The representation of the ghost archetype in "The Canterville ghost" by Oscar Wilde

The article touches upon the actual interdisciplinary problems of modern cognitive linguistics, psychology, literary criticism and is related to the study of the archetypal representations of ethnicity and changes reflected in the linguistic consciousness. These changes are mainly influenced by the works of fiction and the role of writer's worldview in their formation. Guided by the thesis of universality of the archetypes, the author mentions that though the archetype represents the inherent characteristics of certain ethnic and cultural space, it retains the features which make an image recognizable at all times. By this fact the author explains the existence of beliefs in ghosts with different embodiments in all cultures. The awakening of the archetype is caused by certain historical events, i.e. the revival and further embodiment of the ghost archetype was the result of reversion to the cultural heritage during the Victorian England. The complex analysis of the means of speech representation that called up the realization of the ghost archetype in Oscar Wilde's short story The Canterville Ghost allowed to reveal that alongside with features that constitute the archetypal nature of ghosts in general, there appear the ones peculiar to the author's individual worldview, which either complement or change the existing notions about this being from another world.