The Frame Story, Kings and Jinn in The Arabian Nights

## Introduction

“My story is of such marvel that if it were written with a needle on the corner of an eye, it would yet serve as a lesson to those who seek wisdom.” - The Arabian Nights

Written by Carter Gaskill, Jarrod Johanns, Angelos Brisku. Edited by Carter Gaskill.

The stories of The Arabian Nights were compiled over the course of centuries by many different authors. The story's influence is felt all over the world thanks to the work of translators throughout history. The thing that ties all of the stories in the nights together is the frame story with Scheherazade and Shahryar. The frame story acts as the framing device used to not only set up for the rest of the stories but act as a base for stories to be told through it. In the frame story, Scheherazade regales stories to king Shahryar in an attempt to keep her own life and save the lives of other women who would be taken and killed by the king nightly.

The kings within the tales are depicted as fierce figures in a civilization where their power is reinforced by showing authority over characters of a lower class. Punishment is used by various kings for those that pose as potential threats to their status or appear to betray their sovereignty. While often viewed as ruthless or unforgiving, as their individual journeys progress perspectives change, and different approaches are considered to transition from their ill-fated dilemmas. It is when they develop pity for those they see as worthy for their assistance, that they gain insight for their struggles in a different light. Even those who carry the strongest traits can be taught morals by others they regard as not their equals.

To showcase how shahrazad tried to prevent the king from doing more evil she portrayed him as a jinn throughout the book. In many cases we can see the duality of man in the duality of the jinn portrayed. The abuse of the power the king has is shown through the Jinn in the stories and can be easily seen by the reader, but the king doesn’t pick up on it as easily as us. There are a lot of points that show how similar the king is to a jinn through not only the stories but also in religion and in cultures around the world and all over time.

## What is the purpose and significance of the frame story in the Arabian Night?

"This book, which I have called The Thousand and One Nights, abounds also with splendid biographies that teach the reader to detect deception and to protect himself from it, as well as delight and divert him whenever he is burdened with the cares of life and the ills of this world." ~ *The Arabian Nights*

The significance of the frame story of *The Arabian Nights* cannot be overstated. Not only does its influence bleed through the entirety of the *Nights*, but it has also influenced countless generations of writers throughout the world. It is a story that acts as a foundation through which other stories are told. In *The Arabian Nights*, this concept is explored and used in every possible way. Not only does it act as the frame of the story for *The*

*Arabian Nights*, but it also helps create the stories within it that Shahrazad tells the king. “The stories in the Nights are like a complex set of interlocking arguments and examples, each fitting more or less well into its frame and doing a more or less successful job of proving its point as well as entertaining. The main frame creates the setting and motivation for all the stories contained in the Nights” (Diane Thompson). This is because the stories created within the frame are used as frames for other stories as well. With this level of detail and use made from the frame story, it has earned itself a position of such importance to the overall narrative that without it, the reader would be at a huge disadvantage. The frame story itself provides a level of context and knowledge to the readers that is necessary to enjoy a full experience of the *Nights*. On top of that, it manages to organize the reader's thoughts and mindset so that they are prepared for the type of narrative that they will be led into throughout the whole of the *Nights*. This concept is emphasized perfectly by how Shahrazad must keep reading the king stories while knowing that her life will end when she runs out. The purpose that the frame story for *The Arabian Nights* fulfills is of utmost significance to the whole of the *Nights* as well as our understanding of it throughout history and beyond to the realities of our world.

“The frame story is the backbone of the whole text, if omitted the tales will be incoherent.” Diving into the purpose of the frame story for the *Nights*, it is meant as a story that acts as a framework for the stories that are being told. This idea is used to its fullest extent by Shahrazad in an effort to keep herself alive and protect others from harm. She does this by creating a story that not only serves as a springboard for other stories, but she uses it in a way that creates multiple levels of stories on top of each other that build out the whole of *The Arabian Nights*. She gives the frame story a high degree of importance compared to the rest of the stories by having it be so integral to someone's understanding of *The Arabian Nights*. This concept of layering and making everything intertwine means that Shahrazad has an ending or bottom to all these layers that she's building**.** This means that she will eventually die once she reaches the end and that nothing besides storytelling can save her. “These challenges and questions which are raised in the frame story and also in the text itself should be regarded as an affirmation of its revolutionary characteristic, and a testimony to its survival through different ages and across various cultures and languages.”

