A ''Wise Old Man'' Archetype Criticism in Maqāmāt Hamidi

Archetype is the eternal symbols of ancient thought, accumulated by the collective unconscious of human minds. These patterns are forming a part of the information of collective unconscious. The "wise old man" is one of the most important archetypes, the symbol of spiritual world as well as that of the father in the material world. This character directs all of persons toward emancipation and optimism in critical conditions. Maqāmāt Hamidi is a magnum opus in Persian literature, in which the champion tells amazing stories each time in a different and unknown appearance to free the narrator of hardship and poverty, fulfill his needs with a type of generosity and champion characteristic, and finally disappear. In this sense, Maqāmāt Hamid, which mostly include the stories of ruffians and mobs, is different from other similar works of literature, as it revolved around spiritual and mystic concepts. According to this research, the purpose of the "wise old man" archetype in Maqāmāt Hamidi is preaching, teaching, appearing as the "spiritual old man", the “traveling old man”, and the "wise gallant", all of which are representations of the same wise old man.