Barthes Enigma Code

Roland Barthes was a semiologist and described narratives as a ball of string.

An open narrative is the story can turn out in a lot of ways.

A closed narrative is the story can turn out in one way.

The Hermeneutic enigma code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

The purpose of the author in this is typically to the keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

Enigma Code

The proairetic action code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

Action code - applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.

The Hermeneutic and Proaitetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as: 'dependant on, two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the  coordination of the actions represented'

The Semantic code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.

Semantic code - any element of a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by the way of connotation.

The Symbolic code is very similar to the semantic code but acts at a wider level organising semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

Binary opposites: Levi Straus believed that the world was split into a series of 'binary opposites.; Essentially one thing can only be defined in relation to something it isn't.