The Victorian House: Icon, Index, Symbol

Abstract

The semiotic approach to the concept of the Victorian house as a triadic relationship reveals the house as a space of becoming, functioning either as an iconic, symbolic or indexical sign in relation to its inhabitants. The current paper aims at reconstructing the semiotic process/semiosis through which a house can act as an image for the owner, or can be experienced as a prison, or interpreted as a symbol. Textual support will be provided by 19^th-century English novels such as Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and Dombey and Son, novels written by the Brontë sisters and Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native.

Cuvinte-cheie: abordare, concept, casă din epoca victoriană, spaţiu, semn

REZUMAT

Abordarea semiotică a conceptului de casă Victoriană ca relaţie triadică ne dezvăluie casa ca spaţiu al devenirii ce funcţionează fie ca un icon, fie ca un index sau chiar ca un simbol în relaţia cu locuitorii săi. Lucrarea de faţă îşi propune să reconstruiască procesul semiotic/semioza prin care casa ajunge să funcţioneze ca o imagine pentru proprietar, sau poate fi percepută ca închisoare, sau interpretată ca simbol. Exemple vor fi regăsite în romane englezeşti ale secolului al XIX-lea, cum ar fi „Marile speranţe” şi „Dombey şi fiul” de Charles Dickens, romanele scrise de surorile Brontë şi „Întoarcerea băştinaşului” de Thomas Hardy.

LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION

English (main text and corpus)

UDC: 81`22:821.111”18”

REFERENCES

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Hardy, Th. (1994). The Return of the Native. Penguin Books.

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Corpus

Brontë, A. (2001). The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Introduction and Notes by P. Merchant. Wordsworth Classics.

Brontë, Ch. (1992). Jane Eyre. Wordsworth Classics.

Brontë, E. (1985). Wuthering Heights. Penguin Books.

Dickens, Ch. (1983). Great Expectations. Penguin Books.

Dickens, Ch. (2002). Dombey and Son. Wordsworth Editions Ltd.

Received: February 9, 2010 | Reviewed: February 19, 2010 | Accepted for publication: March 5, 2010

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