A Comparative Study of Death-Wish on the Concept of “Good-Evil Struggle” and the “Amorous & Mystical Death-Wish” Represented in Two Paintings of Herat School.

This study attempts to shed light on some aspects of “death-wish” in the paintings of the great artists of Herat school which is mostly rooted in political ideals of governing dynasties in the specific era. Death-wish may be defined as an outlook in which man wishes to die fearlessly and eagerly in order to actualize a great goal, or get a precious thing. In this paper, some theoretical perspectives of death are discussed; then using the descriptive-analytical method, the concept of death-wish is studied and compared in 2 works of art:  The first, reflecting the concept of good-evil struggle in “killing the White Demon by Rostam in  Baysonghor Shahnameh and the latter, reflecting the concept of amorous and mystic death-wish in “Farhad Death” in Nezami’s Khamseh (created by Kamal-al-din Behzad). In addition to such comparison, the visual attributes of these two paintings and the related poems are analyzed to determine their similarities and differences. Findings also show that the political ideals of the ruling governors are influential in the formation of these different approaches to death and the concepts evidenced in works of the artists can be regarded as signs which indicate the spirit of the time.