Historical Allusions in Khalid Al-Shawwaf’s Play Al-Radm: A Critical Vision
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Abstract
The poetic play Al-Radm encompasses all the essential components of the dramatic text in its traditional sense—drama, dialogue, and characters. The poetic play, as a distinguished literary genre, exerts a profound influence through its integration of artistic elements such as plot, dialogue, characters, and central idea, all expressed in verse form to convey the narrative events and thematic treatment of the subject matter.
The protagonist of this poetic play, Dhul-Qarnayn, the renowned righteous man, embodies profound historical events laden with symbolic meaning. The Iraqi playwright Khalid Al-Shawwaf employs these events, such as the conflicts between Dhul-Qarnayn and the Mongols, Gog and Magog, and Cain and Abel, to reflect complex political, historical, and emotional relationships, particularly in relation to the Mongols. Through the dramatic dialogue of the play, Al-Shawwaf portrays Dhul-Qarnayn’s role and courage as a reformer, a just ruler, and a man of compassion and loyalty to his people.
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