Volume 15, Issue 59 (2022)
LCQ 2022, 15(59): 41-74 |
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heidari M, aghababaii khuzani Z. Deconstructing the Story of Iskandar and Faghestan Based on Otherness of Gender Identity. LCQ 2022; 15 (59) :41-74
URL: http://lcq.modares.ac.ir/article-29-64860-en.html
URL: http://lcq.modares.ac.ir/article-29-64860-en.html
1- assistant professor
2- assistant professor , zahrababaii@pnu.ac.ir
2- assistant professor , zahrababaii@pnu.ac.ir
Abstract: (1249 Views)
Abstract
Regardless of the obvious message that is displayed on the cover of any text, sometimes there is another discourse in the context of the content that challenges the intention of the creators of the text in supporting the cover. In the light of reinterpreting and deconstructing the works, the dark labyrinths become clear and new concepts are presented. Ferdowsi and Sa’âlabi's two narratives of the story "Aleksander and the Daughter of the King of India", with a significant difference in the ending, is a familiar story of the marriage bond of the defeated beautiful girl with the conquering king. In examining the secondary discourse, the mechanisms of exercising power over the body are highlighted. Contrary to popular belief, these mechanisms are not only torture, rather, aesthetics is also considered a kind of care network that does not end when a woman enters the "other's" field (father's house) into her own field (wife's house). On the contrary, when a woman wins in the body test prepared by the institution of power, she is considered as a threat to the totalitarianism of the ruling system by deviating from the norms of socialization. In this study, in an analytical-descriptive way and with a sociological point of view, the elements in the mentioned story have been reconstructed and by using the opinions of the thinkers in this field, especially Michel Foucault, the mutual relations between the three elements of "beauty", knowledge", and "power" have been discussed.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In epics, girls have a limited number of choices. They have to wait for the fate that will be decided for them by the outcome of the war or current events. They are offered as a prize to the winner to encourage soldiers to fight through sexual incentives. In the story of "Iskander and Faghestan" in Shahnameh, we have the same conventional pattern. But Thaalibi's narration also has a second part, in which the girl who was given to Iskandar as an atonement, after passing the fitness test, was rejected by entering the field of "self" to remain in the pole of "other" and gender. The essentialism and the self-sufficient ego of the power institution must continue its pure life regardless of the interference of others.
Theoretical Framework
In his series of sociological discussions, which is influenced by the structuralism and psychoanalytical attitudes of thinkers like Lacan, especially in the book "Care and Punishment", Foucault refers to the prison as "the dense form of all disciplines”. He did not apply his views on literary works, and Lacan also examined only pictures and paintings in the discussion of "gaze", which are also used in cinema, there is a possibility of extending these views to literary texts. In this paper, it is attempted to explain the manifestations of dominance and care in a literary narrative from a sociological point of view, citing the above points of view.
Methodology
First, by doubting the obvious message of the text (the importance of aesthetics) and its other reading and white reading, the images were extracted and then described in an analytical-descriptive way. Although the main foundation of the research is Foucault's point of view, the fragments that were taken from his theory have been used to enrich the research.
Discussion and Analysis
Based on the findings, the relationship between the three areas of power, knowledge, and beauty in the story of Iskandar and Faghestan can be seen from four directions: knowledge in the service of power, gaze, from hiddenness to the position of the arena, rejection of other wisdom. The role of knowledge in the service of power is highlighted as well. The first time is when Kaid sees a series of dreams that only Mehran is able to interpret them. Again, the nine wise men of Rome use their knowledge to verify Kidd's claim. Faghestan is presented to the Roman envoys in a completely decorated form. According to his father, he was "in hiding" until the arrival of the Roman envoys. unlike the tests of knowledge and ability in epics, the Faghestan test is only a physical and wisdom has no effect on the result of this test.
Conclusion
Although the plot of the story highlights beauty and aesthetics, the secondary discourse affects the mechanisms of exercising power on the body. These mechanisms are applied to Faghestan's body as "other" in several ways. In first place, Kaid keeps her locked in a private space like a valuable commodity. Knowledge and power give the "other" body to the more powerful entity. Faghestan which has fully accepted its gender socialization, has no choice but to observe court customs and rituals. Finally, due to the disturbance it creates in the totalitarianism of the power institution, it is sent back; Because politics is alien to the logic of dialogue.
