the analysis position of gender in of two plays, dream in an empty cup and the mug written by naghme samini

the analysis position of gender in of two plays, , dream in an empty cup and the mug written by naghme saminifarindokhte zahedi rafiq nosrati azar najibi abstracttheater has played a role of much greater importance in society than merely amusing the audience. the playwrights represent the culture, lifestyle and customs of the society, interpret the culture, and criticize it. according to aristotle, play is the mimesis of human action. he believes that mimesis is complementary to human learning and internal abilities and is the distinguishing feature of human beings as against animals. according to aristotle, the playwright is a thinker and a critic of society who establishes a second world through objectifying his subjective world. aristotle’s conception has been evaluated and rewritten repeatedly, but still serves as the dominant attitude in the field of drama and theater; it can be regarded as the primitive conception of reflection approach towards art. the reflection approach in sociology of art encompasses diverse extensive research, the common notion among which is the belief that art is a mirror of society. in this approach, research is focused on the works of art so that our knowledge and understanding of society is enhanced. the present article attempts to answer the questions what kind of women are the women in naghmeh samini’s plays? and, if we divide women into modern, traditional and in transition, to which group do these women belong? to answer these questions, the sociology of art and the reflection approach have been selected as the theoretical framework, and to provide theoretical coherence, the symbolic interaction theory has been utilized in the analysis of female characters of these plays. the symbolic interaction theory has been developed by george herbert mead. he has considered institution and the way it is developed in individuals and has concluded that institution is formed through the communication between individuals and the society. according to mead, social action is the unit of behavioral analysis. social action is an interaction between two or more individuals who have some mutual duties. in the definition of gender role in the present article, four elements are of great importance: concept of self-conception, behavioral characteristics, communicative patterns and the position in the power pyramid. all these elements are derived from the theory of symbolic interaction. the plays dream in an empty cup and the mug by naghmeh samini are chosen as the statistical samples. an analysis of the female characters in these plays, on the basis of gender roles, shows that two of the four female characters represent modern woman, and the other two represent the traditional woman. in this article, the argument is deductive and the methodology for the analysis of the data is interpretative.key words: play, samini, symbolic interaction, female character, behavioral characteristics, position in the power pyramid, reflection approach, sociology of art assistant professor, department of dramatic arts, university college of fine arts, tehran university: [email protected] ph.d. student of drama, department of dramatic arts, university college of fine arts, tehran university: [email protected] m.a. student of dramatic literature, department of dramatic arts, university college of fine arts, tehran university: [email protected]