تحلیل سازوکارهای روایت «بهرام گور در گنبد سیاه» از هفت پیکر نظامی، بر پایة آرای گریماس

The study and analysis of literary works based on global theories not only help in better understanding narrative structures but also contribute to a deeper comprehension of the text. One of the leading structuralist theorists in the field of narration is Algirdas Julien Greimas. His theories, due to their unique divisions and flexibility, have gained wide acceptance among researchers. This essay adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to evaluate and analyze the structure of the main plot of the narrative Bahrām Gūr in the Black Pavilion from Nezami’s Haft-Peykar, based on Greimas' key concepts (binary oppositions, narrative chains, and the actor model). It also examines the protagonists and how the structures forming the events are created. According to the findings, the story begins with an initial balanced state (the king's happiness in the palace), shifts to an unbalanced state due to the king's curiosity about the people in black clothing, and concludes with a final balanced state after the king uncovers the mystery. The main actors in Greimas' action model are identified as follows: Sender: the king’s curiosity, Receiver: the king, Subject: the king, Object: the discovery of the mystery, Helper: the butcher and the strong rooster, Opponent: the enchanted townspeople.
Extended abstract
1. Introduction
In the contemporary era, the analysis of narratives based on new theories has enriched literature even more. Among the new theories on the understanding of literary works are the theories related to narratology and structuralism. These two sciences are among the sciences that answer the fundamental questions of humanity regarding the philosophy of literature. Structuralists have also drawn people's attention to the general rules of narratives and the analysis of meta-narrative (Payandeh, 2018: 236-234). Algirdas Julien Greimas, one of the greatest structuralist theorists of narratology, proposed new developments in the structural studies of narrative. He believes that in order to understand a narrative, one must understand the meanings of the developments and grammatical rules of the narrative; just as in order to understand a sentence, one must understand the grammatical and syntactic rules and the meanings of words (Green and Lebihan, 2004: 110). In the following essay, which was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, the main idea is to examine and analyze the structure of the narrative "Bahram-e- Gour in the black dome" from Nizami's poetic collection "Haft Peikar" based on Greimas's ideas.
 

Research method

The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical and examines data and examples, based on library studies that have been discussed and examined by citing some of Greimas's most important ideas. In order to achieve the research objectives, the story of Bahram-e- Gour in Black Dome, from Haft Peikar of Nizami, was studied in full, and then an attempt was made to analyze and explain the narrative structure based on Greimas' ideas (binary oppositions, actantial model, narrative chains).
 

Discussion

Algirdas Julien Greimas, a famous linguist and semiotician, has discussed in his opinions such topics as: action pattern, binary oppositions, narrative chains, etc. He reduced Propp's theories on the existence of action/event in narrative to six situations (Greimas, 1986: 39). These six actors or actants, who are in three binary oppositions, consist of: sender/receiver, subject/object, and supporter/opponent (Toolan, 2007: 82). Greimas considers the structure of narrative plot as a result of binary oppositions. From his perspective, "these oppositions are related to plot in the following way: temporal oppositions, i.e. balanced or unbalanced initial conditions against the final conditions of the story, against thematic conditions, i.e. for the reversed and unbalanced theme, a solution is found and balance is regained. (Okhovvat, 2002: 65).
Another part of Greimas's ideas is related to narrative chains. From his perspective, each narrative has three chains to explain its different narrative sequences: The Contractual chain, the Performative chain, and the Disjunctional chain (Hawkes, 2003: 71). Many ancient Persian stories have the potential to be adapted and examined with modern literary theories. In the story "Black dome" of Nizami’s Haft Peikar, based on Greimas' ideas, the story begins with a balanced initial situation (the king's glory in the palace); with the king's curiosity to discover the secret of the black-clad man, it changes to an unbalanced middle situation, and with the king's discovery of the secret, it reaches a balanced final situation. The course of the story in this narrative is structurally from negative to positive.
In this narrative, the main actors are: the king (subject and receiver), the king's curiosity (sender), discovering the secret of wearing black clothing (object), the townspeople (opponent), the butcher and the burly chicken (supporters).
The narrative chains in the aforementioned narrative are also as follows: 1- Contractual: the king's internal pact to achieve the goal (discovering the secret of black-clad clothing); 2- Performative: abandoning the throne and traveling to the city of drunkenness/fighting difficulties and obstacles/testing self-control; 3- Disjunctional: the king's change of status in response to fulfilling his internal pact/discovering the secret/returning to the palace and wearing black.
 
4- Conclusion
Using up-to-date study patterns can have a significant impact on a deeper understanding of literary works and provide a new analysis of a narrative. Analyzing Bahram-e-Gour's narrative in "The Black Dome" from Nizami's "Haft Peikar" series using Greimas's theory opens a new window to the layers of this work. In analyzing this story, it was determined that there is both a contrastive pattern, i.e. a balanced initial situation, an unbalanced middle situation, and a balanced final situation, as well as a syntactic structure or three chains: Contractual, Performative, and Disjunctional. Also, all six actors of the Greimas action model (sender, receiver, subject, object, supporter, and opponent) are present in this narrative.
In general, the elements that Greimas showed for the structural analysis of a narrative are explained in the narrative of The Black Dome. The results obtained demonstrate the adaptation of Greimas' narrative model in the analysis of the characters and structure of this narrative and show that Greimas's views are capable of adapting to lyrical texts.
 
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