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Part 5, Chapter 15
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Forty Rules of Love, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Spirituality
Connections Across Distance and Time
Appearances vs. Reality
Storytelling and Truth
Summary
Analysis
Aladdin. Konya, April 1248. Aladdin asks to talk to Rumi. He says he knows that Rumi suspects him of being involved in Shams’s death but that wasn’t the case. Rumi says he has no more words to say to Aladdin ever. He says Aladdin has blood on the hem of his robe, and when Aladdin goes to check, he realizes that he gives himself away. Aladdin thinks to himself that he did indeed go meet the killer at the tavern. He believes that Rumi can learn to love anyone, perhaps even Shams’ killers themselves, but for some reason, he never seems to love Aladdin.
Aladdin seems to have a guilty conscience and can’t help giving away his involvement in the assassination at the first available opportunity. This feeling of guilt shows that there is still a shred of morality in Aladdin, and while Aladdin is ultimately the villain of the story, there is something tragic about how he was never able to earn Rumi’s love due to his own selfishness.
Active
Themes
