Visual Texts and Communication

Running head: VISUAL TEXTS AND COMMUNICATION
1
Visual Texts and Communication
Name
Academic Institution
Author Note
Class
Professor
Date

VISUAL TEXTS AND COMMUNICATION
2
Visual Texts and Communication
Q1: Demonstrate your grasp of Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotic classifications by using
the concepts of symbol, index and icon to discuss the ideas and messages that could be
associated with the scene.
Symbol
The signifier and the signified shown here are symbolic. The Statue of Justice which is
carrying a scale of justice in the left hand and a sword in the right hand. The signifiers, in this
case, are the sword and the scales of justice. The signified meaning in the image is that justice is
achieved using the sword. It is completed by an interpretant (in this case Wonder Woman) and
fulfills the triadic structure of sign interpretation posited by Peirce (Wheeler, 2014). The goal
(justice) determines the action (using Wonder Woman) while the sword is the means to achieve
justice (Liszka, 1996). The triadic structure is completed in the sword, scale of justice, and
Wonder Woman.
Icon
The Statue of Justice in this image is the icon since it is associated with liberty.
According to Peirce, an icon is associated with resemblance (Glazer, 2017). The Statue of Justice
is a physical resemblance of liberty which comes and achieved through equality in society. It is a
rhematic iconic qualisign since it predominates the character of freedom. A just society that is
founded on the ideals of equality for all where the legal system functions well, the statue is a
symbol of “liberty through justice and truth” (Nelson, 1986). All the other signs such as Wonder
Woman, the sword, and the scale of justice are directly or indirectly involved with it. Without the
icon, the sword and scales lose their symbolic significance in the image.
Index