Chapter I: Introduction

Considered the most important literary phenomenon of 20th century, The

Alchemist (1988) explores the theme of one’s dream. The illusion the readers have

that Coelho is talking directly to and about them is enhanced by the fact that he has

often borrowed them from their lives for his fiction. Coelho is recognized for his

powerful storytelling technique and profound spiritual insights he blends seamlessly

into his parables.

Coelho tells people what they want to hear, or rather that he tells them what

they wish for but never thought possible. It is a symbolic story that urges its readers to

follow their dreams. With The Alchemist, Coelho states that we should not avoid our

destinies, and urges people to follow their dreams, because to find our personal myth

and our mission on the earth is the way to find “God,” meaning happiness, fulfillment,

and the ultimate purpose of creation. In his journey, Santiago, the protagonist of the

novel, sees the greatness of the world, and meets all kinds of exciting people like

kings and alchemists.

In The Alchemist, Coelho, like a village bard writes of normal and common

people who put themselves in extraordinary situations to nurture their inner selves,

using unpretentious, unadorned prose. Unlike other novels, The Alchemist urges

readers to pursue their goals with great determination. By giving a moral message to

the readers, The Alchemist imparts wisdom as found in children’s fairytales. This

thesis tries to find out how Coelho tends to give the perception of a fairytale in The

Alchemist that seems to impart a positive lesson to its readers.

The Alchemist is an exciting novel that bursts with optimism. It is the kind of

novel that tells us that everything is possible as long as we really want it to happen.

The book seems to impart numerous jewels of wisdom to its readers. This simple

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fable celebrates the richness of the human spirit. Readers are captured and absorbed

into the tale. They find themselves relating to the fears that Santiago undergoes. As a

result, the enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world.

Coelho tells people what they want to hear, or rather that he tells them what they wish

for but never thought possible could even be probable.

1.1. Coelho and his Literary Odyssey

The novel is exotic, dazzling, timeless and entertaining. It breaks down the

journey we all take to find the most meaningful treasures in our lives into the steps

that are at once natural and magical. It is about the faith, power, and courage we all

have within us to pursue the intricate path of a personal legend. Coelho confesses in

an interview to Glauco Ortolano, how the idea of The Alchemist developed:

You may be amazed to learn that the story of The Alchemist comes

from the Thousand and One Nights. It is quite a short tale, only a few

lines long, about a hidden treasure for which the hero searches far from

home, only to find it eventually within himself. I took four guiding

ideas from it: the personal legend, the language of signs, the soul of the

world and the need to listen to one’s heart. I started the novel with this

very short tale as my guide. The only thing I knew was that the boy

would eventually return to his starting point. (22)

Coelho’s fascination with the spiritual quest dates back to his hippie days,

when he traveled the world learning about secret societies, oriental religions, etc. His

own life has in many ways been as varied and unusual as the protagonists of his

internationally acclaimed novels. Like them, Coelho has followed a dream in a quest

for fulfillment. His own dream, to be a writer, met with frustration throughout much

of his early adult life, a time in which he worked at various professions, some of them

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materially rewarding but spiritually unfulfilling. In 1970, after deciding that the law

school was not for him, he traveled through much of South America, North Africa,

Mexico, and Europe. Returning to Brazil after two years, he began a successful career

as popular songwriter. In 1974, he was imprisoned for a short time by the military

dictatorship then ruling in Brazil.

In 1988, Coelho published The Alchemist, which is based on Jorge Luis

Borges Tale of Two Dreamers, which in turn was based on a tale from The Book of

One Thousand and One Nights. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop

the novel, but it went on to become one of the best-selling Brazilian books of all time.

Melanie Cole says that to label Paulo Coelho a new-age author is to do him a disservice.

She says that Coelho maintains an unusually warm relationship with his readers:

Although Coelho’s books deal with the metaphysical subjects of

finding yourself and gaining spiritual insight, Coelho tells his stories

like a village bard. His personal experiences make their way into his

books, which he writes in Portuguese. Lately the Brazilian writer has

embarked on a pilgrimage to discuss his books about an Andalusian

shepherd boy’s journey across North Africa. (33)

His own dream, to be a writer, met with frustration throughout much of his

early adult life, a time in which he worked at various professions, some of them

materially rewarding but spiritually unfulfilling. In The Alchemist, Coelho shows how

easy it is to give up ever attaining one’s dreams due to complacency or not wanting to

move out of one’s comfort zone. The message of the novel directs us to follow one’s

dreams, listen to one’s heart, trust, love and learn to let go of fear. Therefore, he

seems to instruct his readers to listen to their heart just like his protagonist Santiago.

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 Many people have compared The Alchemist to Saint-Exupéry’s The Little

Prince, a children’s book about another boy. Here, the Prince leaves his home in

search of greater things, learning valuable lessons about life and love on the way. It is

interesting to note that much of The Little Prince also takes place in the desert. There

are many parallels to Santiago’s journey in Herman Hesse‘s Siddhartha. They both

develop a spiritual aspect being alone early in life. Later, just like Siddhartha on his

journey, Santiago has to become a business man. His ideas succeed in making him

wealthy, but he is apart from the business of his business. Complementing on

Coelho’s use of very simple themes in The Alchemist, Lynn Andriani writes:

But rather than offering readers tantalizing tales of violence, thrills or

sex, Coelho writes of regular people who put themselves in

extraordinary situations to nurture their inner selves, using

unpretentious, unadorned prose. Unlike those chart busters, Paulo

Coelho’s The Alchemist is a simple fable that urges readers to pursue

their goals and not give up. By using a fable, he is trying to convey a

message. (45)

The Alchemist parallels the boatman in Siddhartha, who, after transporting

Siddhartha across the river, sends him on his way to follow his destiny, knowing he

will return. The love story develops and ends differently. Santiago has a different

personal legend in that aspect. Mac Margolis says that Paulo Coelho with his unkempt

hair and a wispy beard, claims to commune with spirits. His fascination with the

spiritual quest dates back to his hippie days, when he traveled the world learning

about secret societies, oriental religions and mysticism. The style of writing is

simplistic, with correlations to that of The Little Prince, fairy tales, or spiritual

writings. About The Alchemist, he writes in the Economist that:

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 Mr Coelho dresses up his readable tales with mysticism, epiphanies,

conversations with angels, out-of-body experiences and the like. And

that is what The Alchemist is all about: turning ordinary matter into

riches. And Mr Coelho is an alchemist for our times. His writing

resembles a sort of sketchbook therapy. The Alchemist is packed with

proverbs, parables and advice that resemble entries in a New Age self-

help manual: pursue your dreams, resist temptation, and banish

negative thoughts. (61)

Santiago shows how along the way we learn to trust our hearts, read the

seemingly inconspicuous signs, and understand that as we look to fulfill a dream, it

looks to find us just the same, if we let it. There are some thoughts that pop in our

mind as we read The Alchemist. We would have wondered how life would have been

if we had chased our dreams. Like a fairytale, The Alchemist has a message for all of

us. The message is that we must have the courage to follow our dreams and we should

learn to comprehend the omens that cross our path.

1.2. Technique Used in The Alchemist

Fascinated by his discoveries, the reader explores the familiar and gets mired

in sentimental, tranquilizing, self-centered, conformist, and spellbinding visions of the

world that imprisons him. Coelho’s plots tend to be allegorical, and his readers often

say that they see their own lives in his books. His characters, though nominally

diverse are somehow indeterminate, and their struggles are universalized. His writing

is unadorned and pleasant to read. He writes in a non-literary style, with a message

that confirms common sense. In spite of belonging to different genres, Coelho’s

narratives and self-help books have some fundamental effect. That is of anesthetizing

5
the alienated consciousness through the consoling reaffirmation of conventions and

prevailing prejudices.