“SHAHRAZAD, THE TELLER OF THE TALES of 1001 Nights must be ranked among the best known female literary figures, a woman loved and praised for her humanity by readers everywhere.” (Samar Attar) The frame story finds itself as being a significant cornerstone to our society today. It speaks to matters of gender, authority, critical discussion, the fundamentals of storytelling. It also interacts with global culture in such a way that countless numbers of people have been touched by its influence. A large portion of the frame story speaks to the matter of gender and authority in a way that has been significant throughout history and is still important to current discussions today. “Furthermore, because some of the stories contain explicit sexuality and sexual innuendo, as well as bawdy language, and themes not acceptable by polite society, they were also deemed quite vulgar.” (Anchi Hoh) This type of story was so uncommon that it was not seen as something that should be given any real critical thought and was looked down as something you shouldn't read. However, this changed after the *Nights* were translated for western audiences, leading to its great popularity in current western societies today. It took much longer to become something that was critically and widely accepted in the Arab world from which it came. This puts the *Nights* in a fascinating position that makes it both incredibly important to our own history but also to the relations between the peoples of both the Western and Arab cultures.

At the end of the day, *The Arabian Nights* stands as an important figure to our world, but it also finds itself as being an incredibly well written piece of literature. It teaches the fundamentals of storytelling to any aspiring writer. The story itself goes deep and pulls on many strands of storytelling that allow one to get a broad understanding of its elements by simply reading *The Arabian Nights*. The night is written with such purpose that it gave entire generations of people stories to learn and grow from. Its significance reaches through much of our history and especially that of the written word and effects storytelling today in a way that no one could have ever predicted. When Disney gets involved, you know that something will make an impact on people. This timelessness is a rare sight in our world today which means that *The Arabian Nights* will continue two are affect our world long after we are all dead, gone, and forgotten.

## The significance and purpose of the King in the Arabian Nights.

The stories in the Arabian Nights show kings as fierce figures driven by betrayals but by the end of each journey, they learn compassion.

The story of the Enchanted King in the Arabian Nights shows how the King of China learns compassion when he rewards the poor fisherman for leading him to the enchanted city where there resides the young man with the body made of stone. After hearing the young man’s story of how his wife betrayed him and cast a magic spell over the whole city, feels pity for the young man and decides to help. The king relates with the enchanted young man when he learns of his wife’s disloyalty and decides to murder both the sorceress and her lover, the black slave. The young man will revert to his man form and go back to ruling his kingdom. The spell will be removed from the city, and the citizens with be freed at last. “When he saw this condition of his, the king was filled with grief and regret. He exclaimed in sorrow: ‘Young man, you have added another care to my cares! I was looking for information about the fish, but now I see I must ask both about them and about you.” (41). The king is now motivated for more than selfish reasons, he has more than one purpose to fulfill. His search for the pool full of colored fish has led him to the suffering of the young man. He realizes that a true king must use his powers to help his people in times of misery. In his article “Women and Slaves: Gender and Politics in the Arabian Nights” Tarek Shamma argues that “Shahrayar and his brother and their counterparts in the tales told by Shahrazad-collectively transmitting knowledge and power to each other and fighting the wiles of rebellious women.” Under this circumstance the vengeful King forms an alliance with the young Prince being cursed with a body of stone to help restore the city and save the inhabitants from the wicked sorceress. Kings relate by sharing their problematic stories with each other and with other characters that are facing similar fates to look for alternative solutions. Many of the kings mirror each other’s madness when they find out that their wives are deceiving them, but they each look for cure through different paths. In his article “Political Thought in the Thousand and One Nights” Robert Irwin argues that “the king’s subjects will serve him well if he serves them well, and, if he does not, then they will not.” Once the fisherman’s goodwilled intentions are realized for leading him to the young man, he will develop an enthusiastic outlook which will serve well for himself and for his people. The kingdom will benefit highly, and the King will reign supreme. Initially driven by ambition, the fierce king sympathizes with the young man and praises his bravery on his unfortunate suffering. For his unselfishness and good deeds, the story rewards the King of China with a safe return to his city. Upon his return, the king rewards his people with gifts and adopts the young man as his son. The fisherman becomes a rich man while his daughters’ become wives of the King and the young man living happily until their deaths.