Regardless of the obvious message that is displayed on the cover of any text, sometimes there is another discourse in the context of the content that challenges the intention of the creators of the text in supporting the cover. In the light of reinterpreting and deconstructing the works, the dark labyrinths become clear and new concepts are presented. Ferdowsi and Sa’âlabi's two narratives of the story "Aleksander and the Daughter of the King of India", with a significant difference in the ending, is a familiar story of the marriage bond of the defeated beautiful girl with the conquering king. In examining the secondary discourse, the mechanisms of exercising power over the body are highlighted. Contrary to popular belief, these mechanisms are not only torture, rather, aesthetics is also considered a kind of care network that does not end when a woman enters the "other's" field (father's house) into her own field (wife's house). On the contrary, when a woman wins in the body test prepared by the institution of power, she is considered as a threat to the totalitarianism of the ruling system by deviating from the norms of socialization. In this study, in an analytical-descriptive way and with a sociological point of view, the elements in the mentioned story have been reconstructed and by using the opinions of the thinkers in this field, especially Michel Foucault, the mutual relations between the three elements of "beauty", knowledge", and "power" have been discussed.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In epics, girls have a limited number of choices. They have to wait for the fate that will be decided for them by the outcome of the war or current events. They are offered as a prize to the winner to encourage soldiers to fight through sexual incentives. In the story of "Iskander and Faghestan" in Shahnameh, we have the same conventional pattern. But Thaalibi's narration also has a second part, in which the girl who was given to Iskandar as an atonement, after passing the fitness test, was rejected by entering the field of "self" to remain in the pole of "other" and gender. The essentialism and the self-sufficient ego of the power institution must continue its pure life regardless of the interference of others.
Theoretical Framework
In his series of sociological discussions, which is influenced by the structuralism and psychoanalytical attitudes of thinkers like Lacan, especially in the book "Care and Punishment", Foucault refers to the prison as "the dense form of all disciplines”. He did not apply his views on literary works, and Lacan also examined only pictures and paintings in the discussion of "gaze", which are also used in cinema, there is a possibility of extending these views to literary texts. In this paper, it is attempted to explain the manifestations of dominance and care in a literary narrative from a sociological point of view, citing the above points of view.
Methodology
First, by doubting the obvious message of the text (the importance of aesthetics) and its other reading and white reading, the images were extracted and then described in an analytical-descriptive way. Although the main foundation of the research is Foucault's point of view, the fragments that were taken from his theory have been used to enrich the research.
Discussion and Analysis
Based on the findings, the relationship between the three areas of power, knowledge, and beauty in the story of Iskandar and Faghestan can be seen from four directions: knowledge in the service of power, gaze, from hiddenness to the position of the arena, rejection of other wisdom. The role of knowledge in the service of power is highlighted as well. The first time is when Kaid sees a series of dreams that only Mehran is able to interpret them. Again, the nine wise men of Rome use their knowledge to verify Kidd's claim. Faghestan is presented to the Roman envoys in a completely decorated form. According to his father, he was "in hiding" until the arrival of the Roman envoys. unlike the tests of knowledge and ability in epics, the Faghestan test is only a physical and wisdom has no effect on the result of this test.
Conclusion
Although the plot of the story highlights beauty and aesthetics, the secondary discourse affects the mechanisms of exercising power on the body. These mechanisms are applied to Faghestan's body as "other" in several ways. In first place, Kaid keeps her locked in a private space like a valuable commodity. Knowledge and power give the "other" body to the more powerful entity. Faghestan which has fully accepted its gender socialization, has no choice but to observe court customs and rituals. Finally, due to the disturbance it creates in the totalitarianism of the power institution, it is sent back; Because politics is alien to the logic of dialogue.
Article Type: Original Research |
Subject:
Sociological critique
Received: 2022/10/17 | Accepted: 2022/09/1 | Published: 2022/09/1
Received: 2022/10/17 | Accepted: 2022/09/1 | Published: 2022/09/1
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