The Alchemist makes us reenter our childhood dreams that we had given up

while growing up. The novel skillfully combines words of wisdom, philosophy, and

simplicity of meaning and language, which makes it particularly readable. Coelho

tends to mould The Alchemist like a fairytale that seems to impart a positive moral

lesson to its readers. He has provocatively weaved together the structural pattern of

the traditional fairytale to overcome depression and isolation of the modern world

through dream-like and super natural elements. It is a novel that may appeal to

everybody, because we can all identify with Santiago. In the majestic mountains of

Andulusia, Santiago pursues his dream and finds hidden treasures. All of us have

dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true.

One thing we all must remember is to follow our dreams. Everyone does not

have the courage to do so. We might have to suffer in the plan of action just as

Santiago does on many occasions. But we will not end up being disappointed. Things

like the philosopher’s stone, elixir of life and Urim and Thummim are thrown in at

regular intervals giving the story a fairytale element. The mystic quality of Coelho’s

writing is clearly evident in this magical parable. Needless to say, the story concludes

with a happy ending for the boy and for the reader. The Alchemist may sound like an

oversimplified version of new-age philosophy and mysticism, but as Coelho states

that simple things are the most valuable and only wise people tend to appreciate them.

In this vacuum, The Alchemist urges us into pursuing one’s dreams and our

personal legend. Sara Nelson is surprised at the global success of the inspirational

novel and feels that every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its

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readers forever. She says that the subject of love inspires a beautiful lyricism in

Coelho’s writing:

Apparently, Coelho’s book helps people for which they seem

everlastingly grateful. Paulo Coelho’s parable The Alchemist is a little

book about a boy, a burro and the meaning of life. Is its success major

marketing or divine intervention? Actually, it’s neither, or maybe a

little bit of both. Even in depressed Ukrainian villages, people have

read The Alchemist and turn out by the thousands to see him. Even in

disparate places as Iran and Israel boasts a copy of his book. (56)

Coelho shows how easy it is to give up ever attaining one’s dreams due to

complacency. The personal legend is a being’s reason to live. Everything in the world

has a personal legend, and by reaching one’s personal legend, they add to the Soul of

the World, the purity of the world. Santiago’s personal legend is obvious, to find his

treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. Therefore Coelho feels that life does not need to be

complicated and inspires us to listen to our heart and fulfill our personal legend. In

today’s fast paced life, ordinary working people do not have the leisure to halt and

take a stock of the happenings around them. Things are changing so fast that man is

not able to comprehend and to dream like when we were small and had numerous

goals and ambitions.

1.3. Gist of The Alchemist

The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a

highly unique situation. It is entertaining and brings a message which does not need to

be complicated, except for those who are not ready to see the truth. By reading the

magical story of Santiago who is seeking an adventure and dares to follow his dreams,

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we tend to learn many lessons and acquire wisdom. The novel captivates and draws us

into the storyline in a powerful manner.

In the novel, Santiago is a simple boy who lives by traveling with his sheep

and is suddenly enchanted by a dream he dreamt while resting under a tree, inside a

ruined church. He dreamt that if he travels to the pyramids, he will find his fortune.

So he sets for an uncharted journey and along the way encounteres magical

phenomenon, involving a King and then meeting the alchemist himself. He also meets

the girl of his life, Fatima, in his way to Egypt. When he gets to the pyramids, he

meets a desert soldier who tells him that two years ago, in the exact same spot where

Santiago is, he dreams that in a tree that has grown inside the ruins of a church in

Spain, he will find his treasure. In that instant, Santigo realizes that what he has been

looking for all these years is right where he left it. Yet he does want to pursue his

dream of finding his treasure and at times we see and feel his fear, but along his

journey, he has learned to listen to his heart and to trust what his heart teaches him.

However, by the end of the novel, he discovers that treasure lies where one’s

heart belongs to, and that the treasure is the journey itself, the discoveries he makes,

and the wisdom he acquires. Coelho’s own life has in many ways been as varied and

unusual as the protagonists of his internationally acclaimed novels. Like them, Coelho

has followed a dream in a quest for fulfillment.

1.4. Criticism of The Alchemist

One of the most popular novels to emerge in the recent past, Coelho’s The

Alchemist is a story about the necessary pursuit of happiness. Though it was originally

published in Portuguese in 1988, the novel’s translation into English and republication

in 1993 made the work easier for critics to take note of. Felicia Bonaparte says that

language plays an important role in The Alchemist as here:

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 The notion of a universal language spoken by all creation is an

important one in The Alchemist. This language manifests itself in signs

presented by nature. Coelho underscores his concept of an all-

encompassing unity, tying language to the rest of nature. The world is

itself a text, full of meanings to be deciphered and taught because

everything on Earth is related. This is because everything, including

inanimate objects, has a soul, and that soul is connected to the Soul of

the World. (71)

The alchemist is urging simplicity. In Coelho’s book, alchemy itself has become

impossibly convoluted, when once upon a time the simplest of formulas could turn a

common stone to gold. But along with that, John Halperin says that there is also the

role of love as:

Coelho posits a definition of love as inextricably linked to and perhaps

subservient to a person’s individual goals in life and one’s realization

of the self. What the alchemist suggests is that true love comes with the

Personal Legend as well because true love will never stand in the way.

Santiago must let go in order to receive real love, find fortune, and

achieve understanding. (29)

Although the ultimate realization of one’s dreams is a solitary affair, Santiago is

required to accept help in various was because not all of which are immediately

understood as helpful. He must agree to give up part of whatever fortune he finds.

Therefore, Claudia Johnson adds that:

The Alchemist can be understood as a roadmap to finding Santiago’s

treasure, both physical and spiritual. Like the four corners of the earth,

there are four points of contention through which the protagonist must

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 travel in order to find his treasure. He must face the reality of defeats,

and deal with the reality of successes. He must place his faith in the

alchemist when all logic would dictate otherwise. (162)

Like all of those who dare to dream, Santiago experiences setbacks. When he is able

to raise enough money to travel, the reality of tribal warfare threatens his life. But like

an adventurer in the midst of a sandstorm, Santiago keeps his eyes on the path and his

mind on his task. When he eventually realizes his dreams, they are better than he

could have ever imagined but according to D. G. Myers:

The book is not at all about the specific goals that the protagonist

pursues. It is about the importance of wanting something urgently and

how the wanting seems to reorient the universe in harmony with that

goal. It is also how genuine passion and enthusiasm are rewarded with

success, how those who love us encourage us to pursue our goals, and

how the act of reaching for goals plunges us into a strong current that

carries us to places that we can never expect or know when we embark.

(23)

Michael J. Stasio points out that by paying attention to the details in the world around

him, which serve as omens guiding him towards his goal, young Santiago becomes an

alchemist in his own right, spinning unfavorable circumstances into riches as:

The message Coelho conveys, as well as his astounding settings,

simple but meaningful writing style, and illustrious storyline enchants

and transforms the hearts and minds of its readers. This is the message

that The Alchemist portrays. Coelho shows us how even a wandering

shepherd can do the impossible, after he has realized what he needs to,

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 and encourages us to find our own dreams, realize our goals in life, and

learn. (11)

The primary source of observation and analysis will be the text itself. For

secondary sources, available critical reading and evaluation from authentic sources on

the text and author will be thoroughly studied. This dissertation will take ideas

developed in the field of fairytales as a supportive tool to prove the hypothesis.

The first chapter deals with an introductory aspect of the thesis. The second

chapter delves into the theoretical modality that is to be effectively applied in the

analysis of the novel. Therefore, it provides an introduction of the tool that is

fairytales and its development. The third chapter of the thesis presents an analysis of

The Alchemist at considerable length on the theoretical modality defined and

developed in the second chapter. The fourth chapter concludes the research work.

Standing on the firm foundation of the analysis of the text done extensively in the

third chapter, it tries to prove my hypothesis stated in the thesis proposal.

