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All About Eve Greek Language

Decent Essays

In Joseph Mankiewicz’s All About Eve, mood frequently determines the setting and tone. It provides support to the content of the story which is set through tone, setting, and elocution. When Addison DeWitt speaks, for instance, he instantly establishes the mood and introduces the scene. A character’s emphasis on language or vocabulary can represent the character whereas their speech or intonation can induce emotions in the readers. Using Jakobson’s Functions of Language allows the reader to analyze the language and close read the text in the film. In All About Eve, the the most prominent functions represented are referential and poetic. The referential function allows the reader to clearly imagine the situation or description of the scene/character. …show more content…

It puts “the focus on the message for its own sake” (Jakobson, 1960, p.356). It concentrates on language and the caution one has when speaking. This function is evident when Addison introduces Eve, “Eve. Eve, the Golden Girl. The cover girl, the girl next door, the girl on the moon... Time has been good to Eve, Life goes where she goes - she's been profiled, covered, revealed, reported, what she eats and when and where, whom she knows and where she was and when and where she's going... “ (Mankiewicz 1950). There is a mix alliteration and rhyming in this passage which both relate to the poetic function. Alliteration is a “stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series” (Literary Devices). The alliteration is seen through the reoccurrence of the letter or sound of ‘g’ as he keeps repeating the word ‘girl.’ Also, the letter ‘w’ can be seen quite a bit as he uses “what,” “when,” “where,” and “whom.” The message in this passage suggests that Eve is the “perfect” girl. When reading it, the tone is romantic and rosy. However, after watching the film and hearing this again, one could say that it is a bit sarcastic and passive since the reader is aware of how she really

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