A Focus on Women Status in Mowlanal's Thoughts from the Viewpoint of Sociology of Literature

The issue discussed in this paper is the presence of women in Mathnavi narratives، which will be studied in two sections from the viewpoint of sociology of literature. The first section deals with the reflection of socio-cultural issues in Mathnavi and the second section considers the effects of Mathnavi and Mowlanal’s thoughts on women status. For clarifying the issues، three influential factors of social structure، traditional culture of the society، and the personality of the author in creating Mathnavi narratives were taken into consideration. We aim to respond to these questions: Is woman a symbolic character in Mathnavi or is she the product of the culture and thoughts of the superior man? Or does she become the main character of narratives for the sake of teaching ethical points? The present study، through using historical documents and Mowlana and his pupils’ manuscripts، explores the sociological facets and socio-political contexts as the bedrock for creation of the work، the interaction of the poet with various social levels and the existing paradox between the poet’s mentality and his action. The findings of the study reveal that the existing conflicts in depicting women resulted from the effect of mental and social structure of that era and the dominant attitudes towards woman and her status. Second، from cultural and ideological point of view، it was the product of Mowlana’s beliefs and ideologies in two different periods of his life. Third، it is the result of conscious and unconscious awareness of the poet، who as a mystic poet and orator، intended to teach his pupils through adopting a symbolic language.