UCLA

This dissertation examines the representation of women in premodern Persian epic romance poetry by focusing on three key texts of the genre: Ferdowsi’s Šāhnāme (c. 1010 CE), Neẓāmi’s Ḵosrow o Širin (1191 CE), and Gorgāni’s Vis o Rāmin (1050–1055 CE). It identifies four female characters from the earlier portion of the Šāhnāme—Rudābe, Tahmine, Sudābe, and Maniže—and isolates two specific characteristics for each of these women. These characteristics are then traced in the characters of Širin and Vis: the main female protagonists of Neẓāmi and Gorgāni’s works. In doing so, this dissertation demonstrates the interlinked nature of these characters throughout the three different texts. This work also engages with the subject of ethnicity. The texts in question seem to suggest that women who hail from the peripheries of the Iranian empire may exercise greater agency, in comparison to their counterparts from the heartland, so long as it is to the benefit of the Iranian crown. Once these women have played their role to the benefit of the monarchy, however, they are expected to relinquish their agency and to leave the spotlight; otherwise, they will be severely punished. In stark opposition to this notion stands the character of Vis who, as an Iranian noblewoman from the heartland, defies the patriarchal boundaries set upon her and her kind. She does so by exercising her sexuality as an act of political agency, while remaining the most morally stable character in the poem. In her fiction-world, Vis is ultimately rewarded for her courage and audacity. In the literary milieu, however, she is severely punished for it by becoming a sign of ill repute. It is thus, this dissertation posits, that she and her tale appear to dissipate into the shadows, while the story and character of Širin—who predominantly wields her agency through abstinence—become renowned and “worthy” of emulation.