Representation of Rulers' Image and Power Struggle in Safavid Fictional texts; the Case of Political Letters & Documents in Alam Ara ye shah Isma'il

The texts are written for particular purposes and consciously spread their discourse, power, and mastery among audiences, competitors, and opponents. The same is true for fictional texts. AlamAra shah Isma'il is a special epic narrative of how he comes to power, his progress, and the continuous and fast process of his changing into a symbol of power and courage. One of the tools creating such a narrative is the letters in this book whose careful examination declares the author’s specific purposes and his point of view. In this study, inspired by Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis model (in three levels of description, interpretation, and explanation) and according to Persian rhetoric, a model with a native approach has been designed, the text is described at a linguistic and rhetorical level and by its comparing with other sources of the period, their purposeful impacts has been investigated and then the author’s purposes and discursive conflict has been explained. In these letters, the process of gaining power and conflicts between the Safavids and the internal claimants of the monarchy, Timurids, Uzbeks, Mughal Empire, and Ottomans are represented. This examination demonstrates the negative correlation between magnification and exaggeration in the merits of rule in Shah Isma'il and in contrast, the lack of these characteristicsin his opponents. The increasing power of shah Isma'il, after the defeat of Chaldiran, stops and the text further tells the story of his competitors’ weakness. The correspondence of the Shah Ismail to induce the Safavid discourse, after this incident, has significantly declined