چکیده:
Non-verbal communication can be considered among the visual signs that today hold a special position for psychologists and sociologists due to their importance in conveying meaning and regulating interpersonal relationships. One of the most important sub-branches of this subject is called 'body language,' which has existed among all human societies from ancient times until now. These non-verbal signs—some of which are thousands of years old—have cultural and rhetorical applications and functions in the cultures and social traditions of various ethnic groups, with commonalities and sometimes differences. It is clear that the more literary context such a review and older, and of course more comprehensive approach is, the greater the value of its analyses in cultural, social, and even aesthetic recognition of texts. Undoubtedly, Ferdowsi's Shahnameh—which represents Iranian culture and thought from the prehistoric era to historical periods contemporaneous with the emergence of Islam—can be the best vessel for representing extra-linguistic communicative actions in the ancient cultural history of Iran. Due to the archetypal nature of the characters in the Shahnameh, many of their non-verbal signs can also be considered archetypes of many behavioral actions or Iranian body language in the realm and moment of epic life, namely the formation of the national and social identity of Iranians. In this essay, by analyzing the concepts of 'body language' in the non-verbal actions of prominent characters in the Shahnameh, an attempt has been made to decode these hidden and complex cultural concepts. The results of the research show that the representation of the body language of the characters in the Shahnameh was not accidental but completely conscious, intended to attract the audience's attention and prompt them to rethink the patterns of individual and social behavior of Iranian and non-Iranian ethnic groups with the aim of recognizing the Iranian cultural identity, occurring more through irony and symbolism.
خلاصه ماشینی:
1. Problem Statement Just as Barbara Kurte, in her book "Body Language in Literature," has drawn attention to the category of non-verbal messages in the novel and believes that these messages are signs for "character creation and identification, character introduction, interpersonal relationships, psychological situations, proof, time, and their specific culture" (Azari and Nabian, 2011: 107), this essay also believes that literary works such as the Shahnameh, which is a unique book of the Iranian people and, in a sense, can be considered the identity document of Iranian knowledge and identity, due to the reflection of the mythological thought of Iranians and containing the moral-human system of the Iranian people, can help in the recognition and decoding of body behavior or movements in the process of individual and social relations of the Iranian people more than any other classical literary work; in such a way that understanding the symbolic concepts of "body language" leads to decision-making and the preference of a specific reaction.
The investigation and analysis of the agency of the characters in the Shahnameh demonstrate the importance of body language in conveying real concepts and emotions, and sometimes in decoding certain movements and resolving ambiguities arising from specific actions; for instance, decoding Rostam's "holding the quince" when facing Esfandiyar resolves the ambiguity of this non-verbal action for readers—an action Rostam performs to remove the bad odor from his hands, which had become malodorous due to extracting the heart of the White Demon (cf.
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