The Analysis of Dramatic Aspects of Quran’s Stories, Emphasizing on Suspense and Character Development

Undoubtedly, holy books are fundamentally and substantially different from that of written by mankind. These celestial words have categorized such holy books as the artistic and literary masterpieces of its kind. In fact, most of the language rules based on verse and literary beauty had token from aforementioned books.The method of storytelling in Holy Quran is in the way which by reading the stories, readers get to know holy notions that invite them to obey piety, godliness and living in a decent way. In these stories the mere purpose is not only to publicize technique and structure in their absolute concept but the main objective is to introduce humane and moral values to the readers. The stories of the Holy Quran have been narrated in three different ways so that each story enjoys dramatic features. In the first place, there are stories containing a steady process, tragedy-like concept based upon Aristotle definition and are narrated in a full episode; the story of “Joseph” is a case in point. Secondly, such stories that have been narrated here and there in various chapters of the holy Quran comprising tragic features such as the story of Adam and Eve. Thirdly, stories involve drama-like theme e.g. the story of Noah and his ark. Fascination in these stories is due to act of creating, suspense and act of processing characters in an intellectual way. Holy Quran’s stories are benefitted from dramatic elements, character development, the unraveling of a complication. Possessing conciseness, symbolism, ambiguity are other features of mentioned stories. In the story of Adam’s creation, various stages of suspense have been created about Adam’s destiny from the moment of his creation up to Adam’s fall and the rest of his life on earth. There is different suspense in the story of Edris such as when he faces death, heaven and hell. Another example of suspense is in the story of Saleh, the prophet who has confliction with his tribe and in each second there are many conspiracies against him and his miracle (the she-camel). In the story of Abraham, there is sequential suspense such as Abraham birth, his passing through fire, the sacrifice of Ishmael by Abraham and finally in the story of Joseph there is a set of dramatic suspense from his childhood up to his kingdom. Characterization and suspension are clearly considered as the most essential dramatic elements in Quran stories. All the stories are narrated in a way that the reader waits with bated breath to the end, shedding light on mental, social aspects as well as characters’ beliefs; it’s believable to express these aspects.Using analytical and descriptive methodology, this article examines the characterization and suspension of five characters of Quran’s stories such as Adam, Abraham, Noah, Saleh, and Joseph. It has been concluded that the feature of Quran stories and their dramatic context enjoying dramatic elements, along with characterization and suspension rudiments can pave the way for writing a wide range of plays and other works in this regard.