Comparison of Sudabeh in the Story of Siavash (Shahnameh by Ferdowsi) with Zuleikha in the Story of Joseph (Holy Quran)

There is a general similarity between the stories of prophets in holy Quran and Iranian myths. For whatever reason these similarities exist and although there are also discrepancies these stories attract the attention of any reader. Two stories which are worth comparison in this regard are stories of Joseph and Siavash. Similarity of these two stories not only lies in the adventures، actions، dialogues and monologues of each character but also in the fact that there is also a verse version of Joseph and Zuleikha attributed to Ferdowsi. A full comparison of these works will take more than one single article and thus this article focuses on the analysis of only two main characters of Sudabeh and Zuleikha since one of the factors making these stories worth comparison is the behavior of the female characters. The interesting point in this regard is that in spite of considerable similarities between them there are also subtle differences.