Analysis of the relationships of the characters in the epistle "Al-sahil and Al-shahej" by Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma'arri Based on Greimas's Interactive Model

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor in Arabic Language and Literature, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

2 . PhD in Arabic Language and Literature, Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamadan, Hamadan, Iran

3 PhD in Arabic Language and Literature, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

10.22059/jal-lq.2025.389188.1472

Abstract

Paying attention to the relationships between characters in stories and novels helps the reader delve deeper into the content and messages of the texts to uncover the purposes of the actors represented therein. This is also the case in Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri's letter entitled "The Neighing and the Bitter," which is a symbolic tale of Abu al-Ala's life, his talents in poetry, and his mastery of rhetoric and prosody. In his interactional model, Greimas identifies six roles or interactants (actors) as the basis of the narrative, which form three interconnected pairs, taking into account the contrasts, contradictions and oppositions present in the text. These six interacting parties are: the agent/target, the sender/receiver, and the helper/inhibitor. Some of these interacting elements are human beings, some are passive beings (beings that do not reproduce), and some are concepts. This powerful model by Greimas helps the reader clearly follow the actions of different actors, understand the actor's goal, and clearly observe the influence of other actors in achieving or failing their goals. In this article, the relationships between the characters of the epistle “Al-Sahel and Al-Shahej” by Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma’arri (363-449 AH) were addressed, relying on the descriptive and analytical approach derived from Greimas’s interactive model. The result showed that Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri chose the style of dialogue and giving human life to things in this letter, and for this reason the letter became dramatic in which animals represent the characters of the letter and talk about the human world.

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Ebn-Almoqaffa in Narrative and Poetry (Formerly known as Quarterly of Arabic Language and Literature
Volume 21, Issue 2
July 2025
Pages 163-178

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