Arnold’s poem “Sohrab and Rustum”: Firdousi’s heroes in the Victorian epoch context

Abstract

The article presents the analysis of M. Arnold’s poem ”Sohrab and Rustum”, the plot of which is based on Firdousi’s epic poem “Shakhname”. The Victorian period was marked with the search for heroes – strong personalities who would lead the nation to its revival and save mankind from the “spiritual paralysis” (in T. Carlyle’s expression) as the disease of the age. Like many of his contemporaries Arnold tried to find such heroes in the Medieval past. Arnold leaves out several episodes of the Eastern text and concentrates his attention on the meeting of Rustum and his son who was born in his father’s absence and appeared to belong to the hostile camp during the war. As in Firdousi’s poem Arnold’s Sohrab supposes that he was doomed to be killed by his father. But besides destiny the guilt of the tragedy lies in the lack of trust and inner unity between father and son, upon a person’s isolation in society – one of the predominant themes of Arnold’s poetry. Sohrab’s death leads to Rustum’s spiritual transformation and to the end of the war on the whole. Contrary to Carlyle, Arnold doesn’t consider the appearance of a hero as a means of the nation’s revival. It is possible only by way of overcoming total hostility and isolation at large. So, the plot of the Medieval Eastern poet in Arnold’s interpretation appeared to be consonant with the Victorian epoch.