Stylistics routledge English Language Introductions

came
back. (2) She 
unclasped
my watch and 
dropped
it in
her pocket. (3) Then she 
started tweaking
the hairpins from my hair.
(4) Doctor Gordon 
was unlocking
the closet. (5) He 
dragged out
a table on
wheels with a machine on it and 
rolled
it behind the head of the bed. (6) The
nurse 
started swabbing
my temples with a smelly grease.
(7) As she l
eaned over to reach
the side of my head nearest the wall, her fat
breast 
muffled
my face like a cloud or a pillow. (8) A vague, medicinal stench
emanated
from her flesh.
(9) ‘Don’t worry,’ the nurse 
grinned
down at me. (10) ‘Their first time
everybody’s scared to death.’
(11) I 
tried to smile
, but my skin 
had gone stiff
, like parchment.
(12) Doctor Gordon 
was fitting
two metal plates on either side of my head.
(13) He 
buckled
them into place with a strap that dented my forehead, and 
gave
me a wire to bite
.
(14) I 
shut
my eyes.
(15) There 
was
a brief silence, like an indrawn breath.
(16) Then something 
bent down
and 
took hold
of me and 
shook
me like the end
of the world. (17) Whee-ee-ee-ee-ee, it 
shrilled
, through an air crackling with
blue light, and with each flash a great jolt 
drubbed
me till I 
thought
my bones
would break
and the sap 
fly out
of me like a split plant.
(18) I 
wondered
what terrible thing it 
was
that I 
had done
.
(Plath 1986 [1963]: 151–2)
Given this simple skeleton analysis, we can abstract out the Actors in each process,
and spell out the lexical realisation of each of the processes associated with them:
Sentence No.
Actor
Process
1
nurse
came back
2a
nurse
unclasped
b
nurse
dropped
3
nurse
started tweaking
4
doctor
was unlocking
5a
doctor
dragged out
b
doctor
rolled
6
nurse
started swabbing
11
111
11
111
T R A N S I T I V I T Y A T W O R K : A F E M I N I S T - S T Y L I S T I C A P P L I C A T I O N
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7a
nurse
leaned over to reach
b
nurse’s body part
muffled
8
nurse’s body contingency
emanated
9a
n.a.
n.a.
b
nurse
grinned
10
n.a.
n.a.
11a
persona
tried to smile
b
persona’s body part
had gone stiff
12
doctor
was fitting
13a
doctor
buckled
b
doctor’s equipment
dented
c
doctor
gave . . . to bite
14
persona
shut
15
–
was
16a
something (electricity)
bent down and took hold
b
something (electricity)
shook
17a
something (electricity)
shrilled
b
electricity part
drubbed
c
persona
thought
d
persona body part
would break
e
persona body part
fly out
18a
persona
wondered
b
–
was
c
persona
had done
The analysis is simple, but the resultant table above gives access to a clear, general
picture of who is doing what and when in the persona’s description of the ‘world’
around her. The first half of the text gives the Nurse and Doctor performing all
actions (16–10). We have a brief mention of the persona as Actor (11), and then the
Doctor and his equipment dominate the action (12, 13). We have another brief
mention of a negative persona as Actor (14), the electricity as Actor in a very posi-
tive sense (16–17) and finally the persona as Actor – in a hypothetical sense at least.
We shall be able to say more about the types of process below. A simple counting
of Actors and their actions shows us very little:
nurse (including body parts) as Actor: 8
doctor (including his equipment) as Actor: 7
electricity as Actor: 4
persona (including body parts) as Actor: 7
This is interesting in view of the often expressed pre-analytic response, ‘the persona
doesn’t 
do
anything’. Clearly, we can see what readers ‘mean’ when they say that, but
we have to pursue the analysis further, and rephrase the response to capture the
‘reality’ of the text. What this analysis does lay bare is the