An Analysis on the Conceptual Metaphor of Gender on “Celebration and Battle” Murals of Chehel Sotoon Palace Based on the Views of Lakoff and Johnson

Gender is one of the most important concepts which is related to and getting meaning based on power. In each age, different discourses on gender define some propositions and rulings about femininity and masculinity and regulate social relations based on them. In the meantime, conceptual metaphors are one of the most important tools of discourse for this meaning-making. Conceptual metaphor, proposed by cognitive linguists Lakoff and Johnson, considers the structure of human perception and conceptual system as metaphorical. According to this theory, it is possible to conceptualize one area of experience in terms of another experience, and to understand something based on something else. Based on this, this study intends to study the conceptual metaphor of gender in the Safavid era and to address its consequences in art, society and social relations. This research has been carried out with a descriptive-analytical purpose and in a qualitative approach by studying library resources, and uses the conceptual metaphor theory as a theoretical framework for analyzing the murals of Chehel Sotoon Palace. The results of the research indicate that the concept of gender has taken on an earthy color and smell and got much closer to the real world due to the kingdom discourse changes in the period of Abbas, the Safavid Shah (king). In addition, modern gender dualism did not exist in the Safavid era, and femininity and masculinity were merely meant in relation to the power of the king; in the sense that both men and women can be the subjects and objectsof desire in this age, but everyone is an object in the face of the king.