A Novel Idea in Analyzing the Character of Hazrat Abul-Fadl (AS) through Michael Riffaterre's Semiotic Approach in the Poem Rāz-e Rashid by Seyyed Hassan Hosseini

Abstract

Hazrat Abul-Fadl (AS) is a symbol of self-sacrifice, devotion, and loyalty in Islamic history. Semiotic criticism is one of the systematic approaches for analyzing the nature and function of literary texts, through which the prominent characteristics of Hazrat Abul-Fadl’s (AS) character can be portrayed. Michael Riffaterre, a French-born American critic, introduced a semiotic framework for the analysis of poetry in his book Semiotics of Poetry (1978), which has been widely utilized. In this approach, poems are initially analyzed from two perspectives: the perceptive reading and the implicit reading. In the first stage, the search for meaning is undertaken, while in the second stage, attention is given to linguistic connotations. After identifying non-grammatical elements, the hidden and internal relationships between the parts of the text are explained through accumulations and descriptive systems. Then, the reader delves into lexical and conceptual associations or key themes, eventually arriving at the structural network of the poem. In Rāz-e Rashid, after analyzing the non-grammatical elements, accumulations related to nature, body parts, and descriptive systems can be found that clearly manifest the character of Hazrat Abul-Fadl (AS). Traits such as self-sacrifice, devotion, loyalty, and resistance to hardships are depicted in this poem, and through semiotic connotations, a clear image of Hazrat Abul-Fadl’s (AS) character and the profound concepts of love and sacrifice is created.