Every story is formed from a strong link between two elements of surface and structure. In structuralism, narrative is considered as a structure, which has been studied by theorists such as Algirdas Julius Greimas (1917-1992) to find its components and provide a basic pattern for this structure. Algirdas Julius Greimas was a structuralist and semantic theorist, also a follower of Vladimir Propp (1895-1970). He introduced the theory of Actantial model for the narrative. This model aims to reveal the role of the characters of a narrative, and helps to indentify the characters by linking action and character to each other. In this research, we studied the Ilahi-name of Attar based on the modern literary theories including structuralist narratology, semantic pattern of Greimas, and morphological pattern of Gerard Genette. In addition, the narrative function of two stories of Ilahi-name, the “Pious Woman” and “Daughter of Ka’b and Her Love”, has been interpreted according to the narrative model of Greimas. We further studies stories by recognizing the situations of the narrative discourse (based on the focalization theory of Gerard Genette), and also the plot, i.e. Actantial model (six actants: sender/receiver, subject/object, supporter/oppositionist), to analyze the tales based on semantic square (le carré sémiotique).

Keywords: Attar, Ilahi-name, Narrative function, Greimas model, Focus of narration, Gerard Genette

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