Modality in The Spectator: Negotiating Interpersonal Meanings

Abstract

This paper concerns the use of modality in the eighteenth-century periodical essay, the Spectator. First, I attribute the periodical's success in society partly to its way of negotiating interpersonal meanings. Then, to find out how the essayist adjusts the relationship to the audience with his edification in view, I examine fifteen essays, drawing on Halliday's system of modality. The analysis reveals that the essayist is likely to use subjective, lower-value modalities. Such modalities open up inter-subjective space for arguability of propositions or proposals, which leads to the expression of the essayist's deference to the audience. Furthermore, the modality is used in the way in which the essayist involves the audience in his construction of discourse. I argue that the strategic use of modality in the essays orients the reader not only to reception of presented ideas but also to social decency, good sense, and good manners the prose is based on.