Theory of Mimetic Desire is among the important anthropological theories in 20th century introduced by the French scientist, René Girard. According to this theory, which has also been used in the area of literary criticism, the origin of most aggressions and hostilities throughout history has been mimetic desire and mimetic rivalry; therefore the societies have used the “scapegoat mechanism” in order to lessen the rivalries.This theory can be used in analyzing masterpieces of literature as well as the ancient epic and mythology because all of them are in one way or another the manifestation of mimetic desire. As such the application of this theory to Shāhnāme’s tales might broaden our horizon of research about this Book of Ferdowsi.
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