The Poetic Language In A Dynamic Sign System: A Semiotic Interpretation Of In Chancery

As one of the representative works of John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga marks the peak of his literary creation. It is composed of three volumes—The Man of Property, In Chancery, To Let, as well as two preludes entitled "Indian Summer of a Forsyte" and "Awakening". In The Forsyte Saga, with a depiction of the Forsyte family from prosperity to decline, Galsworthy presents a panorama of the English bourgeoisie during the transitional historical period from the Victorian Age to the Edwardian Age. Through employing varied artistic skills, the author provides a subtle description of characters and events in this work, which has enriched the techniques of realism. Hence, The Forsyte Saga plays an important role in the history of English literature at the turn of the 20^th century.When The Forsyte Saga was first published, it proved an immediate success abroad. The biographical studies on Galsworthy have provided a valuable reference to the thematic studies on Galsworthy's works. In recent years, the study on The Forsyte Saga has benefited from the profundity of studies on literary theory, as well as the multiplicity of standpoints in studying literature. More and more scholars are inclined to study this work from different points of view such as psycho-analysis, intertextuality, cultural critical and so on, which has widened our mind. By contrast, the relevant studies in China, which mainly focuse on the discussion of characters, themes and artistic skills, are much latter than that of England and still need improvement. From these studies we can find: diachronically, most studies focus on the interrelationship of the three volumes, especially their mutual influences and resemblance; synchronically, the studies on characters take the most part; in addition, The Man of Property serves as the target of most studies while the other two subsequent volumes arise less attention.As the second volume of The Forsyte Saga, In Chancery stands for the transitional period of the Forsyte family from prosperity to decline. It is full of conflicts and struggles among the three generations of Forsytes: in the struggles between possessive instinct and freedom, desire and nature, the centre of Forayteism is shattered. It is the multiple and contradictory relationships that create the complexity of both characters and events in this novel. Considering the above characteristics, this study is to provide a semiotic interpretation of In Chancery, aiming at giving a close examination of the sign system of this novel and facilitating the reader's understanding of the plurality of this text.This study is to carry out a close reading of In Chancery, to reveal the multiple connotations of this text and the close relationships of different signs which are established by the dynamic connection among the five codes. This thesis contains five chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga with an emphasis on In Chancery, including its social background, main contents, organization as well as its basic idea. A brief review is also given on the historical role and the influences of this novel.Chapter 2 is the literature review, which includes the relevant studies both at home and abroad. Based on the previous studies on The Forsyte Saga, the starting point of this thesis is presented in this chapter.Chapter 3 is the theoretical background of this study. It introduces Roland Barthes's literary semiotic theory, concentrating on the theory of "five codes" in analyzing the narrative works and the model of connotation.Chapter 4 provides a textual analysis of In Chancery by employing Roland Barthes's semiotic theory from four aspects: first, the main characters including pure-Forsytes, half-Forsytes and anti-Forsytes; second, the main objects which include picture, motor-car, "web" and oak tree; third, the main places including London, Paris, Soho and Bayswater Road; fourth, the main concepts which relate the three categories aforementioned, including the antithesis of death vs. birth, as well as age. In this analysis, with a combination of the structuralist approach with the post-structuralist one, both being suggested and used by Roland Barthes, the relationships of signs and the main codes are interpreted and, the plurality of the text is discussed. After the signs are chosen from a paradigmatic dimension, they are grouped into a system according to the syntagmatic rules. Then, in order to prove that this system is an open one, the five codes and the model of connotation are used. We can draw from the analysis that, in In Chancery, on the one hand, one sign might have several connotations; on the other hand, in some cases, several signs share a common connotation. At the same time, the five codes stands for five different ways of reading and, their interweaving, overlapping and repetition make the sign system dynamic.Chapter 5 is the conclusion. Through using Roland Barthes's semiotic theory we can conclude that this novel is characterized by the plurality of signs and the multiplicity of meanings. Based on the reading method which takes language as its focus, the description of In Chancery should not be limited to the historical period and the literary trend to which it belongs and according to which it is often simply classified as a work of realism. Instead, we should interpret its plurality by analyzing its sign system and break the uniqueness of the signified. Thus, we can draw some implication: the semiotic approach provides us one of the effective methods of exploring the plurality of text and enriches our study viewpoints.