Definition of Semiotics Symbolism in Sam Shepard's drama Curse of the starving class

tragic powers, and fear . It resembles comedy by employing comic situations and characters and by an ending that resembles of a comedy .” 8 Melodrama was developed as a theatrical form in the late 1700s in Europe. Early melodrama consisted of plays that used music in their action. In these plays, when the actor was silent, musicians played music to describe the actor’s thoughts or mood. Melodrama develops a distinctive type of plot involving suffering, dangerous adventures, villainy, and false accused heroes fighting for their honor. The plot usually deals with a man or a woman who is in a difficult or dangerous situation because of the villain’s actions. The hero is usually triumphant in the end and the villain is punished. When writing the stories of the drama, writers’ aim is to say as much as possible with the briefest as possible. This doesn’t imply that most good stories are brief. It indicates that only nothing is wasted and that each word and detail is selected for maximum effectiveness. Writers choose the details and incidents that contribute most to the meaning they are after; they omit those whose usefulness is minimal. As far as possible they choose details that are multi-valued that serve a variety of purposes at once. Doing so, they use symbols and allegory.

D. Definition of Semiotics

Semiotics is usually defined as a general philosophical theory dealing with the production of signs and symbols as part of code systems which are used to communicate information. Semiotics includes visual and verbal as well as tactile 8 Herbert Barrows, et al. Introduction to Literature, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press. 1959, p. 345. and olfactory signs all signs or signals which are accessible to and can be perceived by all our senses as they form code systems which systematically communicate information or massages in literary every field of human behaviors and enterprise. The term of semiotic is derived from the Greek word semeion denoting sign. In modern usage the concept of semiotics refers to a theory of signification. 9 Semiotic is the study of sign and symbols and their meaning and use, especially in the writing, or method to analyze the sign. 10 According to Barthes, ‘Semiology’ or ‘semiotics’ has any signs system as its research object, not only in substantial forms but also in non-substantial forms such as pictures, behavior, melodious sound, concrete objects, and complicated substances found in rites, protocols or performances. In fact, all of them constitute signs system. 11 Barthes actually said, the semiotic basically want to discuss how human signify things. So in this study the signs are tolls we used in seeking the way around the human. Semiotic tries to explain combination of sign; systematically explains the essential, character, form of sign, and the process of its signification. Semiotic gives big attention to everything that can be esteemed as a sign. One sign is everything can be used as a signifier that has the important meaning to substitute something else. That something must no exist or that sign obviously exist in the place at particular time. 9 Bronwen Martin and Felizitas Ringham, Dictionary of Semiotics, London and New York: CASSEL, 2000, p. 1. 10 Alex Sobur M.Si. Semiotika Komunikasi, Bandung: Remaja Rosda Karya, 2003, p. 15. Sunardi, Semiotika Negativa, Yogyakarta: Kanal, 2002, p. 45. Basically semiotic divided into two kinds: ‘semiotic communication’ and ‘semiotic significant. The first is the theory if sign production which one assumes the fifth factors in communication: sender, receiver, message, media, and reference . So, actually, the ‘semiotic communication’ depends on the goals of communication. But, the semiotic significant is in contrary with. ‘The semiotic significant ’ is not discussed about the goals of communication; understanding toward the sign is more important. The semiotic significant is usually used in poems, drama, or prose. Here, the readers have to understand by themselves about the meaning of symbol or sign used by author in his literary work. Semiotic significant, in this term, gives big attention to the systematic relation between signs and, the role of combining code, and the concepts signified related to that significant. Code is a set of rule or convention within the Signs can be combined, so enable the massages are being communicated from one to another And then what is the semiotic approach? How does it work? semiotics takes as its fundamental premise that there can be no meaning without difference .there can be no ‘up’ without ‘down’, no ‘hot’ without ‘cold’, no ‘good’ without ‘evil’. As Greimas says, “We perceive differences and thanks to that perception, the world ‘takes Shape’ in front of us, and for our purposes.” 12 There are four basic principles on which the semiotic analysis of text is based: 12 Bronwen martin and Felizitas Ringham. Op. cit., p. 7. 1. Meaning is not inherent in object, object does not signify by them. Meaning, rather, is constructed by what is known as a competent observer, i.e. by a subject capable of ‘giving form’ to objects. 2. Semiotic views the text, any text, as an autonomous unit, that is, one that is internally coherent. Semiotic analysis begins with a study of the actual language and structures of the text, showing how meaning is constructed and, of course, at the same time what these meaning are. 3. Semiotic posits that story structure or narrative underlines all discourse, not just what is commonly known as a story. For instance, it underlines political, sociological, and legal discourse. 4. Semiotic posits the notion of level of meaning.

C. Theory of Sign