the structural consideration of character in nizami’s haft-peykar

haft-peykar (or bahram-nameh) is the fourth nizami’s verse composition in terms of time and one of his masterpieces besides his khosrow and shirin. haft-peykar consists of two general parts: the first part is about bahram and his life and the second one is about the stories of his seven wives. the structure of the book makes it possible to be criticized through a formalistic approach. the character, in this approach, isn’t considered as a real human being, but a collection of actions, images and lingual symbols. the characters, in the stories of haft-peykar, lose their central position, in a way that it would be possible to analyze them regardless the context and upon their own [1]behavior. in this paper, character, as a word, will be criticized through formalistic approach, and then as a narrative element.  direct and indirect representation of characters and their sources in haft-peykar will be done in the frame of action, name and title, language, environment and external appearance.