This advertisement promotes an exhibition of a giant man from Sweden who can be seen in the park from 9am to 9pm for 1 shilling. It claims the man is over a foot taller than any ancient giants and could be considered the first person since Goliath to be so huge. The advertisement aims to persuade readers to pay to see this astonishing sight by emphasizing the man's immense size and uniqueness.

1. Advert for a Giant (1742)
Eleanor and Saskia

2. 
TEXT SUMMARY
‘This giant man is from Sweden, and
brings immense satisfaction to all who
see him. He has been moved to the park
where he can be seen by the public from
9am-9pm, at a rate of 1 shilling each. It
is impossible to explain how astonishing
this sight is; we won’t try to do it justice.
However, we assure you that he is a foot
taller than ancient giants; in fact, he
could be deemed the first person since
Goliath to be so huge.’

3. 
Genre: An advertisement for a contemporary form of entertainment,
most likely found in a newspaper or shop window
Audience: Middle class citizens; those with enough excess money to
spend on luxuries, i.e. entertainment. Polysyllabic lexis suggests a
learned and well-read readership
Purpose: To advertise a freak show exhibit. Attempts to persuade the
public to pay for tickets to see a ‘giant’ man
OVERVIEW: GAP

4. 
 The ‘curiosity’ trend began in the 1500s with exhibitions of ‘abnormal’ people travelling through towns,
taverns and circuses
 Reveals discriminatory attitude to minorities; people with disabilities or physical abnormalities were
considered subhuman, and thus objects to be gawped at and ridiculed
 In the 21st Century this makes for a rather uncomfortable read; it is far from today’s Western ideal of
equality and diversity
 The Georgian Era was characterised by strict codes of morality. Immense social change meant further
rigidity regarding the class system, propriety, and behaviour. Anything beyond the ‘normal’ was
derogated or humiliated
 Travelling abroad was expensive and unheard of, so anything ‘foreign’ was perceived to be a novelty but
also aroused suspicion
 The text states that a brief viewing of the ‘giant’ cost 1 shilling each. Today this would be approximately
£90, the same price for a ticket to see certain West End shows
 The language of the advert serves to reinforce the objectification of the individual concerned:
- “gives such amazing Satisfaction to all that see him”
- “he…is now remov’d”
- “Prodigy in Nature”
PRAGMATICS/CONTEXT

5. 
 Semantic weakening: over time, adjectives like ‘wonderful’ and ‘amazing’
have undergone semantic weakening due to overuse. However, in the 18th
Century it is likely that they would have meant ‘inspiring wonder’ and
‘inspiring amazement’ respectively. Nevertheless, sources suggest that these
adverts were “prone to exaggeration”
 Notable lexical choices:
- Colossus: a statue of the Greek sun god, Helios; it stood over 30m tall. Reference
to Classical mythology presupposes that the reader is educated
- Goliah: reference to Goliath, the Old Testament giant. England was still a
predominantly Christian country, therefore most readers would have
understood this allusion; helps establish external cohesion. Perhaps presents
the giant as the enemy, an ‘other’ to be defeated by being demeaned
LEXIS AND SEMANTICS

6. ORTHOGRAPHY
 Long/short s: Long s used at the beginning of
lower-case words and in the middle of words
(‘ſuch’ and ‘Paſſages’). Short s reserved for
beginning of upper-case words and end of
words (‘Sweden’ and ‘Mews’)
 Capital letters: Used to denote proper nouns and
the beginning of sentences. Predominantly a
device to emphasise particular lexemes,
including ‘Prodigy in Nature’ and ‘Number of
Gentlemen and Ladies’
 Spelling shifts: Very few variant spellings.
Those present include ‘publick’ (public), ‘Goliah’
(Goliath) and ‘aera’ (era). The graphs show that
‘non-standard’ spellings began to be replaced by
today’s spelling within the century. Today
publick and aera are obsolete spellings
aera/er
a
Publick/publi
c
Goliah/Goliath

7.  Hyphenation: of nouns acting as modifiers, e.g. “Lottery-Office”, “Glass-Shop” and “Mews-
Wall”
 Contractions: Use of apostrophe within the ‘ed’ inflexion; examples include ‘assur’d’, ‘call’d’
and ‘express’d’. This was a trend in the 18th century, so would most likely have been used by
the author to convey modernity
 It is clear from the graph that use of this contraction decreased dramatically during the 1700s.
This decline may have occurred because the apostrophe was becoming increasingly associated
with working class slang. Interestingly, this change is accompanied by the increased
publication of prescriptivist grammar books, including Robert Lowth’s A Short Introduction to
English Grammar (1762)
GRAMMAR

8. 
 Sentence length: Entire text contains three
multi-clause compound sentences, each on
average 55 words long.
 Punctuation: Each sentence is regularly
punctuated with commas. 3 full stops used in
total to mark paragraph endings.
 Likely a product of fashion, although today
makes the piece awkward and uncomfortable
to read
 In 1892, a Professor Sherman noted a trend
over time of sentences shortening in length
SYNTAX

9. 
 The first two words are “From Sweden”, perhaps utilising the simultaneous xenophobia
and fascination with foreign cultures within 18th Century society as a hook for the reader
 The text is approximately 170 words long. This makes for a long advert; it is as if the
advertiser has taken full advantage of the space available, valuing quantity over
readability
 The writer attempts to persuade through both a narrative and explicitly informative style,
as opposed to rhetorical skill. Resembles the introduction of a character in a novel:
a) Introduces the giant
b) Describes where he is from and where he can be found
c) Who can see him, when and how much
d) The characteristics of the giant
e) Comparison to historical/literary figures
f) Final description
DISCOURSE

10. 
Mundane, unobtrusive in appearance. By today’s standards, the
advert is relatively nondescript. It lacks colour, graphics and
uniqueness of design
Three paragraphs of text with narrow line-spacing
Most conspicuous feature is title, ‘GIANT’, which supposedly
mirrors the enormity of the ‘exhibit’ in comparison to the general
population
It is likely that this advertisement featured in a newspaper. The
advertiser would therefore have been limited by price, word-limit
and standard of printing
GRAPHOLOGY

11. 
 http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/external/Living%20London_192
Kbit_44kHz%20mono.mp3
 http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126704.html
 http://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/bodies/freak/freakshow.html
 http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item105421.html
 http://altereddimensions.net/2014/history-freak-show
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freak_show
 http://priceonomics.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-circus-freakshows/
EXTRA RESOURCES/LINKS