yet shall never climb to Heaven”), the life on Earth coincides the calendar cycle. The representation of mythic material in English Baroque novel is obvious at the linguistic level: symbols, metaphors, and similes. In general, myth in the Baroque novel is represented not just through allusions, but as a structure for modeling the world. The mythic paradigm of the hero is a dominant in English Baroque novels. The article is of interest to those who are interested in mythopoeia and English Baroque literature.