The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

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Symbols of the Old Testament, Especially in Joseph’s Tales. Visual culture is affecting everything because through eyesight we obtain the majority of the information about the world. Images and narratives in cultures are closely connected. Mankind thinks in images first and only later in words. The ancient philosophers were concerned with the role of the images, from Plato and Aristotle throughout Hobbes and Locke to Wittgenstein, Gadamer and Foucault. The above mentioned philosophers (Plato and Aristotle) were the first philosophers who recognized the figurative aspect of language. Also recognized that the visual medium is less abstract, but the power to evoke feelings is much stronger. Pictures, images are for the people who cannot read what the letters are for the readers. The didactical and mediatory function of the images is emphasized. While the language is a system of symbols and communication through symbols/images meet the demands of mankind everything was bequeathed by means of figurative language. Northrop Frye distinguishes three stages in the development of the language: the first stage is the poetical one, which is characterized by the presence of images, symbols and metaphors. Although various devices of the figurative speech are present in Scripture, it is emphasized that the Bible is not a poetical structure. The message of the Scripture drawing up in symbols, the symbols shown in dreams is the most interesting part in the interpretation of the Bible. The best example of this figurative speech we can find in Joseph’s dreams and his interpretation of the dreams of his environment and also the symbols of different stages of his lifetime.

Keywords: figurative speech, symbols of the Bible, poetical stage of language, dreams, stages of life, interpretation.