Comparative study of theme and structure inMoliere's play "The Miser" and Akhundzadeh's "The Tale of the Miserly Man".

Theater, as one of the literary types, has created a link between literature and performing arts. There have been two types of theater, comedy and tragedy. In the past, the type of tragedy was superior to the type of comedy. In the seventeenth century in France, with the appearance of Molière, comedy flourished and a revolution took place in the classical theater. In Iran, playwriting does not have much history. But its traditional and religious forms have always existed. In this article, we have done a comparative study of two comedy plays, Molière's The Miser and Akhundzadeh's The Tale of the Miserly Man. In the two studied works, miserliness is shown as one of the biggest moral pests that not only affects family relationships, but also involves social relationships. In this article, we have benefited from the theories of Michel Viegnes in the field of theater and his classification of types of humor and the theories of Ménandre, the ancient Greek playwright, in the field of classification of the characters of classical plays, and by examining and comparing the content, character, we have discussed the structure of two works to see how and in what cases Akhundzadeh imitated Molière and what was his purpose in writing this play. In fact, the era of comedy flourishing can be considered the post-Renaissance era and the 17th century. With the emergence of playwrights such as Molière, it became possible to pass from the rule of tragedy to the flourishing era of comedy, and the kings and princes of tragedy gave way to trivial characters of comedy. Molière had a significant influence on the playwrights of the world and also influenced the Iranian theater during the constitutional period. The plays of Mirza Fath Ali Akhundzadeh (1228-1295), an Iranian writer, thinker and critic, were among the first plays written following European plays. The title, structure, characters, and content of his play The Tale of the Miserly Man also convey his impression of Molière's The Miser.

Comparative literature arose in France in the nineteenth century. Researchers of French comparative literature or the "French school of comparative literature" emphasized the issue of "relationship" between literatures. According to Guyard, "the researcher of comparative literature should focus on the exchange of themes, opinions, books or feelings between two or more literatures." (Guyard, 1958:12) With Guyard and after him Pierre Brunel, comparative literature becomes more of a science than a type of literary criticism. In addition to the issue of historical investigation, Yves Chevrel also brings the issue of boutiques into this topic. In his opinion, "comparative literature should add comparative boutique studies to its studies." (Chevrel, 2016: 48) In the American school of comparative literature, which is led by René Wellek (1903-1995), the historical study is abandoned and the focus is placed on the works themselves: "Everything It should be examined from the perspective of a literary work." (Brunel & Chevrel, 1989: 189-190) As mentioned, Akhundzadeh was influenced by Molière and the similarity between these two works is not accidental. Therefore, in this article, our research will be comparative literature based on the French school and we will discuss the influence of thoughts and themes and the comparative style of two works. To examine the types of humor in these two plays, we will rely on the theories of Michel Viegnes, a French writer and researcher, and to examine the characters of the plays, we will rely on the theories of Ménandre, the ancient Greek playwright.

