Unfair Balance of Power
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of stories from India, Persia, and Arabia and have been translated by various authors over hundreds of years. Even though it is a collection of different stories, they are all centered on the frame story of King Shahryar and his wife, Scheherazade, who narrates different stories for a thousand and one night in hopes that the King would stop killing innocent young women as punishment for his first wife’s adulterous act. The stories that she recounts to King Shahryar convey the great sense of adventure, truth, fantastic imagination, magical creatures, justice and faith that symbolizes the Middle Eastern countries that contributed to the stories. Nevertheless, there are several …show more content…
In the frame story, women are portrayed as disobedient wives who deserve nothing better than death. The two brothers, King Shah Zaman and King Shahryar finds out that their wives have been unfaithful so they execute them without question. When King Shah Zaman found his wife, “asleep on his own carpet bed embracing with both arms a black cook…when he saw this the world waxed black before his sight and he said: ‘If such case happen while I am yet within sight of the city, what will be the doings of this damned whore during my long absence at my brother 's court?’ So he drew his scimitar, and cutting the two in four pieces with a single blow, left them on the carpet.” King Shah Zaman commits this act without any hesitation or reservation, and most importantly with no remorse. This incident gives the readers a compelling view of women in the Muslim society, in that they are simply second-hand citizens who deserve death when they commit an adulterous act. Also, it gives the readers an assumption that it is both just and legally right to kill a woman in Muslim societies without the jurisdiction of the law showing a clear lack of political …show more content…
Throughout the stories, men are regarded with the highest power and are seen as the dominating figure in society. However, there are numerous roles that women play in the stories, which we begin to see in the frame story. On one hand, women are shown to be completely powerless and are desired by men for pleasure purposes, and then on the other hand, through Scheherazade’s character she is displayed as someone who has the ability to be strong enough to stand up for her rights without steering away from the traditions of the Muslim
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of stories from India, Persia, and Arabia and have been translated by various authors over hundreds of years. Even though it is a collection of different stories, they are all centered on the frame story of King Shahryar and his wife, Scheherazade, who narrates different stories for a thousand and one night in hopes that the King would stop killing innocent young women as punishment for his first wife’s adulterous act. The stories that she recounts to King Shahryar convey the great sense of adventure, truth, fantastic imagination, magical creatures, justice and faith that symbolizes the Middle Eastern countries that contributed to the stories. Nevertheless, there are several …show more content…
In the frame story, women are portrayed as disobedient wives who deserve nothing better than death. The two brothers, King Shah Zaman and King Shahryar finds out that their wives have been unfaithful so they execute them without question. When King Shah Zaman found his wife, “asleep on his own carpet bed embracing with both arms a black cook…when he saw this the world waxed black before his sight and he said: ‘If such case happen while I am yet within sight of the city, what will be the doings of this damned whore during my long absence at my brother 's court?’ So he drew his scimitar, and cutting the two in four pieces with a single blow, left them on the carpet.” King Shah Zaman commits this act without any hesitation or reservation, and most importantly with no remorse. This incident gives the readers a compelling view of women in the Muslim society, in that they are simply second-hand citizens who deserve death when they commit an adulterous act. Also, it gives the readers an assumption that it is both just and legally right to kill a woman in Muslim societies without the jurisdiction of the law showing a clear lack of political …show more content…
Throughout the stories, men are regarded with the highest power and are seen as the dominating figure in society. However, there are numerous roles that women play in the stories, which we begin to see in the frame story. On one hand, women are shown to be completely powerless and are desired by men for pleasure purposes, and then on the other hand, through Scheherazade’s character she is displayed as someone who has the ability to be strong enough to stand up for her rights without steering away from the traditions of the Muslim