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 Chapter II: Fairy Tales and Their Development

2.1. Fairy Tale: Definition and History

Originally, the stories we call fairy tales were merely a kind of tale, not

marked out as a separate genre. The genre itself was differentiated by writers of the

Renaissance, who began to define a genre of tales. The oral tradition of the fairy tale

came long before the written page. Tales were told or enacted dramatically, rather

than written down, and handed down from generation to generation. Because of this,

the history of their development is necessarily obscure. The oldest known written

fairy tales stem from ancient Egypt, (c. 1300 BC), and fairy tales appear, now and

again, in written literature throughout literate cultures, as in Cupid and Psyche or the

Panchatantra in India.

Later it became stabilized through the works of many writers, becoming an

unquestioned genre in the works of Grimm Brothers. In this evolution, the name was

coined when the “précieuses” took up writing literary stories. Madame d’Aulnoy

invented the term “contes de fée,” (Smith, 59) or fairy tale. The stylistic evidence

indicates that these, and many later collections, reworked folk tales into literary

forms. What they do show is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the

Arabian Nights collection of magical tales. Allusions to fairy tales appear plentifully

in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Edmund Spenser‘s The Faerie Queene,

and the plays of William Shakespeare.

The folk imagination sees fairies as living in everyday surroundings such as

hills, trees, streams, and sees fairy rings, fairy table and fairy seeds in natural objects.

Marcia Lane in A Way of Looking at Fairytales writes, “ fairytale is a literary story or

folk that has a sense of the numinous feeling or sensation of supernatural or the

mysterious, crucial story that happens in the past tense and a sorry that is not tied to

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any specifics” (123). Generally, oral fairytales are about elusive creatures that

folklorists study, record and try to trace through history. It is in oral form and an

invigorating field of study. The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of English

Language 1990 defines fairy tale as, “a story for children about fairies, or about magic

and enchantment, very improbable and lie” (146).

The fairy tales not only entertain children but also inspire adults in the

functioning of their adult life with glory, achievement, and success. A story that

names a specific real person is a legend (even if it contains a magical occurrence). A

story that happens in the future is a fantasy. Fairytales are sometimes spiritual, but

never religious. Fairytales vary according to culture, language, religion, and different

parts of the world, people and places. However, their sole purpose to the reader is

didactic. It appears in all arts of the world and gives some moral vision to life. It

entertains people and helps shape the thought of children and adults.

In cultures, where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may

merge into legendary narratives. However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do

not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, persons, and

events. A fairy tale or fairy story is a fictional story that may feature folkloric

characters (such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches, giants, and talking animals)

and enchantments, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events. In modern-day

parlance, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness,

as in fairy tale ending or fairy tale romance, though not all fairy tales end happily.

The older fairy tales were intended for an audience of adults as well as

children, but they were associated with children as early as the writings of the

précieuses. Folklorists have classified fairy tales in various ways. Among the most

notable are the Aarne-Thompson classification system and the morphological analysis

13
of Vladimir Propp. Folklorists have tried to trace the history of fairy tale from every

culture over many centuries.

Thus, the oral fairy tale may have existed for some time, although not perhaps

recognized as a genre. Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written

today. Other folklorists have interpreted the tales’ significance, but no school has been

definitively established for the meaning of the tales. Moreover, Jack Zipes has written

extensively about the literary fairy tales and the need to define it. In one of his best

articles on the subject, he writes in The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales as:

To expand and expound upon the subject and definition of literary

fairy tales as a genre that distinguishes itself from the oral folktale in

so far as it is written by single identifiable author, it is thus synthetic,

artificial and elaborate in comparison to the indigenous formation of

the folktale that emanates from communities and tends to be simple

and anonymous. (321)

He further explains the difference between literary fairytale and the oral folktale. He

does not entail that one genre is better than an other. But in fact, it can only be

understood and defined by its relationship to the oral tales as well as to the legend,

novella, novel and other literary fairy tales that it usually adapts and remodels during

the narrative conception of the author.

As most of the parents and people were illiterate, these fairy tales were a

major source of instruction and entertainment. The origin of fairy tales is a question

which has kept many scholars confused and busy which has not yet been stated to the

satisfaction of many. But the true worth of fairy tales in the past was not recognized

by educated people until the middle of nineteenth century. The origins of fairy tales

have been traced as far back as Egypt in the thirteenth century before Christ. When

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manuscript copying and printing made possible the collection of these stories, they

appeared as basic materials for such great storytellers of the middle ages like Chaucer,

Boccaccio and others.

2.2. Types of Fairy Tales

A fairy tale is a snapshot of the way normal people lived at the various times

of our life, making them often stark and harsh stories. The folktales of the past were

the stories to entertain the peasants in a way that was very easy for them to relate to.

Our lives are the fairy tales we hear as children and carry with us into adult life. Fairy

tales come in many forms. Fairy tales do not normally come from high origins, rather

the fairy tale are the peasant stories. They are the folklore of daily life, passed on for

generations, and from village to village. Fairy tales do not tell us how to live and yet

are relevant to understanding who we are. Noting this view in the Uses of

Enchantment, child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim believed:

No other literature better prepares children to meet the complexities of

adult life than fairytales. Fairy tales provide freedom and aspiration to

children far more than any other books. It teaches about the specific

condition of life in modern mass society so these tales were created

long before and has come into being till the present time. (72)

Here, we find integration of different personalities. These characters and

personalities give effect to the story. Relating with this, the character distances him

from the self and structures into different fictional characters. The character or the

narrator detaches himself or herself away from the reality to fictional character to

depict situations more realistically, vividly and structurally. Most of the fairy tales are

stories of integration of a personality where the character generally recalls his or her

past and assimilates that past with the present to give final shape to the narrative.

15
 Although the fairy tale is a clearly distinct genre, the definition that marks a

work as a fairy tale is a source of considerable dispute. Vladimir Propp, in his

Morphology of the Folktale, criticized the common distinction between 'fairy tales'

and 'animal tales' on the grounds that many tales contained both fantastic elements

and animals. Nevertheless, to select works for his analysis, Propp used all Russian

folktales classified as folklore in a cataloguing system that made such a distinction.

His own analysis identified fairy tales by their plot elements.

One universally agreed-on factor is that the nature of a tale does not depend on

whether fairies appear in it. Obviously, many people, including Angela Carter in her

introduction to the Virago Book of Fairy Tales, have noted that a great many of so-

called fairy tales do not feature fairies at all. This is partly because of the history of

the English term 'fairy tale' which derives from the French phrase conte de fées, and

was first used in the collection of Madame D’Aulnoy in 1697. Carter herself points

out that talking animals and the presence of magic seem to be more common to the

fairy tale than fairies themselves.

However, the mere presence of animals that talk does not make a tale a fairy

tale, especially when the animal is clearly a mask on a human face, as in fables. Max

Luthi argues that, fairy tales are equally important to adults. Not only do they learn to

cope up the oedipal difficulties but also learn to face the world independently. Luthi

in The Fairy Tale as Art Form and Portrait of Man equates the predicament of the

modern man with that of the fairy tale hero and describes in this manner:

He explores neither the world within nor the world around him. He

wanders through the world and acts. He runs into the most valuable

figures and enters into relationships with them, as adversary,

disenchanter or suitor. Does what is right, without thinking much about

16
 it and often without realizing. Even when he sits down helplessly and

weeps, he is acting properly: it is exactly his weeping which summons

the helper. (141)

Some folklorists prefer to use the German term Märchen to refer to the genre,

a practice given weight by the definition of Thompson in his 1977 edition of The

Folktale. It is a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It

moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled

with the marvelous. In his essay On Fairy-Stories, J. R. R. Tolkien agreed with the

exclusion of ‘fairies’ from the definition. He defined fairy tales as, “stories about the

adventures of men in Faërie, the land of fairies, fairytale princesses, dwarves, elves,

and not only other magical species but many other marvels. In this never-never land,

humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses” (28). The

characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal. In them are present

princesses and goose-girls, youngest sons and gallant princes, ogres, giants, dragons,

and trolls, wicked stepmothers and false heroes, fairy godmothers and other magical

helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds, glass mountains, and prohibitions and

breaking of prohibitions.

