The Symbolic Plane, Embedded Narrative Structure, and Simile Network in the Story of the Bedouin Arab and His Wife in the Masnavi

Abstract

This study analyzes the story of the "Bedouin Arab and His Wife," found in the first book of Celâleddîn-i Rûmî's Masnavi, through the dimensions of narrative techniques, symbolic fiction, and simile structure. Utilizing a text-centered qualitative analysis method, the research examines the multilayered structure of the work, which deviates from linear storytelling and employs embedded narrative and frame story techniques within modern narratological concepts. In the context of symbolic fiction, the processes through which the characters transition from the manifest to the allegorical plane are analyzed, identifying the Bedouin as "reason" and his wife as "self." The narrative emphasizes that "the Arab is us, the jug is us, the king is us; all of them are us," establishing that all fictional elements in the Masnavi represent an ontological journey reflecting various levels and tendencies of the human soul.

The study also evaluates the thematic and functional integrity of sub-narratives, including the false sheikh, Hz. Salih and his camel, Leyla and Majnun, the shadow hunter, and the grammarian with the sailor. The twenty-eight couplets that form the primary data of this research are classified into five thematic categories: ontological, epistemological, mystical, socio-political, and psychological. The findings demonstrate that the similes in the text are not merely rhetorical embellishments; they create a structural organization that materializes abstract mystical concepts, revealing the dialectic between the manifest and the hidden, and guiding the reader from superficial perception to a deeper understanding of truth. This situation is in harmony with Abdülhüseyin Zerrinkûb's expression of the Masnavi narrator's 'desire to transcend the manifest' (Zerrinkûb 1377/1998, pp.260-262)