The Analysis of Narrative Aspects in Marzban’nameh Stories Based on the Theory of Tzvetan Todorov

Abstract

The current research will discuss narrative features in Marzban’nameh tales based on the theory of Tzvetan Todorov. On the basis of this, we study indicative, imperative, and imaginative moods with their subdivisions like: obligatory, optative, conditional, and anticipative moods. Identifying the type of relations between characters, finding the final structure of tales on the basis of frequency of narrative aspects and recognizing the basic factors in the formation and logical progress of tales in Marzban’nameh, are the goals of this research. The results show that relationship between characters of Marzban’nameh tales is reasonable and their behavior is positive. Thus, they do not utilize cheating and do not resort to deception and we cannot find any negative point in their behavior. The obligatory and conditional moods are less and anticipative moods have a greater frequency in tales. Opposition of optative and anticipative moods is fundamental in the formation and development of many tales.

Keywords

• narrative aspects
• Marzban’nameh
• Tzvetan Todorov
• Structure
• narrative
• Tale