History Literature / TheSheik

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: This trope is fully at play in both the film and the book. The book in particular does ''not'' gloss over how bad the bad boy is at any time. [[RealityEnsues Instead, it does the exact opposite]]: [[{{Deconstruction}} the book provides a complete breakdown of exactly what his ceaseless brutality does to her psyche over time]].

* SpiritualPredecessor: For ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' and, in turn, ''Film/ThreeHundredSixtyFiveDays'', the latter of which has a rather similar premise to this novel desoite being published nearly a century later.

* WomenAreDelicate: A bilateral example. Diana is shown to be tough even compared to many of the men in the book, but the Sheik and his servants show her just how wide the power divide the divide between the sexes can get.

* SpiritedYoungLady: Diana Mayo is this trope, exactly. She thrives on excitement and adventure, and travels the world whenever and however she wants to without a care in the world for the socially accepted limits of femininity. On one such venture, she goes into the Arabian desert alone with only hired locals as her protection - it's this event that causes her to encounter the Sheik, who after capturing her, quickly molds her into [[ProneToTears another trope altogether]] through his brutality.

--->''"(...) This camp was many miles to the south of the one to which she had first been brought, and which had been broken up a few days after her capture. The setting was wonderful, the far-off hills dusky in the afternoon light, the clustering palms behind the tents, (...)"''

--->With his hands on her shoulders he forced her to her feet. His eyes were fierce, his stern mouth parted in a cruel smile, his deep, slow voice half angry, half impatiently amused. "Must I be valet, as well as lover?"

* NurtureOverNature: [[spoiler:Diana grows to love the Sheik more than her former life. In addition, Ahmed Ben Hassan is an English noble by birth. His brutish behavior and his complexion from spending almost his entire life in the desert make it ''impossible'' to know this without being told. Diana herself can't imagine of him as English, either.]]

--->[[spoiler:"She could not think of him as an Englishman. The mere accident of his parentage was a factor that weighed nothing. He was and always would be an Arab of the wilderness."]]

* NotLikeOtherGirls: Being that Diana was [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as a boy]] by her older brother, this was bound to happen. [[spoiler:The difference between her and other women is also what wins over the Sheik in the book - he found his previous women boring once they'd stopped resisting, while Diana was much more determined and resourceful than they had been.]]

* FirstFatherWins[=/=]ThickerThanWater: Averted with the Sheik's biological father, who was horrible to his wife to the point where she fled from him and eventually died after giving birth to Ahmed. This is one of the few cases in the literature of the time where the abusive husband's eventual change-of-heart does ''not'' result in reconciliation, and he has to forever live with the consequences of his actions - including the fact that his son wishes to have nothing to do with him. On being told of his heritage, Ahmed developed a complete hatred for all the English to the point where he [[UpToEleven refuses to even speak the language]], showing reverence only towards his adoptive Arab father. This plot point is dropped in the movie, in which it is revealed that both of Ahmed's parents died after their guide abandoned them in the desert, leaving little Ahmed to be raised by the Arab tribe that found him.

--->"You make a very charming boy, " he said lightly, with a faint smile, "but it was not a boy that I saw in Biskra. [[MenAreStrongWomenArePretty You understand?]]"

She finally manages to escape, only to get caught and brought back to the camp, and while she's alone in the desert she abruptly realizes [[MatchMadeInStockholm she's fallen in love with her captor]], which also cures her of her "unnatural" coldness and lack of femininity.

She finally manages to escape, only to get caught and brought back to the camp, and while she's alone in the desert she abruptly realizes she's fallen in love with her captor, which also cures her of her "unnatural" coldness and lack of femininity.

''The Sheik'' is a [[ValuesDissonance (by modern standards)]] rather [[ValuesDissonance horrifying]] novel written in 1919 by a woman named Edith Maude "E.M." Hull. A rather less horrifying [[TheMovie movie]] was made in 1921, starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres, directed by George Melford.

Not related to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Sheik]] at all.

* FirstFatherWins[=/=]ThickerThanWater: Averted with the Sheik's biological father. One of the few cases in the literature of the time where the abusive husband's eventual change-of-heart does not result in reconciliation, and he has to forever live with the consequences of his actions. Including that his son wishes to have nothing to do with him, and develops a complete hatred for all the English, showing reverence only towards his adoptive Arab father. This plot point is dropped in the movie, in which it is revealed that both of Ahmed's parents died after their guide abandoned them in the desert, leaving little Ahmed to be raised by the Arab tribe that found him.

