Romulus the Great and the Death of Yazdgerd from the Perspective of New historicism: Two Playwrights on the Fall of Two Ancient Empires

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari 1
Erfan Ebrahimi 2
1 Associate Professor, Performing Arts Department, University of Tehran
2 Master's student in dramatic literature, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran.
Abstract
Commonly, facing the works of art within a historical theme, we either expect the work to match exactly with history, or expect to see some kind of artist's point of view from that historical period. The former cannot be recreated or represented in the world of art. The latter, however, does not have the same application. Therefore, with sufficient knowledge of the author and the discourse conditions and power relations during his life period, his perspective on history in a historical work can be analyzed better. In this article, through a comparative and historical method, two plays Death of Yazdgerd written by Bahram Beyzai and Romulus the Great written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt were examined from the perspective of new historicism to show how two playwrights were affected by history in two different places and times, and consequently influenced the history of their time. This comparative research shows that choosing a specific period of history to write a play was purposeful. Also, writing about a historical period is affected by the period of the playwright's life and culture, and the reason for the difference in the power relations and the ending of the texts lies within the same context.


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