The Analysis of the Love Affair of Nizami's Khosrow and Shirin from the view of Schopenhauer's Philosophy of "Will to Live"

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Graduate from University of Shiraz

2 Professor, Shiraz University

Abstract

Romantic narratives are an important pillar for the history of human culture. Nizami's world famous Khosrow and Shirin versified story, has some hidden traits, Such as the purpose of love between K&S, which could be revealed by interdisciplinary approaches; The German philosopher Schopenhauer considers the main goal of romantic relationships, reproduction with the motive of mutual procreation; In his view, mate selection is based on external beauty and with the aim of compensating biological imbalances; Without having intercourse and producing children, the lovers eventually tire of each other; Principle of "will to live" is what makes both parties blindly fall in love. Our research refines eight major components about the purpose of romantic relationship from Schopenhauer's book, The World as Will and Representation, and evaluates the stages of K&S's love relationship according to them. This analysis shows that in their relationship, none of the factors such as distance and abandonment, not establishing a marital relationship for a long time, the presence of competing narrative elements such as Khosrow's loveless marriage with Maryam - mother of his child, and introducing Farhad - Khosrow's love rival – could result in a permanent reduction of attraction between the two lovers; Even after marriage, they remain in love until death. Yet Shirin contradicts Schopenhauer's views more than Khosrow; Our analysis reveals that Nizami’s idealist view of romantic relationship, first builds a lyrical-sexual theme but with a spiritual infrastructure, then, contrary to its conformity with Schopenhauer's opinions at the beginning of the narrative, in the final stages, it leans towards the facade of spirituality, moving away from compatibility with Schopenhauer; Near the end, Nizami's narrative stays in conflict with Schopenhauer's point of view, by honouring Shirin's spiritual position to the highest levels and highlighting Shirin's persistence on chastity in accordance with the popular religion.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Journal of Poetry Studies (boostan Adab)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 28 December 2024

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics