Complex Literary Text analysis

The Lion’s Skin

1. About author.
2. Short summary of the story.
The story begins with the description of Mrs. Forestier that had recently buried her
husband who died in the fire, rescuing her dog. They met in the hospital where Eleanor cured
all wounded soldiers. One day Robert got into the hospital and Eleanor was very surprised
because she considered him the handsomest men she ever met.
At First Robert Forestier was rather cold towards Eleanor, but then he realised that she was
quite an attractive woman. She told him, that she was a widow and had no one to depend on,
he cheered up and called her out for a date as soon as he was well again. He was thankful for
her kindness and confessed that he loved her since the very first day he ever saw her. She
made him a proposal to become his wife and when he learnt that she was quite rich, he agreed
to it. So it's safe to say that he married her because of the money, even though Eleanor later
denied this.
Mr. Forestier was a handsome man, was a good bridge player, also a keen golfer, played
tennis as well. Like all Englishmen he was very reserved, aristocratic to his finger-tips, he also
had high moral standards and he was prepared to stick to them at any cost. Robert prioritized
Eleanor's wishes over his own. Eleanor praised all of his character traits, and according to her
all this made him the perfect type of an English gentleman.
Eleanor thought Robert had done enough in risking his life for his country, so she decided
not to obejct to his being idle and be content with what he was doing. But she noticed that her
husband didn’t like Frederick Hardy, who was a very pleasant person for her.
When Frederick and Robert met we discover the notorious past of Robert’s life. But he
didn’t want to admit this awful fact because he pretended to be a gentleman during a lot of
years with his wife. He didn’t want to admit this even when there was a dangerous situation in
his house. He dashed into the flaming house endeavoring to rescue the dog and not thinking of
his own life. He wanted to show how gentlemen behave in such situations and died in such a
silly way.

3. Problem raised by author.

The author raised the following problems in the story:
- Love for someone’s benefit;
- Money;
- Social position (prestigious status in society)
- Deception (обман) of oneself and other people
- Obsession of the desire to be a gentleman

4. Main idea.
Although the author calls the Robert’s deed a «great sacrifice», I don't think that it
was worth taking the risk at all, just because of a dog. All Robert wanted to do in fact, was to
show Fred Hardy and his wife how a gentleman must behave in such a situation. When he
heard that his wife's favourite dog was trapped inside the house it was an occassion for him to
rush into the house. He continued to believe in his own lies. «Bob Forestier had pretended for
so many years to be a gentleman that in the end, forgetting that it was all fake, he had found
himself driven to act as in that stupid conventional brain of his he thought a gentleman must
act. No longer knowing the difference between sham and real, he had sacrificed his life to a
spurious heroism»
According to his wife, Eleanor, Mr. Forestier was a brave man and a gallant gentleman.
She cherished his good sides and didn't take any of his bad ones into account. She respected
his prejudices and admired his exclusiveness. His opinion was hers, so to speak. But in fact he
was not a gentleman and he had a secret no one should have known, that’s why he was so
reluctant to admit that he met Fred Hardy before. Robert used to be a car-washer at the Bruton
Garage between 1913 and 1914. Then he was a page-boy at one of the clubs in London, then a
soldier in the Army Service Corps.So he had no nobility, he was just pretending to be a
gentleman from a high society.

5. General definition of the text.

Setting: handsome villa on the hills behind Cannes, Riviera, France
A 1st-person narration / Narration interlaced with descriptive passages and dialogues of
the personages
An account of events interwoven with a humorous (ironical) portrayal of Mrs. Forestier
and Mr. Forestier.
The ironical description of the “great sacrifice” of Robert Forestier.
6. Prevailing mood.
Melodramatic, emotional, sarcastic, cheerful
7. Title analysis.
I understand the title of the story the following way: Mr. Forestier never had been a real
gentleman and didn’t come from any rich family. All his life he was a servant at some
gentlemen clubs, where he was treated admirably. And all his life he dreamt of being a real
gentlemen. Eleanor's money provided a chance for him to become what he wanted to be. So,
when he married her he started to "wear a lion's skin", pretending to be a noble man, but inside
he was just a sheep. And it was a real blow to him, when Fred Hardy uncovered his real
descent (походження) and started to mock him. Soon afterwards, Robert Forestier met his
horrible end. And even then he didn't take off his lion's skin.
8. The composition of the story.
1). The exposition (introduction).
Mrs. Forestier description (her appearance, character, details of her life, the
acquaintance with her second husband in the hospital)
2) The development of the plot (an account of events)
The beginning of the love story of Eleanor and Robert. Their life in the villa on the
Riviera. Lunch with the family of Hardies. The conversation between Robert and Frederick
about their notorious past.
3) The climax (the culmination point)
Fire in the Forestier’s house.
 Fight between Robert and Frederick.
Robert’s willing to show the deeds of gentleman.
4) the denouement (the outcome of the story)
The ‘great sacrifice’ of Mr. Forestier – he goes into the flaming house to save the favorite dog
of his wife and to show how the gentlemen behave in such situations..