The fairy tale, told orally, is a sub-class of the folktale. Many writers have

written in the form of the fairy tale. These are the literary fairy tales, or

Kunstmärchen. The oldest forms, from Panchatantra to the Pentamerone, show

considerable reworking from the oral form. The Brothers Grimm is among the first to

try to preserve the features of oral tales. Yet the stories printed under the Grimm name

have been considerably reworked to fit the written form. Literary fairy tales and oral

fairy tales freely exchanged plots, motifs, and elements with each other and with the

tales of foreign lands.

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 Many 18th century folklorists attempted to recover the “pure” folktale,

uncontaminated by literary versions. Yet while oral fairy tales likely existed for

thousands of years prior to the literary forms, there is no pure folktale. And each

literary fairy tale draws on folk traditions, if only in parody. This makes it impossible

to trace forms of transmission of a fairy tale. Oral story-tellers have been known to

read literary fairy tales to increase their own stock of stories and treatments. The first

collectors that attempted to preserve the plot and characters of the tale and also the

style in which they were preserved, were the Grimm Brothers. Ironically enough, this

meant although their first edition remains a treasure for folklorists, they rewrote the

tales in later editions to make them more acceptable, which ensured their sales and the

later popularity of their work.

Such literary forms did not merely draw from the folktale, but also influenced

folktales in turn. The consideration of whether to keep Sleeping Beauty reflected a

belief common among folklorists of the 19th century. The folk tradition preserved

fairy tales in forms from pre-history except when contaminated by such literary

forms, leading people to tell inauthentic tales. The rural, illiterate, and uneducated

peasants, if suitably isolated, were the folk and would tell pure folk tales. Jacob and

Wilhelm Grimm saw fairytales as remnants of ancient myths, playful descendants of

ancient intuitive vision of human life.

Grimm describes the methods of storyteller Frau Riemann and recounts her

stories thoughtfully, accurately with common vividness and evident delight. Their

contemporaries took their retelling as their face value and began to recognize

ethnographic worth of folk tale and the importance of preserving the language in

which the stories were told. The two brothers did not retell the fairy tales exactly as

they heard them but carefully edited them, simplifying or embellishing them

18
according to their poetic inclinations and pedagogical intentions. Thus Grimm

brothers and their tales certainly opened the gates to a new world of folktales as a

distinct genre. Sometimes they regarded fairy tales as a form of fossil, the remnants of

a once-perfect tale. However, we can say that fairy tales never had a fixed form, and

regardless of literary influence, the tellers constantly altered them for their own

purposes. The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring

them to collect tales and leading them to believe that the fairy tales of a country were

particularly representative of it. Ethnographers collected fairy tales over the world,

finding similar tales in Africa, the Americas, and Australia. They also encouraged

other collectors of fairy tales.

George Watson in The Story of the Fairy Tale says that two theories of origins

have attempted to explain the common elements in fairy tales found spread over

continents. He writes that, “one is that a single point of origin generated any given

tale, which then spread over the centuries. The other is that such fairy tales stem from

common human experience and therefore can appear separately in many different

origins” (40). Fairy tales with very similar plots, characters, and motifs are found

spread across different cultures. Many people hold this to be caused by the spread of

such tales, as people repeat tales they have heard in foreign lands, although the oral

nature makes it impossible to trace the route except by inference.

Folklorists have attempted to determine the origin by internal evidence, which

can not always be clear. Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as

often as children. Literary fairy tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the

19th and 20th centuries the fairy tale came to be associated with children’s literature.

The précieuses, intended their works for adults, but regarded their source as the tales

that servants, or other women of lower class, would tell to children. The Grimm

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Brothers titled their collection Children’s and Household Tales and rewrote their tales

after complaints that they were not suitable for children. In the modern era, fairy tales

were altered so that they could be readable to children.

The Grimm Brothers concentrated mostly on eliminating sexual references.

Rapunzel, in the first edition, revealed the prince’s visits by asking why her clothing

had grown tight, thus letting the witch deduce that she was pregnant, but in

subsequent editions carelessly revealed that it was easier to pull up the prince than the

witch. The moralizing strain in the Victorian era altered the classical tales to teach

lessons. The nineteenth century discovery of folktale was followed by waves of

scholarly research each with its own version of the origin.

By 1960’s a tremendous vogue of writing and circulating literary fairy tales

had been set in motion for children and adults. After different scholars, critics

researched this genre and various perspectives changed, modern students of folklore

follow the scheme of study that was originated in Finland. Now these stories are

premeditated not only by type but by motif which is the smallest elements in tale

having a power to persist within a specific tradition. In contemporary literature, many

authors have used the form of fairy tales for various reasons, such as examining the

human condition from the simple framework a fairytale provides. Some authors seek

to recreate a sense of the fantastic in a contemporary discourse.

Some writers use fairy tale forms for modern issues. Sometimes, especially in

children’s literature, fairy tales are retold with a twist simply for comic effect, such as

The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka. A common comic motif is a world where all

the fairy tales take place, and the characters are aware of their role in the story. Other

authors may have specific motives, such as multicultural or feminist reevaluations of

predominantly Eurocentric masculine-dominated fairy tales, implying critique of

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older narratives. The figure of the damsel in distress has been particularly attacked by

many feminist critics.

Other notable figures who have employed fairy tales include Oscar Wilde, A.

S. Byatt, Jane Yolen, Terri Windling, Donald Barthelme, Robert Coover, Margaret

Atwood, Kate Bernheimer, Espido Freire, Tanith Lee, James Thurber, Robin

McKinley, Kelly Link, Donna Jo Napoli, Cameron Dokey, Robert Bly, Gail Carson

Levine, Jasper Fforde and many others. It may be hard to lay down the rule between

fairy tales and fantasies that use fairy tale motifs, or even whole plots, but the

distinction is commonly made, even within the works of a single author.

2.3. Propp’s Structure of Fairy Tale

The most notable distinction is that fairy tale fantasies like other fantasies; it

makes use of novelistic writing conventions of prose, characterization, or setting. Any

comparison of fairy tales quickly discovers that many fairy tales have features in

common with each other. Two of the most influential classifications are those of Antti

Aarne, as revised by Stith Thompson into the Aarne-Thompson classification system,

and Vladimir Propp‘s Morphology of the Folk Tale.

The Morphology of the Folktale (1928) was an attempt to reduce all folktales

to one structure. Where, in the Formalist approach, sentence structures had been

broken down into analyzable elements known as morphemes. Propp used this method

by analogy to analyze folk tales. By breaking down a large number of Russian folk

tales into their smallest narrative units, Propp was able to arrive at a typology of

narrative structures. By analyzing types of characters and kinds of action, Propp was

able to arrive at the conclusion that there were thirty-one generic narrations in the

Russian folk tale. While not all are present, he found that all the tales he analyzed

21
displayed the functions in an unvarying sequence. Chandler Harriss says that Propp’s formula

could also be applied to television as well. He says:

The literary analysis methods of scholar Vladimir Propp can be used to study the

narratives of television programs to reveal plot functions regarding the presentation of

mysteries and their resolution. Propp’s methods, which were developed to study

folktales, focus on narrative structures such as repeated actions and plot elements as a

way of defining genres. (45)

Propp argues that all fairy tales are constructed of certain plot elements, which

he called functions, and that these elements consistently occur in a uniform sequence.

Based on a study of one hundred folk tales, Propp devises a list of thirty-one generic

functions, proposing that they encompassed all of the plot components from which

fairy tales are constructed. Contending that fairy tales can be studied and compared by

examining their most basic plot components, Formalist Vladimir Propp develops an

analysis that reduces fairy tales to a series of actions performed by the dramatis

personae in each story.

Propp asserts that any combination of his functions will create a viable story.

