Deciphering Signification in Kabwe Kasoma’s Black Mamba II: A Semiotic Reading of Props and Language

Abstract

This paper is concerned with a semiotic reading of the play Black Mamba II, a historical play dealing with Zambia’s fight for independence. It springs from the position that, apart from the traditional forms of critical approaches, the semiotic approach also serves well as a tool of textual analysis. Semiotics is concerned with the interpretation of the signs of the text. The signs can be verbal or non-verbal and signify meaning to the audience. The signs in the play include words in the dialogues and stage directions, objects such as props, furniture, costume and characters. This paper, however, focuses on linguistic signs as well as props. It is concerned with how cultural variables affect the projection and interpretation of the meaning of the signs in Black Mamba II. Ultimately this paper seeks to demonstrate that semiotic reading of the text can help enrich the reader’s understanding of the meaning.