Analysis of Jamshid's Dual Personality in Mythological Narratives through Structural Approach of Criticism

To discover hidden implications of myths, Claude Lévi-Strauss- the well-known theorist of structuralism - has divided myths in to their smallest forming units, mythemes and has tried to explore their hidden meanings determining the position of mythemes and their dual contrast in different narrations. Using the structural approach of Lévi-Strauss, the Jamshid's dual personality has been analyzed in present study. His different dimensions of personality are the result of three confrontations between good and evil, death and immortality, and the importance and insignificance of family ties. The deep-structure of Jamshid mythology is also based on the twins' birth pattern, in a way that the first child has a good face and the second one is ugly because of the risk he makes for his mother's life. Jamshid plays the good role as long as his twin is present in the myth, but when the role of his twin fades away Jamshid himself represents both roles of good and evil character of the twins.