Strategies for Eliciting Emotional Responses in the Aegritudo Perdicae
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/analecta46202522688Keywords:
Aegritudo Perdicae, Regnum Vandalum, epyllion, emotions, Poetics of SilenceAbstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze the set of stylistic strategies and expressive features (such as adjectives, characterizations, expressions of sympathy, metaphorical representations) systematically employed by the author of Aegritudo Perdicae to elicit emotional responses in the readers. Aegritudo Perdicae is a Latin epyllion or epic miniature by an unknown poet, composed in the late 5th-early 6th century CE, during the period of Regnum Vandalum in North Africa. Its theme is Perdicas’ incestuous love for his mother Castalia, the depression into which the young man falls and his suicide. The present study considers the narrator’s emotional intrusions, which serve as direct interventions in the narrative to guide the readers’ emotional responses. These intrusions often heighten the emotional intensity of the scenes, as the narrator’s subjective tone and personal engagement with the events influence the readers’ perception. Through these diverse strategies, the author directs the readers’ emotional engagement, guiding their responses toward specific characters, events, or situations, creating a profound pathos that resonates throughout the narrative.
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