The generator works by randomly choosing a possible interpretation of a function and

stringing them together to create a story. The result is usually an oddly coherent

narrative, flitting in and out of focus, but with large parts of it obfuscated and

obscured. It is in these holes, this slippage that Proppian analysis fails. Proppian

analysis also fails in the lack of consideration given to other such literary devices as

voice, tone, and theme all of which are as vital to the construction of a compelling

narrative as structural events. After the initial situation is depicted, the tale takes the

following sequence:

1. A member of a family leaves home (the hero is introduced).

2. An interdiction is addressed to the hero (‘do not go there’, ‘go to this place’).

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3. The inter-diction is violated (villain enters the tale).

4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the

children/jewels etc; or intended victim questions the villain).

5. The villain gains information about the victim.

6. The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim’s

belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim).

7. The victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy.

8. The villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical

agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels

someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, commits murder,

imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments);

Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical

potion etc).

9. Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/

alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment).

10. Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action.

11. Hero leaves home.

12. Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving

magical agent or helper (donor).

13. Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive.

reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary’s powers against them).

14. Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased,

prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters).

15. Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search.

16. Hero and villain join in direct combat.

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17. Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf).

18. Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, and

banished).

19. Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken,

slain person revived, captive freed).

20. Hero returns.

21. Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero).

22. Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden,

hero transforms unrecognizably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life).

23. Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country.

24. False hero presents unfounded claims.

25. Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of

strength/endurance, and other tasks).

26. Task is resolved.

27. Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her).

28. False hero or villain is exposed.

29. Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc).

30. Villain is punished.

31. Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted). (Propp, 63 )

Occasionally, some of these functions are inverted, as when the hero receives

something while still at home, the function of a donor occurring early. More often, a

function is negated twice, so that it must be repeated three times. Pier Paolo Piciucco

suggests that Propp’s outline of the fairytale could be used to study a difficult story like Wuthering Heights

as:

Many of the difficulties we experience in understanding Wuthering Heights are removed

when it is regarded as a fairy tale. Yet, even then, the novel does not fit the standard

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 structures proposed, for example, by Vladimir Propp. Some of the difficulties which

have prevented previous critics from seeing fairy-structures as central to an interpretation

of Wuthering Heights are removed when we combine this perspective with the well-

established narcissistic framework of the story. (223)

Use of Proppian analysis reveals that fairy tales do share several similarities

interms of basic plot element. However, attempted Proppian analyses of several tales

reveals that, his claim of a uniform plot progression does not hold. According to

Propp, a cohesive story can be formed by connecting a series of any set of the thirty-

one functions in order. This project explores this component of Propp’s argument by

randomly generating a fairy tale from selected functions. Each function has several

passages written specifically to express that function, and the generator will randomly

select one passage for each selected function. While each passage appropriately

expresses its respective plot element, the tone, characters, and settings may vary. The

randomly generated fairy tale demonstrates that it is necessary to consider several

other elements besides plot components in order to create a cohesive and well-written

tale. Propp also concludes that all the characters can be divided into 7 broad character

types in the hundred tales he analyzed:

1. The villain struggles against the hero.

2. The donor prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

3. The (magical) helper helps the hero in the quest.

4. The princess and or her father give the task to the hero, identifies the false hero,

marry the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that

functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

5. The dispatcher character that makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

6. The hero or victim/seeker hero reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

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7. False hero/anti-hero/usurper takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the

princess. (Propp, 128)

These roles could sometimes be distributed among various characters, as the

hero kills the villain dragon, and the dragon’s sisters take on the villainous role of

chasing him. Conversely, one character could engage in acts as more than one role, as

a father could send his son on the quest and give him a sword, acting as both

dispatcher and donor. Hasan El-Shamy comments on Peter Gilet’s assessment where he presents an

inclusive picture of the Proppian system in relation to the majority of morphological

constructs and collateral theoretical schema as:

The principal refinement that Gilet introduced to Propp’s system of

thirty-one ‘Functions’ (narrative moves) is its reduction to five

Functions. These are still drawn from the action of the story-line, and

will almost always be present in a given story. To these five so-called

Functions he added a division in the hero’s world between a normal

realm, and, a state or place which is ruled by a dangerous being

endowed with magic powers. Gilet labeled this site ‘An Other World.’

The rationale for this addition is that it is essential to the correct

mapping of any tale of this sort since without it all Functions remain

unsituated and to that extent ambiguous. (52)

Propp’s approach has been criticized for removing all verbal considerations

from the analysis, even though the folktale’s form is almost always oral, and also all

considerations of tone, mood, character, and, anything that differentiates one fairy tale

from another. Structuralist Claude Lévi-Strauss used Propp’s monograph on the

Morphology of the Folktale to demonstrate the superiority of the structuralist

approach, and the shortcomings of the Formalist approach. Defenders of Propp

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believe that that such criticisms are largely redundant, as Propp’s approach was not

intended to unearth meaning in the fairy tales he examined, nor to find the elements

that differentiate one tale from another, but to unearth the elemental building blocks

that formed the basis of their narrative structure.

The study of the fairy tale may be compared in many respects to that of

organic formation in nature. Both the naturalist and the folklorist deal with species

and varieties which are essentially the same. With entirely different aims and focuses

Kirkpatrick and Milne each illustrate and evaluate some of the varied ways in which

studies of folklore during the last fifty years have become, for better or for worse, a

part of biblical criticism. The results are both instructive and sobering. Burke O. Long,

reviews their work in relation to Propp’s and writes:

Her goal is to provide a systematic examination of Propp’s major work

and to evaluate its potential for biblical studies. She concludes that the

very precise structural model which Propp developed for analyzing the

Russian “heroic fairy tale” offers a useful, though limited, tool for

studying surface narratival structure in the Bible and for dealing with

the problem of identifying particular literary genres. In Part I of her

book M. expounds Propp’s method as developed in Morphology and

identifies the historical and intellectual contexts in which to appreciate

Propp’s pioneering efforts. She demonstrates the originality of his

break with the established modes of 19th-century comparative study of

folktales, and his contribution to this century’s development of

linguistic models for studying such narratives. (79)

Propp’s next book, The Historical Roots of the Magic Tale (1946), seeks to

show that folktales originated in ritual, especially initiation and funeral rites. In 1948,

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along with other Soviet scholars, Propp comes under official attack. His Morphology

is criticized for being too formalist, and his Historical Roots was said to be too

dependent on Western scholarship to place Russian narrative in a global context.

All fairy tales by nature are orally transmitted and are therefore simple and

understandable to children and everyone else. The plot of all almost fairy tales is

formulaic, tightly structured pattern of actions, inviting and figurative reading. These

tales follow traditional introduction and conclusion, optimistic structure, quest

involving test of characters such as moral, physical and psychological. Every thing

complexity in initial stage is at last simplified into reality. All fairytales generally

have flat representative characters who are basically stereotypical and archetypal;

characters are revealed primarily through their actions and differing natures.

As a distinct form of literature, fairy tales have different functions and aspects,

even through their main distinct importance lies in helping children cope with

psychological problems of growing up and integrating their personalities. The fairy

tale is not only a distinct form of art portraying imperishable, eternal world and

wisdom but also significant in the manner in which it describes that world, its external

appearance which varies from people to people and from narrator to narrator and

delights us. Through the retellings over centuries fairy tales have become more

refined. They have come at the same time with overt and covert meaning according to

time and address at all levels of human personality. Thus, communicating to people

belonging to every age Mircea Eliade in The Uses of Enchantment describes:

Fairytales are expression of a psycho drama that answers the deep need

in the human being. Every man wants to experience certain perilous

situations, to confront exceptional ordeal to make his way into the

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 other world and he experience all this, on the level of his imaginative

life by hearing or reading fairytales. (35)

Therefore, for this reason fairy tales carry important messages to the conscious,

preconscious and unconscious mind. Depending on what level each is functioning at a

time by dealing with universal human problems, these stories preoccupy the child’s

mind to help them develop their budding ego. It also rearranges, ruminates, and

fantasizes a child and fits unconscious content into conscious fantasies which enable

them to deal with their ego development.

