The Arabian Nights: Full Book Analysis

The most interesting facet of the plot of The Arabian Nights is its frame story, or the plot running through and holding together all of the title’s tales, which began as an oral tradition before being recorded on the page. The first three stories in the collection tell the tale of two brothers, King Shahrayar and King Shahzaman, who both discover that their wives are unfaithful. This discovery sets the plot and the conflict into motion. At first, the brothers journey to see if they can find a man more unfortunate than they, and after they do, they return home. This journey is a diversion, although it includes a thrilling story about a demon’s wife who takes one hundred lovers, including the two brothers. The demon’s wife offers two ideas that guide and inform all else in the story to come. One idea is that nothing can prevent what fate has predestined for a person. The other idea is that when a woman sets her mind to something, nothing can stop her.

When the brothers return home, Shahrayar devises a horrible revenge upon all the young women of his kingdom as he now believes all women are unfaithful liars. Shahrayar will marry one eligible girl every single night, and after taking her virginity, he will kill her in the morning, only to marry another the next day. Such a plan is cruel and fiendish, but as king, Shahrayar has the absolute power to do whatever he chooses. His ego has been battered, his reputation wrecked, by a careless wife.

This plan, then, is the central conflict of The Arabian Nights. How can a woman overcome the king’s evil scheme? King Shahrayar is clearly the antagonist. The protagonist emerges at the end of the Prologue in the form of an exceptionally intelligent and courageous young woman named Shahrazad who has a plan to outsmart Shahrayar, thereby saving herself and any women who might follow, including her younger sister. The conflict—can Shahrazad survive Shahrayar’s murderous intentions? — hovers in the balance for hundreds of nights. Readers and listeners continue to wonder about the outcome as they witness Shahrayar ask for more and more stories, night after night, as his heart and mind are eased by Shahrazad’s enchanting voice and clever tales.

Most of the stories told by Shahrazad have their own protagonists and antagonists, men and women who are motivated by passion, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, and longing. Some characters are poor, common folk. Others are kings and queens. Still others are demons, witches, and sorcerers who make the unbelievable real. In one tale, the characters include sea creatures. The first two fables, told by Shahrazad’s father as he tries to convince Shahrazad to not marry Shahrayar, the characters are animals. Like the frame story between Shahrayar and Shahrazad, the tales woven throughout the text are full of sexuality, violence, long journeys, and high suspense. And just like the frame story, the tales often teach the virtues of patience, empathy, loyalty, and fortitude. Some end tragically, but many end happily as fate rewards the characters for surviving all kinds of challenges, tortures, cruelties, and pain. All the stories delight and intrigue. None are boring, slow, or even enigmatic. Their plots and characters satisfy an audience’s thirst to be entertained and the human need for connection.

The stories are grouped into nine cycles of varying lengths and complexities. Within each cycle, there begins a main story that branches into sub-stories and even sub-sub-stories, each one nested inside another, often with new narrators and new casts of characters. Sometimes, the stories are interwoven, sharing characters, settings, and events. Other times, they are completely distinct and separate, such as the last three love stories in the collection. Some tales are told by a series of narrators who are related, such as the barber’s six brothers, the three dervishes, or the three sisters who share a house. Occasionally, the sub-tales come full circle in a cycle, such as the story of the hunchback who appears to die at the beginning of “The Story of the Hunchback” but is revived on the 169th night. No matter which of the tales’ characters are acting as narrator, Shahrazad is the one true storyteller here, and she weaves each tale masterfully.

Readers learn how the main conflict is resolved quite abruptly at the end of the book. There, on the last page, appears a short note about the conflict’s outcome, not a denouement but more of a climax that occurs suddenly and without warning. First, the final story, “The Story of Jullanar of the Sea,” ends with the detail that King Badr and his wife and family enjoyed life until they were “overtaken by the breaker of ties and destroyer of delights. And this is the completion and the end of their story.” This detail hints to readers that the same is true for Shahrazad and Shahrayar, that they enjoy life until they are overtaken by death. Then, in the Translator’s Postscript, which appears immediately after the final tale, readers learn that Shahrayar learned to love and trust Shahrazad, and the two became parents to three children. After hundreds of nights of stories, Shahrazad’s plan to put an end to Shahrayar’s murderous ways succeeds.

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