Literary Semiology of Pharaoh's Personality in the Holy Quran

Literary semiology of personality is a branch of linguistic semiology by means of which deeper and more accurate knowledge about personality's implications can be obtained. The Holy Quran as the most prominent literary text is full of linguistic signs, one of which is the many characters that are directly referred to. Pharaoh is one of the most repetitive figures in the Quran. Thus, a semiological study of this character can lead to understanding the nature, the concepts, and the implications behind his personality. The present study, based on the French semiologist Philip Hamon’s personality semiology, analyzed Pharaoh’s personality in the Quran with respect to signifiers (name, syntactic position, pronouns and rhetorical dimension) and signifieds (adjectives, verbal action and behavioral action). The results proved that the name, the titles, and the description of Pharaoh's personality are in line with his fictional function. Because of the link it established between semiology and hermeneutics thus providing a deeper understanding of Pharaoh’s personality, this study can help in realizing the nuances of the Quranic words usage.