In conclusion, we can say that fairytales readers are as old as the history of

human civilization. It is a literary form which has been passed down through different

ages and phases in different forms and aspects till the present time. Children find

these narratives interesting and influencing because of its presentation of unusual life,

the way the bet and animals speak, many different discoveries, heroic adventures,

growing experience, poverty, family problems, cultural clashes, war, robbery, death,

hard struggle of life, beautiful places, foods, desires of selfhood, external

environment, and inner psychological problems which they have heard from their

elders.

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 Chapter III: Perception of Fairytale in The Alchemist

The protagonist of the story in The Alchemist is generally an orphan boy or a

girl who performs several tasks to solve problems and lives happily ever after. The

other characters like villain and helpers are supernatural and less active than the

protagonist but play significant role in completing the task. In a fairy tale the

protagonist sets his journey into a forest where he finds flowers, animals, different

creatures. He faces difficulties with nature and with himself which become an

important part of the plot as well as the development process of the characters.

Santiago’s description in The Alchemist resembles the above blueprint of many fairy

tales.

In our secular world, there is little place for myth, and as we grow older fairy

tales become little more than silly bedtime stories. Every now and then, a modern

fairytale appears. The Alchemist is just such a book. It is a fable about following our

destiny and for people who finds themselves caught up in the day-to-day

responsibilities of family, work, and life. When we are very young, we are narrated

beautiful fairytales that are meant to enrich our imaginations with images of magic

and mysticism and impart wisdom through morals and life lessons. One day that stops

and we are instead thrown into an education of scientific facts and history. The

Alchemist is something akin to a “Life’s Instruction Book” contained in a simple yet

magical story. Craft fully disguised within the tale of Santiago, the gypsy woman, the

King, and the alchemist, The Alchemist is a guide to our very own story, just like a

fairy tale.

The story may be as trivial as a boy looking for treasure in the Pyramids but it

is this same triviality that makes the lessons bound therein stick in our minds,

captivating us just as when we were small listening and reading fairy tales. Translated

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in more than forty languages, The Alchemist has sold more then twenty million copies

worldwide and is considered a fairy tale for adults. Fairytales are found in the history

of folklore. The term 'fairytale' is loosely applied to folktales and to modern fairy

stories. They generally have no author and simply developed only through the

centuries. Surprisingly, the same stories with variations appeared in many countries

and became popular. Following this trend, The Alchemist is such a book. Coelho’s

writing is beautifully poetic. His message is about the essential wisdom of listening to

our heart.

3.1. Santiago’s Odyssey to the Pyramids

Santiago’s odyssey seems to be a representation for all of mankind. The

Alchemist uses the story of young Santiago’s search for his personal legend as an

allegory for everyman’s struggle to break from the comfortable confines of

conformity and pursue his life dreams. Everyone, all of us has a treasure that is

waiting to be found like Santiago’s. When we want something with all our heart, we

come close to living our personal legend. The closer we get, the more that legend

becomes our reason for living. Therefore we must listen to our heart just like

Santiago, because that is where we will find our treasure.

After listening to “the signs” (24), the boy ventures in his personal, journey of

exploration and self-discovery, symbolically searching for a hidden treasure located

near the pyramids in Egypt. As in the Proppian analysis, Santiago leaves his native

Spain to search for his treasure. Melchizedek, the King of Salem, spontaneously

appears to help motivate Santiago to fulfill his personal legend, or his soul’s desire,

which seems bound to be the treasure of his dream. He is directed by the King to go in

search of his quest and to follow the dream that he had seen. Melchizedek is the most

intriguing character in The Alchemist. Since no one knows who he is, where he comes

31
from or where he goes, he remains the mystery man of the book. Melchizedek helps

Santiago to embark on his journey says:

Whoever you are, or whatever it is you do, when you really want

something, it is because the desire originated in the soul of the

universe. It’s your mission on earth. The Soul of the World is

nourished by people’s happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy and

jealousy. To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.

God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read

the Omens that he left for you. (23)

Santiago travels from a comfortable lifestyle as a carer of sheep to the

Arabian Desert where he weathers the hardships to meet the great Alchemist. In The

Alchemist, the charming tale of Santiago, the shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the

world, is compelling. The novel gains resonance through the many lessons Santiago

learns during his adventures. He journeys from Spain to Morocco in search of worldly

success, and eventually to Egypt, where a fateful encounter with an alchemist brings

him at last to self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment. Santiago learns many

lessons, from the wise old alchemist. The desert is a place of death, thirst, illusions

and the best place to overcome fear. The message is clear. As we become more deeply

embedded in a consumer world of material possessions, we fall further from the

dreams we have as children.

Like a fairy tale, the crux of the fable is that when we truly want something,

the forces in the world work to help us achieve it, but only if we gratefully accept and

gain the knowledge along the way, and it is within this knowledge that meaning can

be found. The King of Salem begins his conversation with Santiago with the theme of

destiny as the boy didn’t know what a person’s 'destiny' was. The King answers:

32
 It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they

are young, knows what their destiny is. At that point in their lives,

everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to

dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to

them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to

convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their

destiny. (22)

As in other fairytales, misfortune grips Santiago. He has many setbacks but

eventually he reaches his destination. Santiago sells all of his possessions to fund his

journey to Africa and travels there. When he arrives, however, a thief steals all of his

money. Santiago spends the next year or so working at a crystal merchant’s shop

learning both Arabic and life lessons. After working at the crystal shop for a year,

Santiago earns enough money to cover his losses and return home. However it is his

journey that is his real treasure. He learns better how to read the omens and discovers

their importance. They are the voice of the Soul of the World speaking directly to

him. He learns how to listen to his heart, to understand when it is lying and when it is

telling the truth. He finds true love, an unending perfect love, the kind of love only

found in fairy tales.

Like in traditional fairy tales, Santiago acquires use of magical agent by

aligning with the alchemist in his odyssey. To aid him interpreting omens, he presents

him with Urim and Thummim stones, used for divination. To attain his material

treasure Santiago must undergo a spiritual transformation, a process that parallels the

alchemical transformation of lead into gold. When Santiago finally reaches the

Pyramids, he is attacked by the desert’s inhabitants, the villains in fairytales.

33
 Santiago has to admit that he is searching for a treasure there. They tend to

deceive Santiago and take away all his possessions. One of them laughs and reveals

that he once had a dream about finding treasure in the very church where Santiago

first had the dream. As fortune favors the hero, Santiago then returns to the church

and finds the treasure, thus realizing his dream. While fruitlessly digging for the

treasure, the leader shook Santiago and tells him:

We’re leaving. You’re not going to die. You’ll live, and you’ll learn

that a man shouldn’t be so stupid. Two years ago, right here on this

spot, I had a recurrent dream, too. I dreamed that I should travel to the

fields of Spain and look for a ruined church where shepherds and their

sheep slept. In my dream, there was a sycamore growing out of the

ruins of the sacristy, and I was told that, if I dug at the roots of the

sycamore, I would find a hidden treasure. But I’m not so stupid as to

cross an entire desert just because of a recurrent dream. (172)

Written with the flavor of a medieval romance in the style of a fairy tale, The

Alchemist mixes elements of myth and legend from historical and biblical sources to

create its own reality. Melchizedek appears in Tarifa to assist Santiago in his quest of

destiny, providing him with the magical stones of Urim and Thummim, found in

Exodus in the description of the building of the Mishkan and the design of the priestly

garments.

Melchizedek reminds us of his moments with Abraham, a few centuries before

his date with Santiago in Tarifa. He is not the only ancient in the book, for Santiago

meets with the Alchemist of the Sahara desert who is at least two hundred years old

and knows the secrets of the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life and comments

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that the problem with medieval alchemists were that they were only after gold and

therefore failed in the transformation of lead. The alchemist says:

Men have never understood the words of the wise. So gold, instead of

being seen as a symbol of being seen as a symbol of evolution, became

the basis for conflict. I have known true alchemists. They locked

themselves in their laboratories, and tried to evolve, as gold had. And

they found the philosopher’s stone, because they understood that when

something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well. (144)

Although a past seminarian, Santiago does not recognize the name

Melchizedek, indicating the alienation of Catholic and Jewish faith through the Great

Inquisition. In confronting his Arab brothers, he views them as victims worthy of

slaughter under the foot of Christendom, but within a few hours, he comprehends that

each person is made of skin and blood. He comes to this through misfortune which

becomes the impetus for his search for his destiny. The old king states that the world’s

greatest lie is that, “at some point during our lives, we lose control of what’s

happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate” (25).

