Returning to Myth and Redefining the Concept of Hero

Myth has been inextricably tied to literature and placed at the heart of many great literary works for centuries. Researchers in various fields of humanities such as literature, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology are interested in mythology. Also, comparative literature analyzes the presence of ancient myths in literary works. Myths having been presented orally by the popular culture for centuries and adapted by writers and poets according to their own perceptions and intentions. This paper studies the new look of two playwrights on ancient myths in their plays: The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre and The One Thousand and First Night by Bahram Beyzaie. The study reveals that the concept of “hero” has changed through rereading ancient myths by these two playwrights. In conclusion, the similarities and differences between the new images of the hero in these two works have been comparatively examined.