She’s More Than a Framing Device
By: S. J. Gordon
Tags: Books, Women, Fiction, Life, History

She’s More Than a Framing Device

She’s my literary hero.

“Scheherazade” by Sophie Gengembre Anderson [Public domain]

I believe Scheherazade is the idol of my writing life. What an amazing testament to the power of an excellent story, well told!

So, who is Scheherazade?

It’s a rather long story, though her part seems small.

The collection of stories known as “A Thousand and One Nights,” or “Alf laylah wa Laylah,” is drawn together as a cohesive collection by the use of what is called a “framing device.”

Scheherazade is this framing device.

We are told of a sultan who, having been wronged by his wife, sought revenge against all women. He executed his wife then, married a new virgin bride.

This hapless girl was likewise executed in the morning to rob her of any opportunity to be unfaithful as his first wife had done.

This process was repeated each day and the terrible campaign against women went on until the daughter of the sultan’s vizier, Scheherazade, volunteered to be the next bride.

This daring woman had a very clever plan.

When the sultan demanded her presence that night, she begged to send for her younger sister to join them so as to tell her one last bedtime story.

The sultan agreed and Scheherazade spun her tale.

However, the sun rose before she could reach the end of the story. With her promise to reveal the finale in the evening, the sultan allowed Scheherazade to live another day.

That night, the fascinating story the young bride told led to another story, again, not quite finished when the new day dawned.

Once again, Scheherazade was granted another day.

The clever storyteller went on like this for, as the story goes, a thousand and one nights, before her stories, at last, came to an end.

However, over the course of those many nights, the sultan had fallen in love with his brave, inventive young bride.

Scheherazade had saved her own life as well as untold numbers of other young women who might have fallen victim to the sultan’s unchecked fury.

Scheherazade is more than a framing device, in the end.

Scheherazade’s story is a compelling one all on its own, though I’m afraid she is often forgotten in our memory of the tales of the Arabian Nights.

Yes, it was really just the thread used to tie together an otherwise patchwork collection of stories gathered from all over the Middle East and India.

That, in itself, is of great importance. What would have become of this seemingly hodge-podge collection of stories without the volunteer bride?

But when we consider Scheherazade in her own right, one can’t help but admire her strong presence.

Intelligent, witty, clever, and brave, Scheherazade is admirable. Even more, she is a formidable female character from a time when women were not often portrayed in such a positive manner.

She is a model storyteller.

As a storyteller, myself, I am strongly drawn to Scheherazade.

Her ability to engage her angry, vindictive sultan and hold him, spellbound by her tales, long enough for his anger to cool and reason to return, is impressive and enviable.

That isn’t to say I want to be in a position in which I must tell stories in order to preserve my life.

Still, I could wish to have her talent for mesmerizing her audience. Who wouldn’t want such a nimble, creative imagination as hers?

Yes, Scheherazade is my literary idol. How do I admire her? Let me count the thousand and one ways…

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