Theft: Signifiers and Signified

Background on Saussure:

Signifier
The signifier is the pointing finger, the word, the sound-image.
A word is simply a jumble of letters. The pointing finger is not the star. It is in the interpretation of the signifier that meaning is created.

Signified
The signified is the concept, the meaning, the thing indicated by the signifier. It need not be a 'real object' but is some referent to which the signifier refers.
The thing signified is created in the perceiver and is internal to them. Whilst we share concepts, we do so via signifiers.
Whilst the signifier is more stable, the signified varies between people and contexts.
The signified does stabilize with habit, as the signifier cues thoughts and images.

The signifier in Theft is the purse. What it signifies is emptiness, age, and capitalism. In the final scene of Theft we see the main female fighting for ownership of the purse with the cleaning woman. In this scene, the cleaning woman realizes that the purse contains nothing--it has no intrinsic value. In turn, she tells the protagonist that the niece whom she was stealing the purse doesn't need it--she's beautiful and has her whole life ahead of her. After this scene, the protagonist also no longer wants the purse and sees the meaninglessness of the purse.