Gaze and power relations: A semiotic analysis of Thomas Hardy’s “Neutral Tones”

In this paper, I analyze Thomas Hardy’s “Neutral Tones” (1876), which has traditionally been interpreted through historical and personal lenses related to the poet’s voice and the nineteenth-century context. Diverging from these perspectives, my semiotic reading focuses on the aesthetics of the language, revealing hidden aspects and deeper layers of meaning within the text. This study explores literary devices such as metaphor (Friedrich Nietzsche and Jacques Derrida), prosopopoeia, and ekphrasis, also exploring the theoretical concepts of male/female gazes (Laura Mulvey) and power relations (Michel Foucault). The findings suggest that the speaker’s identity is not confined to a male persona, and that power relations and the interplay of gazes shape the dynamics between the characters.