The metaphorical turn of "whale" from epic to mysticism (Reviewed texts: Gershaspnameh, Shahnameh, works of Sanai, Attar and Molavi)

This article examines the development of "whale" as a metaphor in several epic and heroic writings (Shahnameh and Garshasp-nameh) and mystical books (the works of Sanai, Attar, and Rumi). The chosen works were considered the main, central, and standard. One of the key methods to comprehend literary kinds and their historical periods is by looking at the formed metaphors, how they rotate in their development, and how they become tangible in the language. Two epic and mystical kinds frequently use the metaphor "whale," which illustrates a profound transformation. It is a metaphor for the strength and might of the warrior, and it finds its meaning in his "body," which is not in opposition to intellect and knowledge. However, this relationship with the "body" is kept in its totality in the works of Sanai and Attar. In contrast, the "whale" is a metaphor for the ego in a reverse twist, and the element of concupiscence conjures its size and power. Psychoanalytically speaking, the "whale's" grandeur, its placement in the depths of water and darkness, and its abrupt and terrifying emergence are all metaphors for the unconscious and the forbidden instincts of the "Id." Rumi engages in a wide variety of inversion, de-dualization, play with the whale symbol, and metaphorical development. Using the "whale" as a case and historical study in two different discourses demonstrates that metaphorical meanings are not static but change over time.
Keywords: Whale, epic, mysticism, metaphor, metaphorical turn.
Introduction: With a little reflection on linguistic signs, we can see that the use of linguistic signs that refer to animals and are metaphorically expanded has a long history in mythological, epic, religious and literary texts and has been more or less in all cultures and their prominent works; But the main problem for human studies occurs when we think about why different intellectual systems have thought about these "merely put" beings in different ways and made meaning from them and entered them into the "metaphorization" system of the mind. These natural creatures, when they become metaphors of the human mind, depending on the path of meaning and signification they have found, they reveal the lines of thought and are indicative in every way. This problem can be realized in a concrete way when we show a specific case in our historical movement, and through the main texts that are the verbal objectivity of an intellectual discourse. This way of dealing with the problem reveals two things at the same time: firstly, how a particular case in a dominant period or discourse is metaphorized and what its metaphorical implications reveal; and secondly, how has this metaphor changed in the following periods and entered new areas, and how is it related to the previous period.
Materials & methods: Five main, central and standard texts have been examined in two epic and mystical fields. Our method here is historical, discursive and based on text analysis.
Discussion: What emerges from a general look at the comparison of epic and heroic texts with mystical texts is that in mystical thinking and in the main texts of this intellectual mushrab - bearing in mind all its plurality and avoiding uniting its different aspects - many signs, common metaphors, allegories and symbols have been included in epic and heroic texts and apparently they have found an internal aspect and knowledge has been deduced from them. In general, it seems that these cases - which we will consider from now on in the form of the word "metaphor" - had an external aspect in epic and heroic texts, and this case is related to "objectivity" which is the essence of the epic world. In the later period of mystical knowledge and aesthetics, these metaphors had an internal movement and became internal and epistemological matters in the mystical introspective system. From this general point of view - although it seems correct - no judgment can be issued unless we concretely examine these metaphors and their rotation from the epic period to the mystical period, and in the important and main texts of both fields. In this article, we try to examine one of these cases and present the result that comes from it. Here, we examine the "whale", which is a frequent metaphor in both epic and heroic texts, as well as mystical texts. The attempt is to examine the historical movement and conceptual rotation of this metaphor so that through it we can reach a concrete result and avoid presenting it as a rigid, static and non-historical metaphor or symbol.
Result: The frequent metaphor of "whale" in epic and heroic texts is a metaphor of the strength and power of the warrior, it is meaningful in relation to his "body" and this body is not in opposition to the soul and wisdom; But in the works of Sanai and Attar, from one side, this relationship with "body" is preserved in its entirety, and from the other side, in a reverse rotation, "whale" is a metaphor for the soul and evokes its imperious, huge and powerful aspect. In the language of psychoanalysis, the majesty of the "whale", its location in the depths of water and darkness, and its sudden and formidable revelation, is a metaphor for the unconscious and forbidden instincts of the "institution". But Molavi, beyond Sana'i and Attar, does not create a closed and limited metaphor of "whale" and sometimes, like many other metaphors, he enters and expands the "language game" cycle. Although Maulvi also represents the same signification of Sana'i and Attar from the "whale" metaphor in many places, but sometimes he collapses this "sign" in an artistic way and crushes its core, and as always "a surface of floating sign" puts it in front of us and performs a wide range of inversion, de-duplication and playing with the "symbol" of the whale and gives it more metaphorical expansion.