3.2. Santiago’s Lesson From Destiny

Each thing has its own destiny and place and influence upon the universe.

Each metal has its quality and place whether copper, silver, gold or lead and man has

a tendency to forget about the lesson of the sixth day. The secret of alchemy is not in

learning bad chemistry, but listening to the Soul of the Universe. Santiago departs his

familiar world of sheep and pastures to travel across the strait into another alien

sphere where he initially perceives the inhabitants of Tangiers to be infidels under the

foot of Saint Santiago Maramoto, worthy of slaughter. His prejudices and

preconceptions are challenged through experience. He recognizes that he was like

35
everyone else in wanting to see the world in terms of what he wanted to believe,

rather than actuality.

The first notable omen is that when Santiago brought a tenth of his sheep to

the King of Salem as part of an agreement for the king to help him find the treasure.

As in fairy tales, being able to observe and read omens is a key motif throughout the

book. His friend had bought the rest of his sheep, hoping to become a shepherd, and

thought that this was a good omen. Now Santiago can carry out his journey of finding

the treasure because he sold all of his sheep. Second, Santiago recognizes the hole in

his pouch in which Urim and Thummin fell out of in Tangier as an omen, as he had

promised the old king that he would make his own decisions, not let the stones do it

for him. The crystal merchant of Tangier recognizes Santiago’s presence in the shop

as an omen, as two customers came into the shop as he was cleaning the crystals for

the merchant. Santiago later finds that going to the desert was a good omen, as he was

able to meet Fatima, his love. Santiago reads omens in the flight of two hawks and has

a premonition of an attack on the oasis as he is in the Sahara Desert. Omens play a

key role in the unraveling of Santiago’s fate. Santiago is awestruck when he sees his

love, Fatima for the first time when:

At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the Soul of

the World surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes, and

saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned

the most important part of the language that all the world spoke- the

language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their

heart. It was love. (97)

People who want to follow their personal legend must instruct their heart to

speak up and never stop talking to them. This is why The Alchemist makes us

36
understand more about ourselves and about life. It has philosophy, and is spiced with

colors, flavors, and subjects, like a fairytale. Life is in the journey, not the destination.

Santiago set off to find his “pot of gold” (44), and after a long journey during which

he grew mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, he finally discovers the location of the

treasure. He follows the directions and finds it right where he started. Behind the

magical mysterious story of Santiago, seeking his true destiny and meeting many

people will shape the rest of his life along the way. By paying attention to the details

in the world around him, which serve as omens guiding him towards his goal, young

Santiago becomes an alchemist in his own right, spinning unfavorable circumstances

into riches.

3.3. Santiago’s Spiritual Enlightenment

Santiago is a boy living in Andalusia. An interdiction is addressed to him from

the unknown powers. One day he has a dream telling him to go to the Egyptian

pyramids, a destination pointed out to him by a child in-dream and apparently leading

to treasure. Therefore, he leaves home and on the way faces many obstacles like the

hero in traditional fairytales. After a long eventful journey he discovers that his

treasure is right where he started, in Spain. It is here that Santiago, who had recently

chosen not to become a priest, dreams of his treasure, and it is here that he will finally

find it, buried among the roots of the tree, after he returns from his pilgrimage to the

pyramids. He returns home triumphantly and looks up at heaven and shouts:

You old sorcerer. You knew the whole story. You even left a bit of

gold at the monastery so I could get back to this church. The monk

laughed when he saw me come back in tatters. Couldn’t you have

saved me from that? Why did you have to make me go through this

journey? You must have known all the while that it is here. (176)

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 Santiago learns the basics of life from the learned alchemist, who becomes a

father figure to him. When they are captured by a desert tribe, the boy finds out how

to transform himself into the wind. The tribesmen become so impressed that they let

the two go. The alchemist uses the Philosopher’s Stone to turn lead into gold. He

leaves some for both a monk and Santiago and takes the rest for himself. Before

departing, The Alchemist advises Santiago to:

Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul

of the World, and it will one day return there. Wherever your heart is,

that is where you’ll find your treasure. Your heart is alive. Keep

listening to what it has to say. Even if you pretend not to have heard

what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you

what you’re thinking about life and about the world. (136)

The alchemist imparts these words of wisdom to Santiago when Santiago

begins to doubt and question. The alchemist is the only man who is said to be able to

turn lead into gold and turn fair weather into storms. Santiago is able to meet the

living legend and stumbles upon many self-realizations and gains the wisdom that will

make him able to be the next Alchemist. The language and the plot of The Alchemist

are romantic, mysterious and naïve. But, as in most fairy tales, the purpose embedded

in the story is to instruct the reader about how to live his or her life.

The real alchemy here, however, is the transmuting of youthful idealism into

mature wisdom. The blending of conventional ideas with an exotic setting makes old

truths seem new again. Santiago, the shepherd takes the advice learning to trust his

heart and commune with it as a treasured friend. The story has the comic charm,

dramatic tension and psychological intensity of a fairy tale, but it is full of specific

wisdom as well, about becoming self-empowered, overcoming depression, and

38
believing in dreams. To believe in his dreams, the alchemist says Santiago, “When a

person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to

realize his dream.” (120).

Through parable, Coelho takes us on a spiritual journey that borders on

fairytale, introducing elements of past legends with the ubiquitous Englishman of the

desert in search of the Philosopher’s Stone and the ability to transform lead into gold.

Through the use of parable, Coelho examines the conflicts between the three great

religions and the baggage of prejudice. Santiago meets and confronts the dangerous

winds of the desert, overcoming them through his courage and persuasion while

engulfing his challengers with the mighty winds of the simum as recorded in the

Histories of Herodotus when 50,000 men vanished into a sandstorm.

The spiritual influence of this book is omniscient. In The Alchemist, a kind of

spiritual enlightenment is accomplished by fulfilling one’s Personal Legend, and

adding to the Soul of the World, which is the light of most religions. Santiago also

learns the language of the world, which is basically the language of the Soul of the

World. As the Soul of the World is related to the Soul of God, Santiago is able to

perform miracles after he has reached into the Soul of the World.

The two alchemy objects are physical representations of the Soul of the

World, the Master Work, which is the result of completely purifying metals. The

Philosopher’s Stone, being completely pure and powerful as the Soul of the World,

has the property of turning metals into gold, the most advanced and purest of all

metals. The Elixir of Life cures all illnesses and gives immortality. These objects

represent the purity in the world, and in trying to reach their Personal Legend. But in

the course of his travel, Santiago even thinks of abandoning his journey as:

39
 I know why I want to get back to my flock, he thought. I understand

sheep; they’ they’re no longer a problem, and they can be good friends.

on the other hand, I don’t know if the desert can be a friend and it’

know if the desert can be a friend and it’s in the desert that I have to

search for my treasure. If I don’t find it, I can always go home. I finally

have enough money, and all the time I need. Why not? (67)

Santiago tells the desert that it shows love for the alchemist’s falcon by

offering it game, after which the falcon shows love to man as it offers the game to eat,

and the man shows love for the desert as after one dies, his body is reintegrated into

the desert sands. Love is described as a part of the Soul of the World. Love occurs in

life and Nature, as everything supports each other. There is also love in people,

demonstrated by Santiago’s love of Fatima’s beauty, and Santiago knows that it is

part of his personal legend to love her. Also, there is true love, a brief definition given

by the alchemist, “True love is love that allows you to reach your Personal Legend”

(123).

