The Placement of the Legenda Puteri Saadong Tale Using the Structure of the Pyramid Freytag

Abstract

Legenda Puteri Saadong is one of the famous folklore stories among the people in Kelantan. This folklore is complete with excellent lessons that should be embraced, such as Puteri Saadong's sacrifice in defending the people of Kelantan. Furthermore, she had to sacrifice the future of her marriage with King Abdullah for the sake of the King of Siam. If one examines the sacrifice of Princess Saadong, it is difficult to comprehend, let alone imagine, in today's reality. Such values are especially crucial for today's generations to appreciate in this era of globalisation and technological advancements. Although it appears that significant effort has been made to elevate this legendary tale, the narrative element of the story still needs to be comprehended more fully, mainly by applying Gustav Freytag's Pyramid Freytag Structure (1863). This structure divides a story into seven phases: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, Climax, falling action, resolution and denouement phases. These phases are applied in the legendary tale of Puteri Saadong to facilitate the understanding of its narrative. The analysis results found that the story of the Legenda Puteri Saadong contains three main storylines. Among them are the conflicts faced by Puteri Saadong through her life journey, including the attacks from the King of Siam, being held captive by the King of Siam, and her devotion to Sultan Abdullah as his spouse. All three storylines were triggered when this legendary tale entered the inciting incident phase.