Motif in Bahram Beyzaie’s Play The One Thousand and First Night

Naderifar, Abdolreza; Ahmadi, Masoumeh

doi:10.22059/jlcr.2025.395808.2061

Document Type : scientific-research

Authors

¹ Literature and Humanities Employment

² Faculty of Literature and Humanities /University of Tehran

10.22059/jlcr.2025.395808.2061

Abstract

Bahram Beyzai is one of the most prominent playwrights in contemporary Iranian dramatic literature whose regeneration, innovation and creativity are evident in each of his plays. One of his most celebrated plays is The One Thousand and First Night (2003). This play is written in three acts or three episodes. The first episode inspired by the Shahnameh, the story of Zahhak and the entirety of One Thousand and One Nights reconstructs a lost tale from Iranian mythology. In the other two episodes One Thousand and One Nights serves as the main source of inspiration for the author. Each episode of this play is independent from the others, and each has its own distinct and unique plotline and characters. However, at the same time, the three acts or episodes share thematic and structural similarities. What causes this coherence are the recurring themes (motif) that internally link the independent episodes of this play. A close reading and a deep semantic exploration of the work gives the reader an insight into the recurring themes of the play's acts, termed as the motif in literary criticism. In this essay, we aim to examine the motifs of this three -fold play in a descriptive- analytical manner. Our objectives for this study is to detect and analyze these motifs which includes Zahhak Mar-dush and its human manifestations, self-sacrifice(a longing for death), female cunning, the controversy over the book of One Thousand and One nights among the readers, and one character falling victim to an individual or the system in each act that These motifs make the semantic and artistic unity of the play.

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Journal of Literary Criticism and Rhetoric

Motif in Bahram Beyzaie’s Play The One Thousand and First Night

References

References

Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 38
September 2025
Pages 25-44

Motif in Bahram Beyzaie’s Play The One Thousand and First Night

References

References

Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 38September 2025Pages 25-44

Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 38
September 2025
Pages 25-44