In Thousand And One Nights Analysis

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The treatment of women during the Abbasid Dynasty was unique with elite women being described as having power “behind the scene” and enjoying enormous wealth. On the other hand, all the ‘normal’ women during this time had no rights and were often treated and sold like slaves. Analysis of literature from that era reveals two different rationale behind the harsh treatment of women: men truly thought that they were superior or men recognized the power and influence of women and therefore purposely suppressed women. Traditionally, Islamic women were ‘bound’ to their homes and often were viewed only as a means for childbearing. These women were prevented from getting a proper education and spend most of their time at home. This lead to the large…show more content…
At the end of “The Tale of the Merchant and His Wife”, Shahrazad wants to spend the night with the king even though she knows she will die the next day. But she does not blindly go the king, instead she has a plan to tell a story to the king and everyday leave the story on a cliffhanger so that if the king want to hear the end, he must not kill her. The king has his way with Shahrazad, the daughter of a vizier, who knows the king will ask him to kill her the next morning. The king even warns the vizier of this plans, warning him that he will ask to him to kill his daughter he next day. And the king’s final line before she is presented to him is “ Go to her, prepare her, and bring her to me early in the evening”(565). Everyone is the town knew that the king was going to kill her at daybreak but no one says anything. On the surface, Muslim males viewed female as inferior and objects of entertainment, but the males actually demeaned women because they were afraid of their powers. King Shahrazad swears to only marry for one night at a time to save himself from the cunning of a woman. In the “Prologue”, the king explicitly says, “in order to save himself from the….cunning of women”(562). King Shahrayar was so scared of woman that in order to protect himself he slept with a new woman every

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