A Comparative Examination of the Characterization of Women inHaft PeykarNizamiand HashtBeheshtAmiKhosrowDehlavi

One of the main fictional and rhetorical focal points of HaftPeykar and HastBihisht lies in their characterization of women. The quality of looking at women as well as the devices that the poet develops in order to illustrate their looks play important roles in the success of these works. The present study examines comparatively the characterization of women in HaftPeykar and HashtBihisht from aesthetic and fictional viewpoints. The results show that one can divide women in HaftPeykar to two groups: sober, inaccessible, and audacious ones who do not easily yield to men. These women belong to both the lower (slave-girl) and upper classes of the society. Other women in HaftPeykar are passive and Nizami mentions them for the sake of verbal embellishments and in order to prove his power of description, both of which can also be considered as his weak points. Conversely, women in HashtBihisht are lascivious and sensual and yield to unworthy, ignoble men. Regardless of the class they belong to, whether they are queens or slave-girls, women in HashtBihisht are infidels, and some of the anecdotes of the seven stories within HashtBihisht are devoted to the subjects of lasciviousness and infidelity. In HaftPeykar, women are safe even in the most deserted places and they find their beloved ones only through the framework of religion (as in the story of the White Dome); however, women in HashtBihisht are unfettered by any rules or conventions.