ABSTRACT

This chapter explains that both character and plot, as iterative contexts for meaning, are intertwined not just with the thematic context, but also the semantic and syntactic contexts. Characters are a series of iterated elements that provides with credible continuity. Plots are an iteration of events, or intertwined events, that relate to the developing theme of the work in question. Character and plot, then, can be understood using the iterative context; that is, by carefully pursuing the ways in which meaning accrues across the repetitions of a particular name or theme, allowing for growth while maintaining a credible continuity. Bilbo, returning to his seat by the fire transformed by his experiences at the end of The Hobbit is a crux that demonstrates all three iterative aspects combined: his character and sense of place has been transformed by the novel's plot.