A Comparative Reading of Death-wish in Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi’s Dast Balaye Dast and Marsha Norman’s Night, Mother

In modern societies, the concept of death-wish is an intellectual notion that challenges an individual’s approach to the surrounding environment and significantly impacts the individual’s lifestyle. Playwrights such as Marsha Norman and Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi have explored the conscious confrontations with death in their works, particularly in Night, Mother, and Dast Bālāye Dast. These characters are portrayed as either pro-death-wish or anti-death-wish. This descriptive-analytical study aims to investigate the semantic contrast within the narrative discourse of the two plays. The central questions of this study are: How two playwrights from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds have addressed the death-wish theme in their works, and what narrative differences they have employed. To answer these questions, the present study centralizes the death-wish theme as the central axis of the two plays and comparatively analyses the two works in the light of narrative elements such as characters, plot, time, and setting. The analyses of this study show that by utilizing temporal-spatial continuity and a single opposing character to the pro-death-wish character, Norman exhibits a more profound understanding of death-wish compared to Sa’edi, and aligns the narrative characterization and components of her play with its theme.
 
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Correlating with psychological disorders, such as depression, death-wish greatly impacts the plot. The authors create characters who have a death-wish, while an element in the story opposes their actions. The element can be the character itself or a family heirloom. Left unsupported, nihilism and death-wish can lead to self-annihilation. The Kubler-Ross model argues that people go through five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The present study investigates the battle between life and death in Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi’s Dast Bālāye Dast and Marsha Norman’s Night, Mother. This confrontation manifests itself in the form of arguments between the death-wish characters and their families who oppose their decision.
2. Methodology
Informed by narrative elements, characterisation, and the concept of death-wish, this descriptive-analytical study aims to investigate the semantic contrast within the narrative discourse of the two plays.
3. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of this study is in accordance with “the comparative literary representation of natural phenomena and human reactions.” It allows the researcher to narratologically analyse the concept of death-wish in two distinct plays.
4. Discussion and Analysis
The present study analyses the concept of death-wish as an answer to nihilism, isolation, and meaninglessness of the characters’ lives. It correlates with concepts such as despair, isolation, and sociological and familial defeat.  Playwrights such as Marsha Norman and Gholam-Hossein Sa’edi have explored the conscious confrontations with death in their works, particularly in Night, Mother, and Dast Bālāye Dast. These characters are portrayed as either pro-death-wish or anti-death-wish.
In his The Psychology of Suicide, Edwin Shneidman designates two chapters to “the need to be loved” and “the need to belong.” The lack of love between characters and their families escalates the main character’s depression and directly impacts his/her final decision. Sa’edi portrays the character’s isolation by isolating him in an alien environment; on the other hand, Norman alienates her character through its interactions with the mother. Both playwrights refrain from theatrically and explicitly addressing suicide. In Dast Bālāye Dast, the plot unfolds with an act of suicide which is repeated throughout the play. This repetition portrays the character’s cycle of despair and isolation. In Night, Mother, on the other hand, the plot unfolds through a unified and structured narrative which, eventually, leads to the character’s decision. Observing the Aristotelian unities, Norman presents a carefully structured narrative. Although Sa’edi’s play exhibits the unity of action and place, it lacks the third unity; in other words, Sa’edi’s play is not as unified and structured as Norman’s.
The two playwrights differ greatly in characterization. Through lengthy dialogues, Norman addresses the inner processes of the characters and Jessie’s reasons for committing suicide. She suffers from depression, personal loss, epilepsy, and social and familial isolation. Sa’edi, on the other hand, creates two opposing personalities, which, in turn, highlight the character as a noble worker in the society, who due to social injustice and emotional emptiness, gives in to isolation and suicide.
In both plays, the last Act, the suicide, portrays the absolute action against weakness and infinite passivity, which result in death. To address the socio-cultural implications of suicide, the authors employ theatrical tools, which, in turn, highlight the process and reasons for committing suicide.
5. Conclusion
By comparatively investigating Night, Mother and Dast Bālāye Dast, this study concludes that both authors portray death-wish as a sociological phenomenon, resulting from psychological trauma and sociological isolation. Norman, by utilizing temporal-spatial continuity and a single opposing character to the pro-death-wish character, reveals a more profound understanding of death-wish compared to Sa’edi, thus aligning the narrative characterization and components of her play with its theme.
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