Intellectual and Artistic Employment of the Secondary Character in Ali Ahmed Bakathir’s Historical Novels

Abstract

This study aimed to show both intellectual and artistic employment of the secondary character in Ali Ahmed Bakathir’s historical novels. It was divided into three main areas: characters supporting the main character, characters against the main character, and legal figures. It was concluded that Bakathir employed the religious character in conveying and manifesting his idea, employed the character artistically to be integrated with the hero's character, dignified the hidden characters which the history did not talk about, for artistic and intellectual maturity, re-read the history and re-interpreted it, positing these new reading and interpretation as the most prominent functions accomplished by the historical novel, and was able to employ fiction to convey his visions and communicate his ideas without talking to recipients directly through using the secondary character intelligently in constructing his historical novels.