A Narratological Approach to Character and Primordial Archetypes in Stories of Shāhnāmeh

Narration is one of the most important elements in story, epic, and myth; and is considered the foundation of any statement. All linguistic references rely upon narration to convey their messages to the reader in the best way possible. One of the significant issues in narratology is the examination of character; therefore, in this article different approaches to character—the structuralist approach in particular-- will be elucidated. The next step is the examination of characters in epic and lyric stories of Shāhnāmi to propose a new paradigm based on their actions. The new paradigm will be used to explain for the structures that underlie the narratives. Three types of character can be found in narrative and war-centered epic stories: the helper, the helped, and the opponent. The archetypal paradigm of such characterization is derived from the myth of genesis. The one that is helped is Ūrmazd, the opponent is Ahrīman and the helper refers to creatures in general and human beings in particular. Narrative and lyric stories center around four characters: the lover, the beloved (the helped), the helper and the opponent and their archetypal paradigm is that of the myth of mentoring. The beloved stands for God, the lover for man, the helper for the prophet and the opponent for Satan.