Metaphorical Expressions in the "Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone": An Analysis of Conceptual Metaphors and Their Literary Functions

Аннотация

Metaphor plays a crucial role in communication by enriching language, making it more expressive and impactful. It helps convey complex ideas in a way that is easier to understand and relate to, creating deeper connections between concepts. In literature and creative writing, metaphors enhance imagery and emotional depth, making texts more engaging and memorable. They also serve as a tool for shaping thought and perception, influencing how people interpret and interact with the world around them. In this article the first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, is analysed according to the conceptual metaphors it contains. Drawing on the framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis, the research aims to uncover the deeper meanings behind these metaphors and to systematically identify their roles and functions within the novel. Keywords: Metaphor, novel, Harry Potter, conceptual metaphor, symbol, affective meaning, abstract feelings, stylistic devices. Introduction: Defining metaphor is not easy, and The term metaphor is generally understood in various definitions vary according to theoretical perspectives. ways, often as a word that replaces something else or It is proposed a provisional definition of metaphor as highlights a similarity between two things. It refers to “thinking, talking about, or experiencing one kind of the expression of one idea through another, often thing in terms of another”. Identifying metaphors is based on a hidden resemblance or comparison. For similarly difficult and theory-dependent. At the instance, the Oxford English Dictionary (abridged) extremes, most people will probably agree about the defines metaphor as a form of transference and identification of indisputably literal words on the one resemblance: “A figure of speech in which a name or hand, and the identification of original and creative descriptive term is applied to an object to which it is not metaphors on the other. Between these extremes, literally applicable but which bears a resemblance to even experts often disagree about whether a word or it.” Aristotle, on the other hand, viewed metaphor as a phrase is metaphorical. This reflects the fact that some form of implicit comparison or analogy. In his work people may understand a phrase as metaphorical while Poetics, dedicated to the study of poetry, he was the others do not. What is crucial when reading essays first to discuss the concept of metaphor, defining it as about metaphor, both for the beginner and for the a figurative expression used in poetic language. He also seasoned expert, is to be clear about what is meant by explained metaphor as “the use of a term that belongs the term, metaphor and how the examples discussed to one concept to describe another, based on a are identified and classified. resemblance between the two.” Later thinkers such as Demetrius, Quintilian, and Cicero also provided similar