The semiotics of deception: fox symbolism in medieval French literature and its cultural signification

Abstract This paper examines the semiotic construction of the fox as a symbol of deception in medieval French literature, focusing on theological allegory, color stigmatization, and socio-political marginalization. Through analysis of key texts such as the Physiologus and Le Roman de Renart , the study reveals how the fox’s red fur came to function as a polysemous signifier of anxieties surrounding heresy, female sexuality, and social disorder. Drawing on Yuri Lotman’s cultural semiotics and Mary Douglas’s purity theory, the research reveals animal symbolism’s dual role as a tool for religious orthodoxy and medium for subverting authority. The findings underscore the persistence of chromatic stigmatization in shaping Western narratives of otherness, while highlighting the fox’s ambiguous position between demonization and carnivalesque rebellion.