Rudabeh and Manijeh's character analysis based on the need for love in Abraham Maslow's pyramid model

Shahnameh is an work in which the characters appear according to their function. Among the uproar of battles and the narration of the heroism of the heroes, there are sections dedicated to lyrical concepts, among which, love is the most attractive concept. This is a common theme of lyrical stories with the needs of the psychological theory of Maslow. According to Maslow, love can cause the growth of personality. In the romances narrated in Shahnameh, women have an effective role in promoting the narration of love. In this research, an attempt has been made to analyze the concept of love in the actions of Rudabeh and Manijeh, lovers of Shahnameh, based on this theory. Rudabeh’s love is transcendent and perfectionist love and considers both physical and spiritual beauty. Love leads her to self-actualization, and through it, she is characterized by the components such as spontaneity and simplicity, unculturedness, and a clear understanding of reality. Manijeh's love, which is initially formed on the basis of physical and spiritual beauty, but then goes beyond the level of animal interests with a fundamental change in his personality. By comparing the two, Rudabeh's love is more sublime and growing and causes Rudabeh's self-construction. While examining Manijeh's personality in two stages of her life, it shows two different dimensions of love and depicts the evolution of his personality. She enters into a superficial relationship in the first stage, but later, this love takes a more serious form and leads to her personality development. Rudabeh and Manijeh are both anti-traditional and uncultured and act autonomously according to the circumstances.