Rostam characterization in the story of Rostam and Sohrab based on defense mechanisms

The epic narratives of Shahnameh, especially in the semantic section, have a different dimension in psychoanalysis. Among these narratives, the story of Rostam and Sohrab is more than the other psychoanalytic analysis and critique. Obviously, one of the psychoanalytic approaches to this story is the critique and analysis of the personality of Rustam based on the defense mechanisms that Freud and Anna Freud theorized. The present research seeks to examine the character of Rustam based on these mechanisms, in order to make the reader aware of the mysteries and hidden layers of this story, and the extent and maturity of the master of the narrative of Tusus will be revealed to everybody, as well as the psychoanalytic attitude in this article. In the opinion of researchers, the ambiguity in identifying Rustam from Sohrab is largely apparent before a dream on the battlefield. The defense mechanisms discussed in this article include denial, inhibition of communication with reality, inhibition of the secondary process, aggressive replication, diffraction, compensation, change in direction and displacement.