What Is the Meaning of 'the Prophet's Hair'
20060073
Kim Jae-hee
2013-05-13
Where the meaning lie
-In Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Prophet’s Hair’
With a start of a mock-fairy tales or Arabian Night narrator, the prophet’s hair varies its meaning through the story. The prophet’s hair, which comes out its meaning from the Islamic myth, loses its religious meaning and gets secular implication. It is important to note that where it is placed, its meaning is changed. Therefore it can be said that the one signifier has various signified and its meaning is arbitrary.
When Hashim found the phial in the lake and he decided to take it, the prophet’s hair lost its meaning. He denied its spiritual value and he said to” see it purely as a secular object of great rarity and blinding beauty” which means” it is the phial I desire, not the hair.” In this scene, his treat to religion and religious icon as earthly and dare to desire. Though he had to replace the prophet’s hair, he declared not to return it and gave it brand new meaning. He also knew that such behaviors were equal to” American millionaires, who bought stolen paintings and hid them away.” Not only the relic but all things- great cases full of impaled butterflies from Gulmarg, three dozen miniature cannons cast from the melted-down metal of the great gun Zamzama, innumerable swords, a Naga spear, ninety-four terracotta camels of the sort sold on railway-station platforms and an infinitude of tiny sandalwood dolls, which had originally been carved to serve as children’s bathtime toys- in his study were deprived of its sacred implication and put the material values.
Besides, Hashim’s room where his collections were kept is a similar function to the Mosque. Mosque is a place where all religiously precious materials are in and only the followers and tourists can see it under the strict security. Hashim treats them as same manner. In this manner, however, though he rejects its holy implication and re-implies the profane meaning, there still remains the sacred
Kim Jae-hee
2013-05-13
Where the meaning lie
-In Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Prophet’s Hair’
With a start of a mock-fairy tales or Arabian Night narrator, the prophet’s hair varies its meaning through the story. The prophet’s hair, which comes out its meaning from the Islamic myth, loses its religious meaning and gets secular implication. It is important to note that where it is placed, its meaning is changed. Therefore it can be said that the one signifier has various signified and its meaning is arbitrary.
When Hashim found the phial in the lake and he decided to take it, the prophet’s hair lost its meaning. He denied its spiritual value and he said to” see it purely as a secular object of great rarity and blinding beauty” which means” it is the phial I desire, not the hair.” In this scene, his treat to religion and religious icon as earthly and dare to desire. Though he had to replace the prophet’s hair, he declared not to return it and gave it brand new meaning. He also knew that such behaviors were equal to” American millionaires, who bought stolen paintings and hid them away.” Not only the relic but all things- great cases full of impaled butterflies from Gulmarg, three dozen miniature cannons cast from the melted-down metal of the great gun Zamzama, innumerable swords, a Naga spear, ninety-four terracotta camels of the sort sold on railway-station platforms and an infinitude of tiny sandalwood dolls, which had originally been carved to serve as children’s bathtime toys- in his study were deprived of its sacred implication and put the material values.
Besides, Hashim’s room where his collections were kept is a similar function to the Mosque. Mosque is a place where all religiously precious materials are in and only the followers and tourists can see it under the strict security. Hashim treats them as same manner. In this manner, however, though he rejects its holy implication and re-implies the profane meaning, there still remains the sacred