ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author shows how the viewpoints of the characters in the text are manifested linguistically through a socio-pragmatic analysis of Dennis Potter's play Brimstone and Treacle and how the linguistic indicators of point of view in drama go beyond those associated with narrative fiction. The propositional content of Linda’s speech, and its graphological characteristics (i.e. the italicisation) also contribute to our understanding of the character of Linda, demonstrating how both filtered and slanted point of view can often go hand in hand to work as a tool for characterisation. Ideological point of view deals with socio-political beliefs whereas Chatman’s category is used to describe our numerous figurative conceptions and judgements of the world, and our way of conceptualising world and our position within it. Martin’s adoption of a stereotypical Black English/Caribbean vernacular is an instance of metaphorical code-switching. This type of code-switching is characterised by use of non-standard language to signal an in-group relationship between conversational participants.
