"Semiotics of dramatic characters name in the plays Death of a Salesman"

This article, in an onomastic framework, is based in the semiotics of characters’ names, and tries to study the names of the dramatic characters’ names according to the different references introduced by C. S. Pierce such as iconic, indexical and symbolic references.Since the knowledge of onomastics is one of the analytical means with respect to knowing the literary- dramatic characters in the modern theories, and has been neglected in the domain of dramatic studies in Iran, this article aims to introduce this knowledge, as well as providing an onomastic analysis of a dramatic text. It should be noted that Pierce’s framework has been chosen due to the fact that it provides us with a picture-based framework of semiotic studies, and therefore paves the way for the semiotic studies in the field of arts, especially cinema and theater. That is why this framework had been placed in priority rather than that of Ferdinand de Saussure’s, which is mainly based on language. The results of this study reveal that there is a direct and functional relationship between the names of the characters of the play, with the theme and the actions of the dramatic text. According to the same achievement, the article has done an onomastic study of the names of the characters in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The study proves that Miller in his choice of names of his characters, has paid a purposeful attention to the referential aspects of the names. As noted earlier, the base on this article is held on Pierce's semiotics. Pierce has classified the signs into three groups, of which the third group is the best-known. In this classification, the signs are either iconic, indexical or symbolic. The iconic sign. Is the same as photo, in which there is a similarity between the form and the concept. The indexical sign is like the smoke, which is a sign of fire, in which the form points to the concept or is related to it. The symbolic sign, like pigeon as a symbol of peace, is the one in which the relationship between the form and the concept is conventional and formal, and there is no similarity between the form and the concept. Some of such signs may be found in the play Death of a Salesman, which have been thoroughly studied in the body of the article. Biff, Willy Loman's oldest child, according to English-Persian Dictionary means hitting. His behavior in some parts of the play such his quarrel with the others, as well as his favorite sport (footbal) approve his name, which is in direct relation with his deeds in the play. As a result, his name may be analysed within the framework of iconic signs. The major sources used for this research are Grammar of Names, and Oxford Dictionary of First Names and Oxford Dictionary of Surnames. Since this is the first research of its kind in Iran, we hope that it paves the way for other similar works, with emphasis on the Iranian plays too