Meaning of illeism | Babel Free

Definitions

The practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person.

countable, often, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] "[I]lleism with a difference" occurs when a character, speaking in the first person, refers to himself by name (not simply by a pronoun, which is illeism proper). [William] Sh[akespeare] makes significant use of the device in only four "middle plays." […] This sort of illeism enriches the dramatic context […]”

“In origin, the device of ‘illeism’ is a joint legacy to Elizabethan drama of the native English medieval stage tradition and of the Senecan translations, and one already used before [William] Shakespeare by [Thomas] Kyd, [George] Peele, and [Christopher] Marlowe. Also, this ‘illeism’ was a mannerism of the historical Julius Caesar as in evidence in his Commentaries; […]”

“[F]or some reason, illeism is especially attractive to professional sports players. The award for the best display of illeism has to go to baseball player Rickey Henderson, who left this message on his manager's voice-mail: "Kevin, this is Rickey, calling on behalf of Rickey" (quoted in Sports Illustrated).”

“It seems likely that Isabella's 'how she treads the air' is the kind of illeism that Franciscus uses later in this scene at l[ine] 216: 'He handles him like a feather. Hey!' […] It should be noticed that some editors are confused by Franciscus's illeism as well, and give his line to Lollio.”

CEFR level