3.4. The Imparting of Wisdom

The personal legend is one’s reason for living. It is essentially one’s goal in

life. Everyone in the world has a personal legend. The Alchemist is a symbolic story

that urges its readers to follow their dreams. It is a fairy tale, the story of a young

man, who discovers, pursues and finally achieves his dream. Although our personal

legend is what we were born to accomplish, we alone make the choice of how to live

our life. The personal legend of a person surfaces early in his/her life, and one can

never find true happiness without fulfilling it. Since it is a choice and not a destiny,

we may be able to live several personal legends during the course of one life.

Santiago’s, the shepherd’s personal legend is clear. His quest is to find his treasure at

40
the Egyptian pyramids. The alchemist had already fulfilled his personal legend, which

was to become a true alchemist and learn the Master Work. Describing himself as an

alchemist, the alchemist says:

I’m an alchemist simply because I’m an alchemist. I learned the

science from my grandfather, who learned from his faher, and so on,

back to the creation of the world. In those times, the master work could

be written simply on an emerald. But men began to reject simple

things, and to write tracts, interpretation, and philosophical studies.

They also began to feel that they knew a better way than others had.

Yet his emerald Tablet is still alive today. (132)

The personal legend drove Santiago to his treasure, and the alchemist to

become the most famed alchemist in the world. The crystal merchant’s personal

legend was to visit Mecca, and the Tarifa baker’s personal legend was to travel the

world, but these two characters chose not to follow their dreams. The Tarifa baker and

the crystal merchant shape their lives for the perpetual want of fulfillment. We can

make the choice to live our legend at any time, but it is, perhaps, easiest to make it as

a young person, when everything seems clear and possible. It becomes more difficult

as we get older, when the choice often seems to involve giving up what we have

become accustomed to in order to get what we want.

Every day is a good day to die, if the day is lived in fulfillment of a dream.

Dreams can only be accomplished with courage, taking a step into the unknown and

not regretting the past, just as Santiago did. Through presenting stereotypes of

characters-the Gypsy, the Alchemist-and then destroying them through realistic

dialogue and conflicts, Coehlo urges us like Santiago, to embark at any moment on

41
our destiny to capture our dreams. The king explains to Santiago about the

“mysterious force” and how:

It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to

realize you destiny. It prepares your spirit and your will, because their

is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that

you do, when you really something, it’s because that desire originated

in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth. (23)

For, instance, after being caught by the tribal chief, Santiago is able to turn

him into the wind, demonstrate his power, and is released. While this point of view

strongly supports that will has a stronger hold on one’s destiny, later events, such as

Santiago and the alchemist being caught by warring tribes, demonstrate fate’s hold on

their life. However, in every situation where fate does take over, the Santiago and

others are capable to excavate themselves from the situation. By mixing the familiar

and using the elements of fairytale, Melchizedek as the fairy godmother and the

search for treasure, Coelho takes the reader on a spiritual journey in which he

confronts himself and the value of his own dreams and aspirations.

The theme of luck is prominent in The Alchemist just like in fairy tale. As the

old king and the alchemist both tell Santiago about how if one really wants to fulfill

his/her personal legend, the whole universe will conspire to help make it happen. This

refers to the idea of beginner’s luck, or the concept of favorability. Santiago is blessed

with beginner’s luck, when he decides to go to Africa. He manages to sell all of his

sheep very easily, and is given a taste of success that whets the appetite to fulfill one’s

Personal Legend. We know early what is our ability and mission in life, but often we

find ourselves intimidated by it or unworthy of carrying it and so shunt our dreams

42
aside and indulge in fantasy instead. Acting as a fairy, the king says that he is always

omniscient over all the people. He says:

Not always in this way, but I always appear in one form or another.

Sometimes I appear in the form of a solution, or a good idea. At other

times, at a crucial moment, I make it easier for things to happen. There

are other things I do, too, but most of the time people don’t realize I’ve

done them. (24)

The novel skillfully combines words of wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of

meaning and language. It is the kind of novel that tells us that everything is possible

as long as we really want it to happen. In this way, we can say that The Alchemist is

an exciting novel that bursts with optimism and may appeal to everybody, because we

can all identify with Santiago. The novel tends to follow a fairytale pattern. All of us

have dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true. The

novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it.

43
 Chapter IV: The Alchemist as a Moral Fairy Tale

Coelho’s strategy for revealing the truth to Santiago is a significant aspect for

the novel. By following the structural pattern of the traditional fairy tale, Coelho

creates psychological intensity to overcome depression and isolation through dream

like use of elements. The Alchemist is a remarkable tale about the most magical of all

journeys. Ingredients of a fairy tale can be found in the novel. Elements like dreams,

alchemists, comic charm, embedded moral to the novel, spiritual enlightenment, kings

and shepherds, all go to reinforce that The Alchemist is designed on the trajectory of a

fairy tale. Most fairy tales teach that inherently all men are good. But as people come

across varying nature in the real life then they distinguish between two sides of life:

good and evil. There is a clear polarization of good and bad, selfish and helpful,

beautiful and ugly, virtuous and vile, active and lazy. The Alchemist seems to teach us

the readers in a similar way, through the odyssey of Santiago.

The Alchemist is an enlightening story about a shepherd’s quest to find his

treasure. Santiago meets with strange characters like, the king of Salem who helps

him embark on the journey. Along the way, he encounters helpful guides as well as

seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The Alchemist is narrated like a fairy tale.

People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they

do not deserve them, or that they will be unable to achieve them. The treasure has

been buried in Egyptian pyramid. Santiago is constantly tested along the way, yet he

continues to listen to the murmurings of his heart, which are never wrong. Santiago

learns about love along the way and helps others to face their fears as well. On the

way of finding his treasure, the boy meets different people and passes through

different nations.

44
 As he nears the end of his journey, he finds, in an ironic twist, that it isn’t what

or where he thought is was. Yet Santiago went to pursue his dream of finding his

treasure and though at times we see and feel his fear, but along his journey, he learned

to listen to his heart and to trust what his heart teaches him. The Alchemist is

inspiring, imaginative and captivating. It has the feel of a fairy tale from a time as

hazy as the desert in which it is set, and carries the lessons on life. As in a fairy tale,

The Alchemist instructs us that we must not cease from exploring and the end of all

our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first

time. The prose in the book is extremely simple, giving The Alchemist the feel of a

children’s fairy tale. The story is good and the moral is even better. It is a search for

treasure, a spiritual quest, understanding what love is. There is a wise old king, a shop

with not so sparkling crystal glasses, thieves, a gypsy, dreams, talking elements,

treasure, love, an emerald tablet and the alchemist.

It is a novel that combines an atmosphere of medieval mysticism with the song

of the desert. The book inspires the reader and preaches the importance of following

one’s dreams. It helps the reader understand the omens strewn around in one’s path.

The Alchemist is a spiritual metaphor, an extended parable about searching for our

true heart’s desire, the gold that lies buried within our own souls. The Alchemist is a

beautiful and extraordinarily optimistic tale. It is a strong story related to the reader by

the omniscient narrator, told in a way reminiscent of fairy tales or spiritual texts.

Dreams, symbols, signs, and adventure follow the reader like echoes of ancient wise

voices in The Alchemist. Fairytales enables us to distinguish between two sides of life,

good and evil. There is clear polarization of good and bad, virtuous and vile, beauty

and ugliness, industrious and lazy. The readers can easily distinguish them and decide

45
who they want to be like. It shows that crime is never paid and virtue is rewarded and

wins out in end.

In the end Santiago does seem to teach the readers, that life is in the journey

and not in the destination. The Alchemist is a fable about a shepherd boy named

Santiago from the Andalusia area of Southern Spain. It is the story of his courage to

follow his dream, the twists and turns he has to face in the course of his pursuit. The

magical story of Santiago who grows throughout the story and in the end, even though

he was tested severely, he preserved and obtained his treasure by following his dream.

Santiago is a simple boy who lives by traveling with his sheep, is suddenly enchanted

by a dream he dreamt while resting under a tree, inside a ruined church. He dreamt

that if he travels to the pyramids, he will find his fortune.

46
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