The frame technique and symbolism are used in One Thousand and One Nights to create a seamless and quick transition from one tale to the next.
This paragraph will examine the book's historical background and provide a short analysis of its strong literary elements, such as symbolism and the frame technique.
Technique of a tale within a story (This subsection explores the use of the frame technique and its importance in the narrations).
Symbolism (This paragraph explores the significance of symbolism as well as what some important events in the narratives symbolize).
Reiterates the essay's main ideas and thesis declaration. A Chronology of Tales: One Thousand and One Nights
One thousand and one nights is a collection of various folktales from Asia and the Middle East. The stories in the collection are dated back to ancient Indian, Persian, and Arabic literature. (Marzolph 183). The stories in this collection have their origin from the tale of Scheherazade (Marzolph et al. 4). The frame technique and symbolism used in the collection of stories come together to make the coordination and rhythm of the stories quite appealing to a reader, hence contributing to the tales’ exciting and captivating nature. This paper focuses on critical analysis of the frame technique and symbolism to create a continuous and swift shift from one story to another.
One thousand and one nights revolves around a frame story also known as a story within a story. The story not only creates the foundation of the stories but also provides a link to each of them. In the story of "The Three Apples," Ja’far, a character in this story narrates the “Tale of Núr al-Dín Alí and his Son” to Harun in a bid to ask for forgiveness. Further, in “Sinbad the Sailor,” Scheherazade interrupts this story when Sinbad the Sailor entertains Sinbad the Porter with seven tales, each representing one of his seven voyages. The story within a story style is also found in the “The Fisherman and the Jinni” tale in which the fisherman narrates the story of “The Vizier and the Sage Duban.” Here, the technique also leads to the narration of three more stories from it. Use of story within a story technique allows the narrator to extend the level of meanings in her tales and create a source of continuity through the narrations.
The narrator’s emphasis on using story within a story is also important in understanding the use of symbolism in the tales. In the tale of "The Three Apples," for instance, the death of the young woman is used to symbolize the deaths of the innocent virgins caused by the Sultan. Further, the old man in the story is used to symbolize existence of brave people in the society who are willing to take the fall on behalf of their beloved. The old man is also used to represent Scheherazade’s brave nature, as she’s willing to risk her life to put an end to the Sultan’s barbaric culture. Also, in the story of "Aladdin and the lamp," Aladdin’s marriage is used to symbolize that indeed stable partnerships that exist. The speaker also uses Morgiana's intelligence and smartness, a character in the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," to symbolize her smart nature.
In conclusion, after critically analyzing the use of symbolism and the frame technique in the narrations, it is evident that both styles are crucial in the delivery of the message embedded in the narrator’s mind. Scheherazade uses most of her characters and tales to pass a message to the Sultan, as most of them are seen to represent and symbolize her current stand against the Sultan’s behavior as well as her expectations. Strong characters are used symbolically to represent brave and heroic nature of Scheherazade. Scheherazade uses story within a story in an attempt to change the Sultan’s unfair trend. In essence, Scheherazade’s narratives portray the determination in her to fight this bad trend.
Works Cited
Irwin, R. (2003). The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Tauris Parke Palang-faacks (p. 209).
Marzolph, U. (2007). The Arabian nights in transnational perspective. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press.
Marzolph, U., Leeuwen, R., & Wassouf, H. (2004). The Arabian nights encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA [etc.]: ABC-CLIO.
