CLOTHES SHAPE A CHARACTER: A SOCIOSEMIOTIC STUDY OF ILLUSTRATION CODES IN A GREEK FAIRY TALE
CLOTHES SHAPE A CHARACTER: A SOCIOSEMIOTIC STUDY OF ILLUSTRATION CODES IN A GREEK FAIRY TALE

Summary/Abstract: This research is a case study of ‘I Kardia tis Vassilopoulas’ [The Princess’s Heart], a fairy tale in the collection Paramythia kai Alla [Fairy Tales and Other Stories] written by Greek author Penelope Delta. The aim of our research is to compare the different illustrations in the fairy tale’s oldest version (published in 1915) with those included in the more recent edition (published in 1998). In particular, we study: (a) the role the characters play and their relationship with the dress code in the two different temporal versions of the same fairy tale, (b) the anchorage between text and image, and (c) the changes made to the illustration of the fairy tale, based on the year of issue and the socio-historical context. Researchers believe that: (a) the socio-historical context affects the presentation of a character’s dress code, as (b) clothing is a semantic code for human societies, indicating social distinctions, professions, beliefs, people’s ideals, age, sex, economic status, cultural level, traditions, nationality and many other characteristics. Our research is based on a mixed semiotic model (Barthes, 1985; Greimas, 1966; Lagopoulos and Lagopoulou, 1992) of socio-semiotic theory and text and image analysis. This is a qualitative research study, with emphasis on the characters’ dress code and its correlation with the features of their role (e.g. king’s dress, servant’s dress, princess’s dress). The novelty of this research lies in the fact that dress code has not been studied in Greek fairy tale illustrations.

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