Vera Anatolievna Smirnova
The aim of the research is to identify the distributional and functional-pragmatic features of the oculesic lexemes "regarder", "se regarder", "regard", "œil/yeux" ("to look", "to look at oneself / at each other", "glance/gaze", "eye/eyes"), representing the non-verbal behavior of Georges Duroy, the protagonist of Guy de Maupassant's novel "Bel-Ami". The article examines the structural models of compatibility of the specified lexical units in the microcontexts of the original literary work; a pragmatic classification of contexts according to the types of the character's communicative intentions is proposed. The author analyzes in detail the dynamics of transformation of the character's visual code in the course of the narrative's plot development. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that the components of Georges Duroy's oculesic behavior are studied not merely as elements of a psychological portrait, but as an autonomous pragmatic system that serves as a marker of social expansion and dominance of the masculine subject in bourgeois society. As a result of the study, it was established that the linguistic representation of the hero's non-verbal behavior is implemented through five key pragmatic functions: the orientational function (gaze as a tool for social navigation); the reflective function (mirror self-presentation and construction of the self-image); the manipulative-erotic function (oculesic seduction); the dominant function (gaze as a manifestation of aggression, rivalry, and power); and the teleological function (predicting the hero's social trajectory through the oculesic code). It was revealed that the gradual transition in the narrative from perceptual verbal models to regularly reproduced adjectival-substantive constructions directly reflects the evolution of the character from a confused provincial observer to an agent of his own destiny who effectively uses the gaze as a tool of manipulation.