While king Yunan longs for the execution of sage Duban because he fears of betrayal, the tale proves to inflict a sense of compassion towards king Shahriyar when he recalls his own circumstance. In the frame tale, king Shahriyar views all women as unfaithful and as potential threats to his authority, his perspective slowly changes as he enjoys hearing his wife’s never-ending tales. The metaphorical tales told by Sheherazade, provide wisdom, and unknowingly place king Shahriyar within the stories to learn values and view matters in a different light. “A man who cured me of my illness by something that I held in my hand is able to kill me by something that I smell. I am afraid that he has been bribed to murder me, as he is a spy, and this is why he has come here. He must be executed, and after that I shall be safe. “(33). Just like king Shahriyar feels that he must murder his wife before she proves her unfaithfulness, king Yunan fears that if he does not execute Duban, sooner or later he will be betrayed. This serves as a parallel between king Shahriyar and king Yunan, and their ways of dealing with their dilemmas using punishment as form for their solutions. In her article “The Teacher and the Taught: Structures and Meaning in the Arabian Nights and the Panchatantra” Sadhana Nithani argues that “they are stories about human beings and their relationships, their capabilities, their desires, their true and false sense of values, their powers and their weaknesses.” Through the tales king Shahriyar will unconsciously learn to abandon his cruel intentions towards his wife but also others that he perceives as enemy figures. His power will be used for the purpose of achieving a united front against true outside forces. By hearing the different tales, king Shahriyar becomes the one that is taught compassion. The powerful messages within the tales teach the different kings that there must be a balance, one should not be driven by their madness generated by past trauma. After hearing the tale of king Yunan and sage Duban, king Shahriyar learns that he should acknowledge and be grateful for those with good intentions. He should never take favors for granted and recognize pureness behind the deed for what it presents. A true king should refrain from all the negatives and instead should focus his energy on the positives. Only then, king Shahriyar will learn to trust his wife and feel the freedom in himself. Each character provides a unique view on how difficulties are handled. The kings learn to not lose hope, but to look at the brighter side of things to keep their sanity.

The kings in the stories go full circle to find peace within themselves by seeing things in different light. By comparing their hardships with other character’s hardships between the tales, they look for truth that will be unveiled while going on a new journey. There are high expectations for kings to not leave any vulnerabilities or weaknesses. Betrayals and threats to the kings could lead to the kings being dethroned and the disruption of the social order. Kings learn compassion by leaving their fierce nature behind and bring equality and justice to their respectful kingdoms.

## What is the Significance of the jinn in the Arabian Nights?

In the Arabian Nights there are many cases of the creatures called Jinn being the main cause of problems. Sometimes the endings to these stories are good, but in most cases they are bad. Today we will not be discussing whether the stories end well or not though. The question I would like to ask is, what is the significance of the Jinn in the story as a whole? With the evidence I've found I would say that they are the embodiment of the king in the frame story of the *1001 Arabian Nights.* But in order to properly explain their significance, I would need to inform you what exactly Jinn are in both the tales, religion, and how they are portrayed in our world before getting to exactly why they are similar to the king in the frame story.

Jinn are creatures of various sizes in the form of what some people would call demonic, angelic, or even human. There are many variations of the Jinn in many religions and cultures and a lot of them share similarities. They explain that the Jinn can be good or evil, but primarily use their power to do bad things to people. In his YouTube video “The Origins of Jinn: From Evil Spirits to Genie - (Exploring Middle Eastern Folklore),” Mythology & Fiction Explained explains that Jinn go out of their way to disguise themselves as animals in places that humans wouldn't normally visit. In that way the humans will normally follow for either food or curiosity. They lure them out to make them lost for their own amusement or would take them away from their families and civilization. Although they are spirits, they can die and are not immortal which lets us know they are mortal just like all other living beings even though they live much longer. (Mythology & Fiction Explained) Another source I found from 1848 called “Chapter III.: Of the Mythology and Superstitions of The Arabian Nights, And Other Eastern Tales” explains that they have been known to abduct women and that is an obvious red flag which made people scared of them. (Chapter III) A good connection between king Shahryar and the jinn in the book is the one jinn not even told about in one of Scheherazade’s stories. In the very beginning of the frame story, King Shahryar and his brother see a Jinn holding a woman on one of their small adventures before the king decides to marry and kill all the woman in the kingdom. The Jinn holding the woman captive and not letting her live her life is foretelling of events to come when king Shahryar ultimately does the exact same thing at the time Scheherazade is in his possession. Instead of using her for sexual desires and the like he uses her for the stories she tells.

In *The 1001 Arabian Nights* we are only shown Jinn in a few stories, but they are very significant in these stories. In the fisherman and the jinn we are shown a scene where a man finds a bottle floating in the sea and once he opens it a Jinn comes out. Immediately the Jinn threatens him which shows how drastic a jinn can be even though he was just saved. The jinn and the young man came to a compromise, and the Jinn told the fisherman of a special lake full of strange fish. This scene tells us that the Jinn can be compromised with and have a sense of humanity, which is why Scheherazade told the story. She is trying to tell the king Shahryar that he doesn't have to be a monster and he can be human once more. Another case with the Jinn being drastic but then reasoned with is the story of the jinn and the date seed.t involved a merchant who killed the child of a jinn with a date seed when he threw it on the ground. Although quite obviously was an accident, the jinn decide the man has a small amount of time to live before he takes his life. In the story the jinn (or the ifrit) is told three stories by a few men and he agrees to set the merchant free. This was one of the first stories Scheherazade told and it was in hopes that king Shahryar would listen to reason. It is also the exact situation Scheherazade is in which makes it noticeable to us, and it should have been to the king.

