Aladdin (fictional character)

Aladdin is a character in folktales dating back thousands of years. Stories of Aladdin have changed over time, but throughout history, he has been portrayed as a poor boy who finds success with magical assistance. The tales include heroes, villains, adventure, and romance.

In addition to the original stories, which came from the oral tradition of China, Aladdin has appeared in plays, poetry, and—since the early twentieth century—films. The character became firmly entrenched in popular culture in 1992 with the release of the Disney animated feature film Aladdin.

Background

The most well-known stories about Aladdin come from One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights' Entertainments), a collection of folktales spun by a woman name Scheherazade. According to tradition, Scheherazade was a wife of a sultan, Shahrayar, who routinely spent a night with one of his wives and then had her killed in the morning. To avoid this fate, Scheherazade spun exciting tales but did not complete them by morning. To hear the full story, Shahrayar had to spare her life and wait until the next night. Many of the stories originated in Persia and India. Around the thirteenth century, Syrian and Egyptian tales were added. Many stories incorporate magic and are rags-to-riches tales. Aladdin's origins do not lie in this culture, however, and stories about Aladdin were not among the original tales of Scheherazade, though his adventures do fit with the overall theme.

The earliest stories about Aladdin originated in China. Aladdin is a poor young Chinese man or boy. His father is dead, and his mother lives in poverty. His romantic interest is Princess Badroulbadour, daughter of the sultan. Her name refers to the full moon, which is a term used to describe the face of a beautiful girl.

The stories of Aladdin and another character commonly associated with One Thousand and One Nights, Sinbad the Sailor, were added to the collection by French translator Antoine Galland early in the eighteenth century. Galland translated a fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript containing fewer than three hundred tales. He added several stories he had heard elsewhere to make the work longer. Several years later, the book was translated into English and published in new editions, which were popular among English readers.

Adam Oehlenschläger wrote Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp, a Dramatic Poem—in Two Parts, which was published in English in 1863. In 1885 Sir Richard Burton published a sixteen-volume edition of One Thousand and One Nights. The exotic stories appealed to readers during the Victorian era, with its strict rules of morality and class distinctions. The poor boy who rose from an anonymous life on the streets to unimaginable wealth was a runaway hero of the era.

In later decades, Aladdin appeared in many films, beginning with the 1924 silent movie The Thief of Bagdad. The character became the centerpiece of a popular animated Disney film titled Aladdin in 1992 and its direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). In 2019, Disney released a highly anticipated live-action version, also titled Aladdin, with a cast that included Will Smith as the genie (voiced in the animated films by Robin Williams). The film's worlwide box-office earnings proved that Aladdin's story had continued to resonate with viewers. He was also the focus of a Broadway musical of the same name that first opened in 2014 following successful regional productions.

Overview

Aladdin is the son of a tailor, Mustapha, who has died. Rather than find a way to earn a living, Aladdin wastes his days playing in the streets of his town in China. One day, he meets a man who asks him about his father. When Aladdin tells the stranger that his father is dead, the man, a famous African magician, hugs and kisses him and says he is Mustapha's brother, who has been away for forty years.

Aladdin's mother welcomes the magician into their home. He brings gifts and promises to provide Aladdin with a shop and merchandise to sell.

The magician takes Aladdin on a long walk. When the two reach a valley, the man uses his magic to reveal a stone door. He gives Aladdin a ring and promises riches if the boy opens the door and brings him a lamp. When Aladdin returns but refuses to hand over the lamp, the magician reveals himself to be a false relative. In anger, he seals Aladdin in the tunnel and leaves. Because of a spell on the magic lamp, he can receive it only from the hand of another.

After two days in the dark, Aladdin is in despair. He rubs the ring the magician gave him. A genie appears and announces that he is the Slave of the Ring and will do as Aladdin asks. Aladdin asks to be out of the tunnel and finds himself outside. He goes home and tells his mother to sell the lamp to buy food. When she tries to clean the lamp, a frightening genie appears and terrifies his mother. Aladdin demands food from the genie, and he and his mother feast. She begs her son to get rid of the lamp that produced a devil, but Aladdin uses it to provide for them for several years.

One day, Aladdin hides so he can see the face of Princess Badroulbadour. He falls immediately in love. Through magic, he thwarts her marriage to the vizier's son and sends riches to the sultan to gain the hand of Badroulbadour. He has the genie build a palace and lay a velvet carpet between its door and the sultan's palace.

After several years of marriage, Aladdin's life is interrupted. The magician has learned that Aladdin is alive and is living in luxury, so he must have the lamp. He visits the palace while Aladdin is away and tricks Badroulbadour into giving him the old lamp. The magician orders the lamp genie to take him, the princess, and the palace to Africa.

The angry sultan gives Aladdin forty days to find his daughter. Aladdin, who forgot about the power of the ring, rubs his hands in sorrow and awakens the Slave of the Ring. He has the genie transport him to his castle, where he and Badroulbadour poison the magician. Aladdin takes back the lamp and returns the castle and everyone in it to its former place. The magician's brother later seeks revenge, but Aladdin triumphs and kills him, too. He and Badroulbadour live long and happy lives together.

Bibliography

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"The Arabian Nights: One Thousand and One Nights Themes." GradeSaver, www.gradesaver.com/the-arabian-nights-one-thousand-and-one-nights/study-guide/themes. Accessed 4 Oct. 2016.

Crouch, Ian. "The Genius of Robin Williams in 'Aladdin.'" The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2014, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/genius-robin-williams-aladdin. Accessed 5 Oct. 2016.

Gardner, Lyn. "Pure Genies." The Guardian, 16 July 2003, www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/jul/16/theatre.artsfeatures. Accessed 4 Oct. 2016.

Kang, Inkoo. "The Live-Action Aladdin Fleshes Out Its Characters in More Ways Than One." Review of Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie. Slate, 23 May 2019, slate.com/culture/2019/05/aladdin-movie-review-2019-live-action-remake.html. Accessed 2 July 2019.

Oehlenschläger, Adam. Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp, a Dramatic Poem—in Two Parts. Translated by Theodore Martin, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1863.

Riggs, Terry. "Sir William Rothenstein: The Princess Badroulbadour, 1908." Tate UK, Jan. 1998, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rothenstein-the-princess-badroulbadour-n03953/text-summary. Accessed 4 Oct. 2016.

Tearle, Oliver. "Surprising Facts about Aladdin and the Arabian Nights." Interesting Literature (blog), 30 Jan. 2013, interestingliterature.com/2013/01/30/surprising-facts-about-aladdin/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2016.