Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی
Author
Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Rafsanjan University, Iran
Abstract
"Five Plays" written by Mirza Agha Tabrizi is one of the first plays in Persian literature. It shows the corruption in Nasserite period with a humorous tone. Despite the lack of unity of time, place and subject, these plays are important because they contain some historical facts. The status and validity of the dialectic element in plays is an important factor influencing the presence of colloquial expressions in this type of literature. In folk literary texts, the grammatical and lexical structures of the vernacular language are the focal point due to their prominence. According to their capabilities, these structures sometimes explicitly (sometimes ironically) depict images of social realities, which are criticized by the author. This descriptive-analytical research investigates the words and expressions of pop culture that increase the theatrical capacity of narratives and also effectively reflects social situations. According to the findings, in Mirza Agha Tabrizi's plays, grammatical elements, ironies, adjectives, language in Five Plays by Mirza Agha Tabrizi is purposeful. The purposeful presence of marked popular words directs narrative reports, social critique and fluent style of the author.adverbs and verbs derived from popular culture (with high frequency) are recurrent. Due to its transparency and communicative capability in theatricality of plays, they can be of help to the author. Therefore, it can be said that marked word choice of colloquial
Highlights
The Role of Slang Words and Expressions in Reflecting Social Criticism; Case study: “Five Plays by Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi”[1]
Introduction
Plays are important because they address social, cultural and historical issues. They are more realistic than other types of literature due to the scenes they display, and as a result, they have a great influence on their final recipients. In the play, the manner of expression and the way words are used are considered as important factors in the success of the work. The choice should be such that the audience imagines the described scenes correctly and sees himself among the narrative environment. It goes without saying that linguistic elements can assist the author and help him to create such images and moments.
Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi was the first secretary of the French embassy in Tehran, who was familiar with French and Russian. He can be considered as the first Persian playwright, but his plays were written in a conversational manner and the technical principles and rules of Western plays, such as the unity of time, place and subject, are not observed in them (cf. Âriânpur , 1372: 359-360). The important point is that the form of play has been used with the aim of expressing the author's thoughts, and the author has tried to point out the moral and social shortcomings and shape a picture of a declining society.
Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi’s plays were published in 1355 by Mohammad Bâqer Mo’meni under the title of čahâr tiyâtr “Four Plays”. The titles of these four plays are: 1- The story of Ašraf Xân (1232). 2- The story of Šâh Qoli Mirzâ in Kermânšâhân (1233). 3- The rule of Zamân Xân in Borujerd (1236). 4- The story of falling in love of Âqâ Hâšem Xalxâli and the story of those days (1237). According to the introduction of the book, the date of writing these plays was 1288. The new edition of these plays was done by Mohammadzâde Seddiq in 1397.
In Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi’s plays, slang expressions and colloquial words have a high frequency. The presence of these elements in plays, in addition to creating a kind of stylistic distinction, also helps to strengthen the relationship between the speaker and the audience, and accelerates this mutual relationship, because these linguistic units have a considerable capacity to express feelings and emotions. In this research, we seek to answer the questions of what role folk elements and interpretations have played in Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi’s plays and to what extent he has been able to help narrate moral flaws and social corruption.
Goal
The main purpose of the research is to show the ability of popular elements in renarrating social flaws and corruptions according to the plays of Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi. Regarding the importance of research, it should be said that the relationship between the colloquial and other components of the sentence is not only a syntactic relationship, but it is also conceptualizing. It gives direction to the word in order to send a message. In most cases, it can be said that the author pays special attention to these linguistic forms, because these linguistic forms are raw forms of linguistic structures that have cultural and social origins. They easily connect with the public recipient. According to the approach of the present study, its achievements can be applied to grammar, stylistics and sociological studies.
Method
This descriptive-analytical research investigates the words and interpretations of popular culture that increase the theatrical capacity of narratives and are effective in reflecting social situations. Samples of this research are taken from Four Plays, edited by Mohammad Bâqer Mo’meni and Five Plays by Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi, edited by Hosein Mohammadzâde Seddiq. It is important to note that in Mo’meni’s edition, there are four plays, while according to Mohammadzâde Seddiq’s edition, five plays are attributed to Mirzâ Âqâ. According to the introduction of the book, the editor of this work has seen the fifth play (Hâj Moršed Kimiyâgar) in the thirteenth chapter of the moral treatise from other works of Mirzâ Âqâ, and he has recognize and introduced it for the first time.
Conclusion
Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi’s plays use a popular style in simple language and present a picture of a society in which social corruption and moral flaws are witnessed in every corner. The presence of elements of popular language that indicate description, illustration, highlighting, and staging, and are considered to be the hallmarks of popular culture, has been the author’s means of narration. These elements have sometimes been able to be a suitable tool for expressing the emotions and feelings of the characters, and in some cases, they show their ideals and express the public beliefs, lifestyle of the lower classes, class distance and social problems of the people of their time, with a sense of humor.
The high frequency of emphatic elements is related to the type of discourse governing the play. Expressing a kind of objection to the conditions prevailing in the society that can be seen in Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi’s plays, has had an effect on the use of these intensifying elements. Thus, it can be said that these grammatical elements serve two main functions in Tabrizi’s plays: 1- They strengthen the theatrical capacity of his narrative, 2- They are effective in narrating the thoughts and conveying the author’s attitude.
Constructs of popular language were studied in this research, and the findings show that virtual and ironic forms have been used in five plays of Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi due to their executive ability and power to induce the sense and mood of the characters. In this work, we sometimes encounter rude and impolite slang expressions. The author’s sarcasm and frankness in expressing these interpretations serves to describe the moral and behavioral characteristics of the characters of the play, and it reflects some of the moral anomalies and shortcomings of the society. In general, the author’s choices have been quite purposeful and he has been able to use the elements of popular culture to analyze his society and show its shortcomings and weaknesses well. With this explanation, the present study makes it somewhat clear that literature can reflect social conditions.
Keywords: Theatre, Mirzâ Âqâ Tabrizi, Slang, Social Criticism , Stylistics
References
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[1] Hamid Ja’fari Qarye-Ali, Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Valiyye Asr University of Rafsanjan; jafari@vru.ac.ir
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