Samin Espargham; Abu-al-Ghasem Ghavam; Samira Bameshki
Volume 8, Issue 2 , February 2019, , Pages 1-19
Abstract
In fairy tales, pregnancies and births, like other incidents and elements of this genre, have supernatural and transformed forms. This paper examines the diverse types of supernatural ...
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In fairy tales, pregnancies and births, like other incidents and elements of this genre, have supernatural and transformed forms. This paper examines the diverse types of supernatural pregnancies and births in Iranian fairy tales. With the help of Claude Levi Strauss's structural mythology, these fairy tales are analyzed structurally, and they are compared with myths of Iran and the two neighboring lands, India and Mesopotamia, which have cultural and historical bonds with Iran. Thus, the structural similarities of pregnancy and birth in Iranian fairy tales with these myths are discussed. Finally, with respect to the common mythemes of these narratives, the structural model of them is determined, criticized and analyzed on the basis of the signs and symbols in the narratives. The comparative study of these stories and myths reveals that the unconventional forms of pregnancy and birth are in fact mythical forms, transformed over time and presented in various forms in fairy tales. These fairy tales represent infertility/fertility and natural world/supernatural world binary oppositions and the attempts to resolve them. In these narratives, the confrontation is often resolved with the help of supernatural mediators. Such supernatural pregnancies and births are peculiar to the heroes of fairy tales. They connect the heroes to the other worlds from the first moment of their creation, reveal their superhuman and hereditary features, and clarify the prerogative of them and their world.
