Barthes’ five narrative codesTEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND REPRESENTATION

Roland Barthes

Roland Gérard Barthes 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, design theory, anthropology and post-structuralism.

The five codes

Barthes suggested that there will be one or more of the five codes that describe the meaning of a text.

Barthes said that texts may be ‘open’ (unravelled in a lot of different ways) or ‘closed’ (there is only one obvious thread to pull on).

The five codes theory

Roland Barthes describes a text as: "a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..."

What he meant

The text is like a tangled ball of threads The thread needs to unravelled Once unravelled, we encounter a wide range of potential meanings. We can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one

viewpoint, one set of previous experience, and create one meaning for that text.

You can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle and create an entirely different meaning.

The five codes

Hermeneutic / Enigma code Proairetic/Action code Semantic code Symbolic code Referential/ Cultural code

The five codes

Hermeneutic code (the voice of truth): The code of enigmas or puzzles.

Proairetic code (the voice of empirics): The code of actions. Any action initiated must be completed. The cumulative actions constitute the plot events of the text.

Connotative [or Semic] code (the voice of the person): The accumulation of connotations. Semes, sequential thoughts, traits and actions constitute character. “The proper noun surrounded by connotations.”

Symbolic code (voice of the symbol): Binary oppositions or themes. The inscription into the text of the antithesis central to the organization of the cultural code.

Cultural or referential code (the voice of science [or knowledge]): Though all codes are cultural we reserve this designation for the storehouse of knowledge we use in interpreting everyday experience.

Hermeneutic/Enigma code This code refers to mystery within a text. Clues are dropped, but

no clear answers are given. Enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know

more. Unanswered enigmas tend to frustrate the audience. Is the way the story avoids telling the truth or revealing all the

facts, in order to drop clues in through out to help create mystery.

Proairetic/Action code

This code contains sequential elements of action in the text. Proairetic elements add suspense to the text.

Semantic code

This code refers to parts within the text that suggests or refers to additional meanings.

Elements of the semantic code are called Semes. The seme has a connotative function in the text. It has an extra

layer of meaning in addition to its literal meaning

Symbolic code

This code is about symbolism within the text. It exercises opposites to show contrast and create greater

meaning, creating tension, drama and character development.

Referential/Cultural code

This code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.