The Semiotic study of the Icons of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee

Edward Albee, the founder of American modern drama, writes like a social critic who challenges the conditions of American society through his works. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as his most famous work is a good image of the modern world and its changes which are affecting man’s life directly. The realization of such shifts sketched in this theatre can be achieved by their semiologicl analysis. Semiotics is the scientific study of language which insists on the consideration that this tool of human communication is made up of different signs. On the other hand, semioticians believe that man transfers his intentions through different signs. Exploring the underlying rules of creation and interpretation of these signs is the other criteria of semiotics to show the process of transferring meaning in the society. Semiotics classifies signs into different categories to be recognized. The icons, considered to be the basic kind of signs, are identified and analyzed in this drama that show the author’s strategy of pictorializing the devastating family and as a consequence, the dark future of the society.

Keywords:

Semiotics , Peirce , Icon , Index , Symbol