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From Epic to Romance, via Filicide? Rustam's Character Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Fraser Clark
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Abstract

Rustam is famed for being one of the most fleshed-out characters of the Shahnama. As such, this article will analyze an episode in his life of extreme emotional turbulence, in order to gain a closer understanding of how much realism Firdausi bestows upon his characters. This episode is the suicide attempt he makes following his act of filicide. I will begin with a discussion of the difficulties involved in interpreting such an ancient text as the Shahnama. An analysis of Rustam's background follows, tracing the development of his personality. I will then take a detailed look at the circumstances surrounding his attempted suicide. After this, I will gauge the extent to which this act may have its roots in his personality. By thus examining how realistic is Rustam's suicide attempt, I hope this paper will contribute to the further study of the literary nature of Firdausi's Shahnama.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 1: Millennium Of the <span class='italic'>Shahnama Of Firdausi</span> , February 2010 , pp. 53 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2010

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References

1 Abu al-Qasim Firdausi, Shahnama, ed. Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh (Costa Mesa, California and New York, 1988), 2: 190, line 918. Henceforth KM/volume/page/line.

2 Khaleghi-Motlagh, Djalal, “Ferdowsī, Abu'l-Qāsem,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 9: 521b.Google Scholar

3 Banani, Amin, “Editorial Note,” in Levy, Reuben, The Epic of the Kings (London, 1967), xxi.Google Scholar

4 Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author,” Aspen, 5–6 (1967): 2.

5 Davis, Dick, Epic and Sedition (Fayetteville, 1992), 11.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., 6.

7 This edition is not only the best modern text of the poem but also valuable for the thorough listing of the variants.

8 KM/II/190/918.

9 In Islam, see for example, Surat al-Nisa (Q. 4: 29).

10 Jarira: KM/III/57/487; Shirin: KM/VIII/373/605.

11 KM/I/202/559–560.

12 KM/I/204/594–595.

13 KM/I/182/note 26.

14 KM/I/213/729.

15 KM/I/217/788.

16 KM/I/221/846. For a recent discussion of Rustam's origins, see Davis, Dick, “Rustam and Zoroastrianism,” in The Necklace of the Pleiades. Studies in Persian Literature Presented to Heshmat Moayyad on his 80th Birthday, ed. by Lewis, Franklin and Sharma, Sunil (Amsterdam and West Lafayette, 2007), 49–61Google Scholar, esp. 50–55; also A. Sh. Shahbazi, “The Parthian Origins of the House of Rustam,” in Iranian Studies in Honor of A. D. H. Bivar, ed. by Carol Altman Bromberg, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, 7 (1993), esp. 158–159.

17 KM/I/209/678–679.

18 KM/I/246/1207–15.

19 Sam's reaction, for example: KM/I/210/686.

20 Zahhak's influence indeed is not forgotten, as Rustam praises him highly during his encounter with Isfandiyar: KM/V/347/663.

21 KM/V/346/650.

22 KM/I/347/35.

23 KM/I/270/1507–10.

24 KM/I/166/note 9.

25 KM/I/179/232.

26 KM/I/181/263.

27 KM/I/272/1535–36.

28 KM/I/271/1531–33.

29 KM/I/272/1541–44.

30 For example twice during his seven trials he falls asleep during moments of peril.

31 KM/I/268/1483, though some manuscripts omit this line.

32 KM/I/270/1510.

33 KM/II/30/198–202 for Rustam's song.

34 For a closer analysis of this period, see Fraser Clark, “An Analysis of Rustam as a ‘Literary’ Character” (final year dissertation, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, 2008), 25.

35 KM/II/81/199-201.

36 See KM/II/151/405.

37 See KM/II/146/351/into footnote 25.

38 KM/II/93/341.

39 KM/II/119/9:

—his heart was unhappy.

40 KM/II/20/263–67.

41 KM/II/81/199–201.

42 KM/II/97/393.

43 KM/II/98/406.

44 See also Davidson, Olga M., Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings (Ithaca and London, 1994), 128–141Google Scholar on the “concept of premature and immature fatherhood”: Rustam fathers Suhrab “because he wants his horse back, not because he wants to raise an heir” (p. 140).

45 Zal: KM/I/332/63; Sam: KM/I/179/234.

46 KM/I/272/1542–43.

47 KM/II/143/313.

48 KM/II/146/351/into footnote 25.

49 KM/II/147/356.

50 Compare with Sam's grasp of the social contract: KM/I/163/30–31.

51 KM/II/147/355–360/into footnote 20. Rustam says his decision not to usurp followed an invitation from the nobles to do so—which invitation goes oddly unreferenced elsewhere.

52 KM/II/150/389.

53 KM/II/151/405.

54 KM/I/333/4.

55 KM/II/169/628.

56 KM/II/170/644.

57 KM/II/170/647–648.

58 KM/II/171/656–657.

59 The precedence for masquerade exists, albeit under different circumstances, during his embassy to Mazandaran: KM/II/52/709.

60 KM/II/172/673.

61 KM/II/172/675.

62 KM/II/172/677.

63 KM/II/178/761.

64 KM/II/178/759.

65 KM/II/184/839.

66 Ibid.

67 KM/II/184/839/note 13/line 5.

68 KM/II/186/866–869, onto note 27.

69 KM/I/332/63.

70 KM/I/276/note 1/line 26.

71 KM/I/347/35.

72 KM/II/193/950.

73 KM/II/194/965–966.

74 KM/II/197/998.

75 KM/II/190/917.

76 KM/II/190/918.

77 KM/II/191/928.

78 KM/II/150/389.

79 Miller, Dean A., The Epic Hero (Baltimore, 2000), 150.Google Scholar

80 Davis, Epic and Sedition, 113.

81 Wickens, G. M., “The Imperial Epic of Iran: A Literary Approach,” Acta Iranica, III (1974): 265.Google Scholar