Analysis of King Salem’s Persuasion in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: A Pragmatic-Semiotic Study

Fictional Persuasion studies have always focused on dialogue without taking into account the material objects. This paper tries to fill the gap by analyzing the interaction of Santiago and Melchizedek in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This paper adopts Pragma-Semiotic theory and demonstrates that Fictional persuasion is based on “Semiotic Anchoring,” that is, Illocutionary acts must be supplemented with the physical object for attaining psychological gravity. Analysis shows that persuading effect of Melchizedek depends on manipulating with three physical objects. First of all, there is sand as the indexical sign for creating ethos. Secondly, the sheep is a sacrifice symbol which is crucial for the creation of commitment. Thirdly, stones are legisigns which transfer the agency. The conclusion is that narrative verbal promises are fragile and cannot persuade without the physical object.