The representation of the characters in the Wolf and the lamb in Aesop’s and Millôr Fernandes’ fables

• Main Author: Farencena, Gesselda Somavilla
• Publication Date: 2010
• Other Authors: Fuzer, Cristiane
• Format: Article
• Language: por
• Source: Calidoscópio (Online)
• Download full: https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/calidoscopio/article/view/472

In this work, under the focus of Systemic Functional Grammar, the language of the fable The Wolf and the Lamb is analyzed in two versions: one written by Aesop; another rewritten by Millor Fernandes. The aim is to analyze the representations of the characters Lewis and Lamb, constructed by the authors in each of the fables. Taking into account it is through experiential ideational metafunction that the worldviews and experiences are built, we use the theoretical basis of Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) about the system of transitivity. From a methodological perspective, we focus on the identification and classification of processes and participants, followed by a discussion of the data. The analysis of these data reveals that in the fable by Millôr Fernandes Wolf and Lamb are represented as a Target for the other, while the narrator introduces the Wolf in behavioral and verbal clauses as inferior to the Lamb. In Aesop’s fable, the narrator also represents the Wolf and the Lamb in alternate positions of Target and Actor; however, the Wolf is taken as cruel, unfair and superior to the Lamb from the very beginning.Key words: fable, representation, transitivity