THE IMAGE OF THE HALF-SNAKE CHARACTER IN BRITISH AND KAZAKH FOLKTALES

Abstract

The article is devoted to the motif of a half-snake character in British and Kazakh folktales of different genres, primarily in fairy tales and heroic tales. The purpose of the article is to contrast the image of a half-snake character in British and Kazakh folktales in order to identify the main attributes and accompanying elements of this motif. In the scope of the study, the images of dragons and snakes in world folklore are briefly considered. Western portrayal of dragons is primarily negative, and the Eastern one is positive, while snakes usually have a neutral representation.  The wisdom and wizardry of half-snake characters are noted. The scientific significance of the work lies in the consideration of the half-snake character motif in the tales of category 425A, which has not been studied in the contrastive aspect. The article reveals fundamentally new attributes of this motif, which confirms its practical significance. The article uses the methods of motif analysis and contrastive analysis. For detailed study, the Kazakh folktale "Man in the serpent skin" and the British folktale "Enchanted Snake" are selected. British and Kazakh folktales show significant similarities in the plot, depiction of characters and the use of this motif. The key elements of the image of the half-snake character are highlighted. The results obtained show that these elements are wisdom, alienation, a tragic end and further transformation into a bird (a dove). Also, the adjacent motifs were revealed: the search for a lost spouse, memory loss, singing. The results show that the motifs of fairy tales are changeable structural elements that can have a large number of variations and make up complex systems. The practical significance of the results of the work lies in the possibility of their use for further research in the field of analysis of motives.