9. A)Phonographical level

Capitalization- A GOOD MANY PEOPLE… ; Americans, French and Russians

Hyphenation - pale-blue, spring-like organdies

Punctuation:

Question marks - Was he badly wounded?; "And how did you eventually discover that you
were in love with Captain Forestier?"

Dots - Forestier called the waiter.; Mrs. Forestier, he was a very gallant gentleman.

Dashes - When I married my first husband — well, he was a widower with grown-up
children..

Exclamation marks - This is no time for play-acting!; You damned fool!

Alliteration – He was very low and I thought I ought to do all I could to… ; …watching him
with his mocking eyes….

Assonance – …how handsome he looked in his uniform… ; You don't think I care? I think the
whole thing…

Onomatopoeia –

b) Morphological Level.
Suffixation: occurrence, accidentally, acquaintance, wonderful,
Prefixation: mistaken, distress, unfailing, ungainly, enlist
Composition: everything, gentleman, notwithstanding, eyewitness, dressmaker, nearsighted,
tiresome
Conversion: line(n) – her skin was lined(v); marcelled from a marcel; a lunch – to lunch
(she lunched with you); a treasure – to treasure (a set of glasses you treasured); girl – girlish;
Shortening: Mrs, Mr
Back formation: acquaint from acquaintance, imagination – imagine; stipulate – stipulation;
wastrel – waste; slacker – slack; swindler - swindle
Borrowings: gallant – Old French; vaudeville – French; mannequin – French; muslin –
French; carbuncle – French; connoisseur – French; gala – French; ruffian – German.
c.1. Layers of the vocabulary

• Literal – mannequin, matron, trench, democracy, plateau, connoisseur, Riviera,

moustache, plus-fours, bankruptcy, gaol, Monsieur, verandah,

• Colloquial – damnedest, pauper, neverfailing, kennel-man, hob-nob, scamp, D.S.O.,

A.S.C., guffaw, page-boy, humbug, devil, give a cry, shut up you slut, damned fool

• Neutral – wife, bachelor, dog, conversation, clothes, dig, come, prevent, road,
bathroom, difference, gentleman, dead, soldiers

c.2. Semantic Group of Words

Synonyms:

1. Absolute synonyms: realize, understand, grasp, acknowledge; pleasant, amiable, nice;

happy, glad; captivated, charmed, to be inclined to, to be apt to; to offer, to recommend, to
suggest; imposture, cheat, humbug; to abide, to bear, to tolerate; sham, fake;

2. Semantic synonyms: large, great; dreadful, frightful, terrible; decent, modest, moral;
satisfaction, complacency; charming, delightful, attractive; confidence, courage; adore, love,
admire; passionate, loving, romantic; importance, value; liar, swindler, humbug;

3. Stylistic synonyms: pukkah sahib, gentleman; to look forward, to wait; to hobnob, to get
oneself mixed up with; to bring the news to sb, to report; to male efforts, to struggle

Antonyms:

1. Contradictories represent the type of semantic relations that exist between pairs: alive –
dead, wife – husband, man – woman, life – death, to love – to hate, to start – to stop, to forget-
to remember, courage - fear, wrong – right, big, large– small, little; lie – truth; fake - real

2. Contraries are antonyms that can be arranged into a series according to the increasing
difference in one of their qualities: morning – evening, hot - cold, late – early, short– tall,
yesterday – tomorrow; under- over.

3. Incompatibles are antonyms which are characterized by the relations of exclusion:

black – white, gold, grey; good – not good; large – not large; long – not long; crazy – not
crazy; tall – not tall

Polysemantic words:

Perfect homonyms:

last (adj.) – 1.coming after all others in time or order; final; 2. last (v) - to continue to exist

to pass – 1. to change from one state to another: The spring passed into summer; 2. To move
in a particular direction: A lot of water has passed under the bridges…

face – 1. the front of the head, where the eyes, nose, and mouth are; 2. To deal with smth.
Homographs: no examples are found

Homophones: right, write; too, two; four, for; live, leave; buy, by; died, dyed; know, no;

Semantic fields: colors: grey, gold, blue, white, black; seasons: spring, summer, winter;
summer: beach, heat, river, straw hat, sun; verb denoting feelings: to admire, to adore, to
love, to hate, to smile, to laugh;

Thematic grouping:  nursery: doctor, nurse, to put bandage, medicines, hospital,

carbuncles; sport: plus-fours, to play golf, golfer; words connecting with fraud and crimes:
humbug, imposture, ruffian, fake, to lie, cheat.

С3) Phraseological Units

Fusion – a rule of that , face to face

Unities – made up heavily, Robert wanted the word with the other guests on the terrace and
hadn`t noticed the Hardys come in ,.. the laws of time

Collocation - to take
a risk, make progress, come prepared, feel free, Captain Forester thanked
God that he wasn`t narrow-minded , but one had to draws a line somewhere.

c.4. Lexical Stylistic Devices

Metaphor- streets were hot with a bright, eager heat that made the blood run faster; had
stepped out of a show-window

Personification – the house stood on the top of the hill, Yet this ungainly exterior sheltered a
tender, romantic and idealistic soul.