The Jinn in our time are seen as something fantastical with powers to grant us any of our wishes, and this is shown in the movie Aladdin with the genie who grants Aladdin many wishes. Everyone loved the genie in this movie whether it was because of his charisma or because of actor who voiced it, and this was an exception to the idea of jinn/genie being bad since this one was obviously not. With it being true that jinn or genie do have these powers, a lot of the time they abuse that power. King Shahryar abuses his power just as much and possibly even more than a jinni which is an interesting thought since he can be seen as jinn to many people due to the abuse he put his own people through. It wouldn't be strange to assume that people in the book thought of him as one due to his abductions and abuse of law. He killed many women and even if it isn't for self-entertainment, he still does it out of spite. After king Shahryar found out his wife was cheating on him with various people he took out his anger on his whole kingdom which was extremely drastic, and that is very much a thing a Jinn would do. He could grant the people of his kingdom many wishes as he may have done previously, but he would rather punish everyone over his personal affairs. The dramatic approach he took made him seem inhuman and Scheherazade is just trying to make him realize what he is doing is wrong and evil through her stories of the various kings and the Jinn throughout the book.

## Works cited

### Frame Story References

Attar, Samar, and Gerhard Fischer. “PROMISCUITY, EMANCIPATION, SUBMISSION: THE CIVILIZING PROCESS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FEMALE ROLE MODEL IN THE FRAME-STORY OF 1001 NIGHTS.” *Arab Studies Quarterly*, vol. 13, no. 3/4, Pluto Journals, 1991, pp. 1–18, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857990

EL-Naggar , Nehal. “Exploring the Frame Story in The Arabian Nights Gender and the Question of Authority.” *International Journal of Social Science and Business*, vol. 2, no. 1, Feb. 2017, https://doi.org/http://www.ijssb.com/images/vol2.no.1/2.pdf

Hoh, A. (2017, October 26). *A Thousand and One nights: Arabian story-telling in world literature*. A Thousand and One Nights: Arabian Story-telling in World Literature | 4 Corners of the World: International Collections and Studies at the Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2017/10/a-thousand-and-one-nights-arabian-story-telling-in-world-literature/.

Thompson, D. (n.d.). *Arabian Nights Study Guide*. WORLD LITERATURE I (ENG251). Retrieved December 12, 2021, from https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng251/arabstudy.htm#story.

Zhang, Y. (2015, May 8). *Harvard Wiki*. The Thousand and One Nights - Literature 114 (Spring 2014-2015) - Harvard Wiki. Retrieved from https://wiki.harvard.edu/confluence/display/k104639/The+Thousand+and+One+Nights.

### The King References

Clinton, Jerome W. “Madness and Cure in the 1001 Nights.” *Studia Islamica*, no. 61, [Brill, Maisonneuve & Larose], 1985, pp. 107–25,

Irwin, Robert. "Political Thought in the Thousand and One Nights." *Marvels & Tales*, vol. 18, no. 2, 2004, pp. 246-257,342*.*

Naithani, Sadhana. "The Teacher and the Taught: Structures and Meaning in the Arabian Nights and the Panchatantra." *Marvels & Tales*, vol. 18, no. 2, 2004, pp. 272-285,343*.*

Shamma, Tarek. "Women and Slaves: Gender Politics in the Arabian Nights." *Marvels & Tales*, vol. 31, no. 2, 2017, pp. 239-260,444*.*

### The Jinn references

fiction explained, mythology. (2020, December 2). The origins of jinn: From evil spirits to genie - (exploring middle eastern folklore). YouTube. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdqgSWNJz0I.

h, s b. (1848). CHAPTER III.: OF THE MYTHOLOGY AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, AND OTHER EASTERN TALES., 1–2.

Lyons, M. C., Lyons, U., & Irwin, R. (2010). *The arabian nights. tales of 1001 nights*. Penguin.

**Pictures:** bullitin, transcript. “The Fisherman and the Jinni.” *Tooele Transcript Bulletin – News in Tooele, Utah*, 2020, http://tooeleonline.com/the-fisherman-and-the-jinni/.