This week I read about the Seven Voyages of Sindbad and the
thing I kept thinking about most as I read these stories was how repetitive
they seemed. Sindbad went on seven different voyages, but it was essentially
the same one or two stories told in different settings that had the same
beginning, a differing middle where Sindbad was in trouble, and the same
ending.
The first recurring motif that I noticed was Sindbad’s lack
of complacency. He lived in Baghdad and had a wonderful home and family but the
itch to adventure always got the better of him. At the end of each voyage he
would claim that he was home for good and would take no more voyages, but each
time he grew bored and left for sea again.
Another recurring motif was his wealth. Sindbad would make
lots of money as a merchant, lose all of his belongings in a shipwreck, but
then either discover wealth where he was stranded or be given extravagant gifts
by a king.
The other commonality between the voyages was Sindbad’s good
luck. After escaping whatever danger encountered him, there was always a
merchant ship off in the distance that he could get the attention of or a
generous king who was willing to give him a ship to travel home in.
Although these seemed repetitive, these recurring motifs
were also a useful way to tell the tale of Sindbad. It was interesting to see
how the author kept coming up with different dangers that Sindbad faced on an
island, whether it be giants or massive birds. The repetitiveness also provided
a sense of comedy, because each story would start the same but then go wrong
somehow, but it would all get tied back together with a common ending,
especially Sindbad claiming that he would never leave home again. This
storytelling style also provided a good ending to the story, because Sindbad is
forced by the king to leave for his seventh voyage.
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| The giant bird is a Roc, which appeared in multiple voyages. |
Image Info: Painting by Franz Rosel von Rosenhof (1690).
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