Irony – verbal - broke every utensil that was breakable, I am sure that she was an admirable
nurse.

Contextual - I'm not naturally a clumsy woman, I never drop things or break anything; but
you wouldn't believe it, when I had to give Robert his medicine I used to drop the spoon and
break the glass,

Her voice was a woman's voice, but you were always expecting her, at the end of the number
as it were, to break into a deep bass, and tearing off that golden wig, discover a man's bald
pate.

Epithet – puzzled look, big ugly hands, pale-blue short-sighted eyes

Comparison - She was as tall as the average man, you found her as simple as a child,

Simile – looking like a vaudeville artist, spring-like organdies, . Men are like clinging silks
and soft, fluffy things

Juxtaposition: good health and clear conscience, humbug and cheat

Epithet – puzzled look, big ugly hands, pale-blue short-sighted eyes, terrible night, nice
woman, affable way, smart boys, unprincipled rascal, an average man, good-looking fellow,
powerful man, an anguished cry, black eye, conventional brain.

Hyperbole: Robert looked as though he had stepped out of a show window,

He looked every inch a soldier

Oxymoron: old boy, filthy fellow

d) Syntactic Level of Analysis

d.1. Sentence Structure Simple sentence: Mrs. Forestier was a very nice woman.

Compound Sentence: He looked down and I could see he was nervous.

Complex Sentence: She could never forget the words dear Fred Hardy had used when he was
breaking the dreadful news to her.

d.2. Syntactic Stylistic Devices

Represented Speech

“I knew that I wasn't worthy of him, but I saw that if I wanted him I must go out and get 
him myself.”

At first it seemed as though she could not grasp the sense of what he said.

“It was difficult to dislike a man who plainly though
that no woman was better than she should be, but very sweet for all that, and who had suc
h 

delightful manners.”

Parallel Constructions –

“If she went into a drawing-room where there was a valuable piece of jade she managed to
sweep it on the floor; if she launched with you and you had a set of glasses you treasured she
was almost certain to smash one of them to atoms”.

“Riviera the streets were hot with a bright, eager heat that made the blood run faster;and 
women walked about in great straw hats and pyjamas.”

“Mrs. Forestier was neither charming, beautiful nor intelligent;on the contrary she was ab
surd, homely and foolish;yet the more you knew her, the more you liked her, and when ask
ed why, you found yourself forced to repeat that she was a very nice woman.”

“When you came to know her you found her as simple as a child;she was touchingly gratef
ul 
for any attention you paid her;her own kindness was infinite, you could ask her to do anyt
hing for you, however tiresome, and she would do it as though by giving her the opportuni
ty to 
put herself out you rendered her a service.”

Chiasmus (reversed Parallel Constructions)

Rhetorical Question – “'Why are you so down to-night?”

He seemed to have settled down now, and to be devoted to his wife and children;

 but can  the  leopard  change  his  spots?

“Isn't it a strain never to let up?”

"Who the devil's that?" 

“A lot of water has passed under the bridges since first we met, old boy, hasn’t it?”

Ellipsis (Elliptical Sentence) – “'Need you?”, - "Have another”, "You liar."  "Dead?

My Robert?" "You fool," 

Repetition

- Anaphora – “he was a widower with grown-
up children, he was a fine man and one of the most prominent citizens in the state”
“he's a man of complete integrity;he's the cleanest man I've ever known;”

“That was grotesque too; that was pathetic.”

- Epiphora
- Anadiplosis
- Framing – “"La petite Judy.Judy.”

Enumeration – “She was as tall as the average man;
she had a large mouth and a great hooked nose, pale-blue short-sighted eyes and big ugly 
hands.”
“he had the weather -beaten, healthy, tanned skin of a man who is muc
h in the open air.He was tall, lean and broadshouldered.”
“they carried out on to the lawn in 
front such things as were portable, linen and silver, clothes, ornaments, pictures, pieces of 
furniture.”
Climax (Gradation)

Anticlimax

Antithesis – “You're a very rich woman; I'm a pauper.”

Asyndeton – “You know how funny Englishmen are;
he'd never paid me a compliment before."
Polysyndeton – “Pretty women, chemin de jer, and an unlucky knack for backing the
wrong horse had landed him in the bankruptcy court by the time he was twenty-five, and h
e 
had been forced to resign his commission.”

“"Wake the kids and let them come up and see the fun.”

Inversion – "A great many women have found him so, and a pretty penny 
it's cost them." 

“A damned good-looking fellow you were in those days” 
Break-in-the-Narrative (Aposiopesis)

Parenthesis – “He was at forty-
five (he was two or three years younger than Eleanor) still a very handsome 
man, with his wavy, abundant grey hair and his handsome moustache;he had the weather-
beaten, healthy, tanned skin of a man who is much in the open air.”

“It took you some time to discover this, for when first you knew her you took her for a fig
ure of fun, and then when you knew her better (and had suffered from her clumsiness) 
she exasperated you”

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