SIGN IN HAMLET

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This study deals with the deconstruction of the linguistic sign and the determination of its meaning formed in the given semantic structure. Starting from the assumptions of Derrida that the play of the sign structure (the relation between the elements of the linguistic sign: signifier (signifiant) – signified (signifie) – sign (signe)) is unstoppable due to infinite structuring possibilities of a semantic system, we will show that the meaning itself becomes disemic, or irreducible because of the assumption that a signifier can bound more than one signified. The text observes how the Ghost sign in Shakespeare’s Hamlet becomes such a structure. Also, it is noted that not only does the semantic potency of this sign’s meaning grows proportionally to the flow of the signified against the given signifier, but that each formed (semantic) structure makes symbolic notions in reality. In this manner, the symbolic basis which constitutes a specific meaning is able to form a new signifier reality, assigning reality “roles” to others. In accordance with this, the text shows how signs in Hamlet make symbolic systems in reality, (continually) forming semantic structures through which others (characters in the play) must move.

POSITION OF THE ARTIST IN POST-SOCIALISM

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The main objective of this study is to review the position of post-socialist artists in the current (global) system of art, as well as opportunities for their universal action in the local context. The paper deals with a need to analyze the impact of various contemporary and media art procedures and techniques in relation to the dominant postmodern expression of post-socialist artists, and seeks answers to the question why their work was generally characterized by art theorists as a simulation, unhistorical and traumatic? The reason for this research is the recent Unicredit award at the 54th Biennial of Contemporary Art in Venice, for this year’s representative of Serbia, Dragoljub Raša Todosijević, who was by accident or on purpose, taken here as a paradigm of postsocialist artists.

HEDDA GABLER: THE PIANO AS A DRAMATICAL TOOL

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In Hedda Gabler, as in A Doll House, Ibsen uses the piano not merely as part of the set decoration. The protagonist, Hedda, is strongly attached to it, and the piano music plays an important part in the structure of the play. Throughout the drama, Ibsen is constantly reminding the reader of the piano’s presence or absence. Although the piano, and its music, have very important function in the construction of narratives, peripeteia and in the composition of some other Ibsen’s dramas, in this particular drama, this instrument becomes the very emblem of the protagonist and the metaphor for her languishing misplacement. The culturally ingrained metaphoric of the piano is a means by which Ibsen, among other things, emphasizes relations between the different social classes of his characters. The piano is a symbol of, and a part in Hedda’s attempt at perpetuation of her Gabler identity. The piano can be seen as Hedda’s metaphoric twin-figure since a strong identifying bond is established between the protagonist and her piano; secondly, the metaphoric of the music Hedda plays on her piano can be taken as the dramatist’s auditory comment on the protagonist’s emotional state; lastly, the piano melody Hedda plays in the last scene can be interpreted as a particular “swan-song”, pointing to a possible interpretation of Hedda as an essentially poetic character. The focus of this work is, thus, on the auditory layer of the drama, and on the many metaphors offered by the inclusion of the piano as an element of the dramatic theatrical set. From this perspective, the analysis of the Ibsen’s text emphasizes an important function of the auditory elements included in a dramatic work, also indicating new interdisciplinary possibilities in literary and musicological analyses.