Arabian Nights: The Theme Of Power In Arabian Nights

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In Arabian Nights, the theme of power runs throughout the entire book as a back bone for many of the stories told. Demons are conquered by man and kings rise to power in many stories. The power of women, however, is a theme that differs greatly from the power of men in the book. Arabian Nights tells tales of women that are depicted as dependent and powerless in many stories, and their autonomy and power is used as a device in a story where they are given it. They are also given power when they oppose men or are evil. This creates a direct contrast with the overarching story of the book, showing that the book is trying to convey a lesson about the real power and autonomy of women, which explains why the narrative perspective is a major part …show more content…
Women are often depicted as “evil and cunning” as stated in the Story of the Two Kings. The women have power when they are depicted as evil or opposing the male character. In the story of the enchanted man, the wife leaves the man every night, and his servants say of her: “may god damn all treacherous adulterous women. Alas it’s not right that such a young man like our master lives with this bitch who spends every night out” (68). This woman appears to be independent by “[spending] every night out” and has the ability to overpower her husband and enchant him, but she is the villain of the story. Her reasoning and point of view are never given, so her actions seem completely “treacherous”. This puts the men on the side of righteousness. Even with this power, the men in the stories always manage to outsmart the woman with simple rouses. This directly contrasts the overarching story where the Shahrazad is given the power to save the women and ultimately the whole kingdom, so her backstory as to why she is tricking the king by telling stories is …show more content…
This is an anomaly in the book and even the porter notices this as he states, “without seeing any man around, he was astonished and stood there hesitant to leave” (84). The women in this story have an autonomy that is unmatched in the rest of the book. The porter is taken back when he sees the amount of goods they have bought, and it appears to be just them on their own. The porter then has to prove himself in order to stay, by proclaiming that he is “a sensible and wise man. I have studied the sciences and attained knowledge” (85). In no other part of the book does a man ever have to prove himself to remain with a woman. This difference is all part of the setup to make the women appear autonomous at the beginning. The women appear powerful as well, as they seemingly do not need the porter and use the male characters for amusement, as they say of the dervishes coming in “would you agree to let them come in for this one time so that we may amuse ourselves with them tonight?”(92) The apparent autonomy then turns into a device used in the story to show that everything is not as it seems with these women, as we see that their exterior beauty is hiding a dark story behind the three of them. The back-story states that a man has forced the first lady to whip her sisters every night in order to fill an oath to a woman she had saved.

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