Characters' Appraisement in G. B. Shaw's Man and Superman in Terms of Van Leeuwen's Social Actor Representation

Abstract

The current study is an attempt to demonstrate how characters are appraised in G. B. Shaw's Man and Superman. Appraisement is one of the twelve categories of which 'Social Actor Representation' developed by Van Leeuwen comprises. The linguistic analysis of characters' utterances exposes how they are negatively and positively appraised. Appraisement occurs as characters’ different ideologies and ways of thinking are exposed. Thus, they demonstrate disparate views about various issues and express positive or negative attitudes towards each other as well. The results of the study show that characters are appraised depending on their attitudes and their different perspectives. However, they are more negatively than positively appraised due to the abundance of negative attitudes which characters display when they are nervous and irritated or when they engage in arguments in which they disagree.