Passing through the Nine Bisheh of Shahriar-nameh: An Approach Based on Campbell’s Theory of Monomyth

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American mythologist who worked in the field of comparative mythology and religion. The notion of ‘hero’s journey’ was first proposed by Campbell in his book titled ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’. Based on the structural similarity of all myths, he proposes a fundamental patterns that underlies all mythic narratives. In spite of being subject to cultural and temporal variations, this pattern remains essentially the same. According to his theory of monomyth, the hero leaves his society following an invitation and, having embarked upon a journey, he goes through stages such as the call of the envoy, rejection of invitation, acceptance of invitation, following a guide, passing the threshold, seeking help, test, reward, elixir, and return. Osman Mokhtari’s verse book of ‘Shahriar-nameh’ is a perfect example of hero’s journey. In this story, the hero that represents the will of a nation travels to another country while successfully overcoming numerous obstacles and tests to defeat evil creatures and show the superiority of Iranian wisdom over other nations.