Mohammad Bagher Mirza Khosravi's view of women in the novel “Shams and Toghra”

Constitutional Revolution in Iran brought extensive cultural and social changes. A new view on Woman as a human being and considering her different aspects of life in the works of poets and writers was one of the consequences of these changes. Mohammad-Bagher Mirza Khosravi, the writer of the first historical novel in Iran and a constitutionalist the western region, in his book "Shams and Toghra" dealt with the role of women. In her novel, while expressing some of the beliefs of the people of the Qajar era about women, she divided them into three groups: aristocrats, concubines, and common and desert women, and expressed the characteristics of each class of these women. Since Mohammad Baghir Mirza was influenced by the political and social events of the constitutional era, it is possible that his view of women and their human rights was a different and distinct view from the ordinary people of the society of that time. The findings of this descriptive-analytical study indicate that Khosravi had a special attitude towards the aristocracy and considered only women of this class worthy of education and companionship. It is noteworthy that various cultural and social developments after constitutionalism and association with intellectuals have not had the slightest effect on Khosravi's thought and change in his attitude towards women.