Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature, Arts and Humanities

Semantic Square Analysis in the Transition from Literary Text to Film Case Study: The Pear Tree by Goli Taraghi and its Film Adaptation by Dariush Me

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zahra Hayati 1
Hamed Rashad 2

1 Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author)

2 PhD student in Persian Language and Literature and faculty member at the Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22077/islah.2025.9868.1703
Abstract
The short story "The Pear Tree" by Goli Taraghi (1996) and its film adaptation directed by Dariush Mehrjui (1997) have been examined through various interdisciplinary approaches. Most analyses emphasize the presence of semantic oppositions, particularly the binary of fertility/infertility. The core argument of the present research is that the short and its film adaptations cannot be interpreted solely by drawing on conceptual binaries, as the complex and dynamic structures of meaning emerge through narrative movement between opposing and contradictory categories. Therefore, this descriptive analytical study adopts the analytical model of the Semantic Square developed by Algirdas Julien Greimas within a structuralist semantics, which demonstrates how discourse generates meaning through dynamic oppositions. The findings show that both the literary and cinematic discourses demonstrate the struggle of a symbolic character (the tree) to escape a state of suspension. At first glance, this seems to be a conflict between concepts of fertility and infertility, but a deeper semantic analysis reveals a movement among the four concepts of fertility, sterility, non-fertility, and non-sterility. In Taraghi’s story, meaning is shaped through literary and linguistic techniques, while in Mehrjui’s film, it is conveyed through cinematic codes and signs.

Keywords

The Pear Tree
Goli Taraghi
Dariush Mehrjui
Semantic Square
Algirdas Greimas
Subjects
Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature, Arts and Humanities

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 November 2025

  • Receive Date 12 August 2025
  • Revise Date 16 September 2025
  • Accept Date 08 November 2025

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