Narrative Theory Research - Barthes' Enigma Code

Barthes' Enigma Code

 

Roland Barthes was a linguist who described 5 codes that are embedded into any narrative. These five codes all make up the Enigma Code:

 

-Proairetic code (the voice of empirics): The code of actions. Any action initiated must be completed. The cumulative actions constitute the plot events of the text.

-Hermeneutic code (the voice of truth): The code of enigmas or puzzles.

-Connotative (or Semantic code the voice of the person): The accumulation of connotations. Semes, sequential thoughts, traits and actions constitute character. “The proper noun surrounded by connotations.”

-Cultural or referential code (the voice of science [or knowledge):  Though all codes are cultural we reserve this designation for the storehouse of knowledge we use in interpreting everyday experience.

-Symbolic code (voice of the symbol): Binary oppositions or themes. The inscription into the text of the antithesis central to the organization of the cultural code.

In films the Enigma Code is presented as a narrative structure in sequence:

Thematisation- What in the narrative is enigma?
Positioning- Additional confirmations of the enigma.
Formulation of the enigma.
Promise of an answer to the/of the enigma.
Fraud- Circumvention of the true answer.
Blocking- The Enigma cannot be solved.
Suspended Answer- Stopping the answer after having begun.
Partial Answer- Some facets of the truth are revealed.
Disclosure of the Truth- Truth revealed.