* GoingNative: [[spoiler: The Sheik isn't an Arab by birth.]]
* GossipyHens: The older British women at the start of ''The Sheik'' who do not approve of Diana's "madcap" plan to travel alone in the desert.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: French is used throughout the book, by Diana, the Sheik, and his friend/manservant Gaston.

* HollywoodGenetics: A white English man and a Spanish noblewoman with very distant Moorish ancestry produce a son who can pass for 100% Arab.

* NurtureOverNature: [[spoiler:Ahmed Ben Hassan is an English noble by birth. His brutish behavior and his complexion from spending almost his entire life in the desert make it ''impossible'' to know this without being told. Diana herself can't imagine of him as English, either.]]

* RapePortrayedAsRedemption: Strongly implied in the novel.

* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Omair the evil (well, more evil) sheik makes no bones about wanting Diana because she's a white girl.

* SpiritedYoungLady: Diana Mayo is this trope, exactly. She thrives on excitement and adventure, and travels the world whenever and however she wants to without a care in the world for the socially accepted limits of femininity. On one such venture, she goes into the Arabian desert alone with only hired locals as her protection - it's this event that causes her to encounter the Sheik, who after capturing her, quickly molds her into [[FragileFlower another trope altogether]] through his brutality.

* FauxActionGirl: Diana, who can supposedly ride and shoot and otherwise hold her own in a brawl, appears to only actually be able to ride a horse. (She does take part in a shootout at the end of the film.)

* SpiritedYoungLady: Diana Mayo is this trope, exactly... before she encounters the Sheik. Then, she [[FragileFlower quickly becomes another trope altogether]].

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: This trope is fully at play in both the film and the book. The book in particular does ''not'' gloss over how bad the bad boy is at any time. Instead, it does the exact opposite: [[{{Deconstruction}} it provides a complete breakdown of]] [[RealityEnsues exactly what his ceaseless brutality does to her psyche over time]].

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: This trope is fully at play in both the film and the book. The book in particular does ''not'' gloss over how bad the bad boy is at any time. Instead, it does the exact opposite: [[{{Deconstruction it provides a complete breakdown of]] [[RealityEnsues exactly what his ceaseless brutality does to her psyche over time]].

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Even more so in the book.

* BestHerToBedHer: Diana only falls for the Sheik after he's "tamed" her and basically proved she'll never be as strong as him so she might as well not try.

* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: "You are so pretty, and, if I choose, I can make you love me", says Valentino, who is playing the good guy by the way.

* KarmaHoudini: The Sheik never pays for what he does for Diana. The worst that happens to him is being called out by his best friend over it, and being injured in a fight with his hereditary enemy. This is likely due to the fact that, from the writer's perspective, he's not the villain: Diana's upbringing is. [[ValuesDissonance From the writer's perspective, the sheik simply has nothing to pay for]].
* LargeHam: Even by the standards of silent film acting, the wide-eyed, carnivorous gazes that Valentino directs at Agnes Ayres stand out. This is a huge contrast to his portrayal in the book as a SoftSpokenSadist.
* LighterAndSofter: TheMovie. Many of the more disturbing aspects, namely the rape, are left out of the film (though not in the sequel).

* RomanticizedAbuse: ''YOU DON'T SAY?''

* NobleSavage: [[The Sheik, both figuratively and [[NurtureOverNature literally]]. He's an English noble, and happens to be ''[[VillainProtagonist slightly]]'' more civil that his Arabian neighbors.]]

* GoingNative: The Sheik.

* HeroesWantRedheads: For a given value of hero, anyway.

* KarmaHoudini: The Sheik never pays for what he does for Diana. The worst that happens to him is being called out by his best friend over it, and being injured in a fight with his hereditary enemy.

* TranslationConvention: The characters are actually speaking French in the majority of the story, and some French expressions ("Bon dieu!") are peppered in the dialog. The Sheik can actually speak perfect English, but refuses to do so due to his hatred of his biological father.

* AsYouKnow: The story opens with some expository dialogue between two disapproving old ladies establishing that Diana is going to take a tour of the desert without any white men as escorts.

* StalkerWithACrush: The Sheik's entire motivation for kidnapping Diana was the fact that he'd seen her for about five minutes in the nearby city and thought she was hot. He sneaks into her room at night to replace the bullets in her gun with blanks, then pays her guides to lead her right to him, following her caravan the entire time.