Narrative Structure

Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes developed the concept that every narrative is interwoven with five codes that keep readers interested in a story. The first two codes involve ways of creating suspense in narrative: the first by unanswered questions, the second by anticipation of an action's resolution. These two codes are closely connected to the narrative's temporal order.

The Hermeneutic Code

The hermeneutic code refers to plot elements of a story that are not explained. They exist as enigmas the reader wants resolved. A detective story, for example, operates primarily through the hermeneutic code. A crime is exposed or postulated, and the rest of the narrative answers questions raised by the initial event.

The Proairetic Code

The proairetic code refers to plot events that imply further narrative action. For example, a story character confronts an adversary, and the reader wonders how this action will resolve. Suspense is created by action rather than by a reader's wish to have mysteries explained. The final three codes are related to how the reader comprehends and interprets the narrative discourse.

The Semantic Code

A seme is a unit of meaning or a sign that expresses cultural stereotypes. These signs allow the author to describe characters, settings and events. The semantic code focuses on information the narration provides to suggest abstract concepts. Any element in a narrative can suggest a particular, often additional, meaning through connotation, based on a correlation found in the narrative. The semic code allows the text to 'show' instead of 'tell' by describing material things.

The Symbolic Code

The symbolic code refers to a structure that organizes meanings through antitheses, binary oppositions, or sexual and psychological conflicts. Action, character and setting can express these oppositions.

The Cultural Code

Cultural code refers to any element in a narrative that draws on common bodies of knowledge, such as historical, mythological, or scientific knowledge. The codes point to knowledge about how the world works, as shared by a community or culture.

Together, these five codes function like a 'weaving of voices'. Barthes assigns the hermeneutic code the Voice of Truth; the Proairetic Code the Voice of Empirics; the Semantic Code the Voice of the Person; the Cultural Code the Voice of Science; and the Symbolic Code the Voice of Symbol. According to Barthes, they allow the reader to see a work not just as a single narrative line but as a braiding of meanings that give a story its complexity and richness.