 3-1. Content review As one of the freedom-loving playwrights of the Qajar era, Akhundzadeh criticized the traditional customs of the society through theater. Moliere's theater can also be defined as a realistic reflection of the performance of the members of a society. In this section, we will discuss the socio-political content of the plays and the analysis of the characters.  3-1-1. Socio-political and anthropological satire Moliere's play The Miser and Akhundzadeh's play are both social comedies. Moliere's The Miser depicts the bourgeois society of Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. Harpagon is a typical example of the 17th century bourgeois, who later became a type of personality in such a way that today in France, a stingy person is called Harpagon. Akhundzadeh's story of the miserly man also portrays the society of Iran in the early 13th century. In their works, these two playwrights describe the characters with a realistic, anthropological and sociological perspective and thus study different human aspects. In the preface of Tartuffe, Molière clearly states that "comedy can be effective in reforming some customs and traditions." (Molière, 2016: 5) In fact, for both authors, the main purpose of art is to cultivate positive qualities in human beings. According to Akhundzadeh: "It should be known that what is meant by the art of "comedy" is moral refinement. It means knowing the ugly and beautiful of human nature by looking at the shape and resemblance" (Adamiyat, 1349: 63). 3-1-2. Personality psychology According to the theories of Ménandre, the ancient Greek dramatist, the characters of the classical drama belong to three categories of people: 1) young people who intend to get married but face obstacles; 2) A slave and servant who is very clever and cunning and removes obstacles to marriage; and 3) secondary funny characters that provide joy and happiness in the theater scene. (Blanchard, 2000: 22-24) The main characters of both plays under our study are miserly and domineering old men, young people in love and simple-hearted, clever and cunning servants, and wise women. The choice of such characters actually shows the classicity of these two plays. Boileau emphasizes that "in Molière's plays, humor is created due to the mocking aspect that is rooted in the psychology of the character" (Conesa, 1995: 146). 3-2. Structural investigation Akhundzadeh, like Molière, is not only concerned with showing some social and moral problems, but also emphasizes the artistic aspect of writing. In his plays, although he maintained the "unity of action", Molière questioned the "unity of place" and "unity of time". In other words, he followed the principle of classical theater according to which the plot should revolve around a single event. But refuse to limit this event to one day and one place. Akhundzadeh also wrote his play The Tale of the Miserly Man in a classical style and in five chambers (curtains) and did not limit it to a fixed place and time of one day. 3-2-1. Language and style The language of Akhundzadeh's play, like Molière, is close to reality and effective. The story of the play and the dialogues of the actors are told with sweet and attractive expressions. In that period, the written language and the spoken language were significantly different. In this play, Akhundzadeh tried to distance himself from the common prose of his era and use spoken language for the characters. Regarding the similarities of the language of the two plays in question, it can be pointed out that the language used is vernacular. In this play, Molière's language is a natural and spontaneous language that shows the reality of the present and is performed quickly and impromptu by the actors. Another characteristic of Molière's language is his writing rhythm, to the point where we sometimes see a special rhythm in consecutive sentences and answers (Attaque des répliques). 3-2-2. A combination of humor Writers and theoreticians have always tried to classify its types since the emergence of comic theater. In this research, we try to explain the types of humor from Michel Viegnes’s point of view. Viegnes divides humor into three types: personality humor, verbal humor, and situational humor. (Viegnes, 1992: 88) Molière and Akhundzadeh have used all three types of humor in their plays.One of the theater techniques mentioned by Michel Viegnes is the monologue ou soliloque technique. With soliloque, in fact, the character "thinks out loud" (Viegnes, 1992: 60) and this issue provides reasons for laughter. Like Molière, Akhundzadeh used monologue to show the humor of a characterThe scope of comic language or verbal humor is very wide. And "Includes exaggeration and exaggeration, changes in the construction and shape of the language, playing with words." (Viegnes, 1992: 9) According to Michel Viegnes: "In all languages, people have laughed at people whose way of speaking is out of the norm." (Ibid.)According to Michel Viegnes, "situation comics go beyond speech and include all kinds of kicking, spinning jumps, spinning on heels, and...." (Viegnes, 1992: 98).

These two playwrights, in fact, study different human types and their disadvantages from a sociological and anthropological point of view, and depict the complexity of the human spirit in order to force the society of their age to think about their weaknesses through a humorous language.The style of both authors is classic, but it has undergone many changes and innovations. In fact, they present a mixture of comedy and tragedy to the audience.In this research, we come to the conclusion that with the help of comparative study, we can identify the roots of the currents of thought that influence the literature of the interior. With the help of comparative study, from an aesthetic, content and even theoretical point of view, literature can be studied not individually, but in its relationship with foreign literature. The comparison of the studied works is to test their similarities and convergences in order to consider literary phenomena in their transnational reality. Akhundzadeh's acceptance of this foreign genre, drama, and its rules, is important. In fact, with the help of this comparative study, we examined the entry and acceptance of a style, a theory, a theme in the literature of the country. Akhundzadeh's play is actually a kind of rewriting and literary representation in a transnational perspective. The purpose of literature is not only to connect with its reader and accept the work by him, but it is the influence of languages and thoughts on each other and the influence and influence, and as a result, progress and innovation in literature.