Literary Monster
Sekandar’s Letter to Foor
“ “From Sekandar, the son of Filqus, who lights the flames of prosperity, and adversity; to Foor, the lord of India favored by the heavens, commander of the armies of Sind.” The letter opened with praise of God the Creator who is eternal, saying while those From whom he turns away become wretched, and the sun never shines on them. “You will have heard how God has given me farr, victory, good fortune, crowns, thrones, and sovereignty over this dark earth. But none of this will last, and my days draw on: another will come after me to enjoy my conquests. My only ambition is to leave a good name and no disgrace behind me on this sublunar earth. When they bring this letter to you, free your dark soul from sorrow; descend from your throne, do not consult with your priests or advisors, but mount your horse and come asking for my protection. Those who try to trick me only prolong matters, and if for one moment you disobey me by choosing arrogance and warfare, I shall descend on your country like a fire, bringing an army of picked warriors, and once you see my cavalry you will regret your delay in submitting to me.” The letter was sealed with Sekandar’s mark, and a soldier who was eager for fame was eager to take it.” (Pg. 201 The Shahnameh)
Sekander is portrayed as the hero of the story, he is ambitious and is known for doing great things but my focus is how he got to where he is. He was a conqueror in short, what we see through this passage is the scare tactics he uses against his enemies to take over, whether it be their land, their power, or anything else. In the letter, he is acting righteous, and kind, and generous, like he is Foor’s savior saying “free your dark soul from sorrow” when in reality the only reason Foor would need saving is because of Sekander’s own actions. Sekandar is using his known achievements and reputation to essentially scare Foor into surrendering because he believes it will be a grave mistake on his part to challenge him.
Sekandar is also known for using underhanded tactics to defeat them such as creating a whole ploy to get to Qaydafeh that involved capturing her son and lying about his identity to get inside her palace. In the end, Sekandar’s goal is to conquer all of Persia and one does not accomplish such a task without being a ‘monster’ in some way.
A character we can compare Sekandar to is Beowulf, they are both the main characters of their stories and they can potentially be seen as a monster or having monster characteristics. While Sekandar’s actions can be interpreted as sneaky, Beowulf is very noble. Throughout all of Beowulf Beowulf never pulled any underhanded tricks to win, it was a fair fight and he used his strength. I would say Sekandar is a monster because of his mind and where it leads him but Beowulf is a monster because of his strength and how brutal he can be.