Name: ALESSANDRO CARVALHO DA SILVA OLIVEIRA
Publication date: 31/07/2019
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| LENI RIBEIRO LEITE | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| BELCHIOR MONTEIRO LIMA NETO | Internal Examiner * |
| LENI RIBEIRO LEITE | Advisor * |
| RAIMUNDO NONATO BARBOSA DE CARVALHO | Internal Alternate * |
Summary: We propose to analyze the way that Marco Túlio Cicero (106 BC-43 BC) appropriated his
status as an exile to establish discursive strategies in the thirty-four epistles he wrote while
outside from the Roman Republic. Through these strategies, Cicero created the idea of
affiliation with a certain aristocratic identity. In said context, his status as a member of an elite
was in check, since he was prevented from occupying a privileged space in which he previously
inhabited. Predicting a possible threat against him, Cicero left Rome and sought ways to
participate in the political game to restore both his social position and the assets that had been
taken from him under the laws passed, which he only could have done after his return to Vrbs
in 57. These political conflicts are the theme of our first chapter, in which we identify the
groups involved in Cicero`s exile and disrupt the actions taken by them. However, to carry out
the analysis, it is necessary to go beyond a historical context and present properly the theory
and methodology concepts appropriate to the theme, which we did in the second chapter. In this
one, we present the voluntary nature of the mechanisms of exile in Rome and how this
influenced the maintenance of the Concordian ideal, since it proposed a less violent way of
dealing with crimes. However, the fact that it is considered criminal by itself could already lead
to problems for a member of an elite established through ethos, that is, the image constructed in
the discourse. We consider exile an event resulting from the dissonance between the ethos of
the one who suffers and the expected ethos by the local aristocracy from which the individual is
banned and that leads us to think of Cicero's writing conditioned by its banishment a
fundamental element for our analysis. Following the precepts of Discourse Analysis, which
points out that all text is determined by its production conditions, we apply the concept of
paratopia (MAINGUENEAU, 1983) to reflect on the situation of Cicero`s non-belonging to
Rome; also, Woodward`s concept of identity (WOODWARD, 2000) helped us demarcate the
ways in which Cicero represented his allies and enemies, so we could observe how he
associates and disassociates himself with certain identity constructions. These observations
became more evident in the third chapter, in which we analyze the texts, letter by letter. Finally,
we realize that one of its main persuasive strategies was the use of pathos to legitimize its
social status and delegitimize the decision to exile him.
