Analysis of the structure in the tales of Sohrab, Siavash, and Forud according to Strauss’s theory

Levi Strauss, French anthropologist for recognizing the structure of myths breaks them into their basic components and attempts to discover their underlying causes by setting a new arrangement.  Applying Strauss’s theory to the tale of Sohrab, Siavash, and Forud, this article is an attempt to analyze the structure of the tales using descriptive analytic method.The three aforementioned heroes, are half cast warriors in Shahnameh whose love for their fathers’ land and doing service to their mothers’ land are their common characteristics.  The binary oppositions of self vs other (Persian/ non Persian) father vs son, Patriarchy /matriarchy are three main oppositions in the stories which play pivotal role in the emergence of the tragedy.  The results obtained show that the residence of the hero in his motherland in itself creates the opposition of self vs other and plays the most important factor in his destiny.  Also encounter and battle with the half cast hero is superior to the battle with the enemy and the seemingly accidental actions of the Iranians lead to the death of the hero in the tale of Sohrab and Forud.  This is due to the opposition between the patriarchal beliefs of Iranians against the matriarchal beliefs of other cultures.