A Comparison Of Orientalism In 'A Thousand And One Nights'

1006 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A thousand and one nights cultural point of view

An Eastern Tale for a Western Audience
A Thousand and One Nights is a tale about the over-sexed east which is favored by the sexually repressed west when applied to and analyzed under the lens of Orientalism. This translation of the text, while not as sexually explicit as Sir Richard Burton’s translation, has its fair amount of sexual promiscuity which paints the middle eastern characters as dishonest, violent, and sexually deviant. These traits were seen as socially taboo to the west, especially those in Victorian Europe who helped the tale gain its reputation as a popular exotic story. The two main scenes where these traits come into play both take place within A Thousand and One Nights’ frame story with Shahrayar and Shahzarman. Shahzarman …show more content…

Both Shahrazad and Shahzaman have cheating wives and the section that tells of Shahrazad’s wife’s infidelity is frank about exactly how adulterous she is. When Shahzaman is witnessing his sister-in-law and her slaves enter the garden suggestive language is used which shows that they clearly have very little modesty (or at least modesty in the way the Victorians would see it). The queen and her ladies are “strutting” around the garden and take off their clothes then “…a black slave jumped from the tree to the ground, rushed to [the lady], and, raising her left, went between her things and made love to her” (558). The second time this happens, when both Shahzaman and Shahrazad are watching, the Queen and her lover have a small discussion during which she is called a “slut” and she responds by laughing and then readying herself for her lover (560). Later on when the two brothers are traveling and moping about their misfortune they happen across a demon who has a woman with a “beautiful figure and a face like the full moon” held captive. The woman tricks the two brothers into making love with her by threatening to wake her demon husband if they disobey her (561). Once the deed is done the woman

Show More
Related

  • Overcoming Obstacles of Social Conventions in the Medieval Story, Eliduc

    1847 Words  | 4 Pages

    In terms of gender ideals of medieval society, the main characters in the story are very conventional. To begin with the story meshed nicely with the social conventions that Gayle Rubin explains in Traffic of Women. Accor...

    Read More

  • Woman Character of The Odyssey, Medea, and Thousand and One Arabian Nights

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literature is the key to our world or language. Many writers have emerged from this subject such as Homer who wrote The Odyssey and Euripidies who wrote about the evil Medea. Also mentioned in this paper are the Thousand and One Arabian Nights which is a collection of folktales and stories that are compiled into one. Each of these works of literature has a woman character that has many similarities in solving their problems. In The Odyssey the woman character that will be in comparison is Penelope which is Odysseus’s wife. In the story of Medea, Medea is of course the character we will be discussing and Shaharazad is the woman character from the Thousand and One Arabian Nights that will also be in comparison. Each of these women find themselves in a particularly “sticky situation.” However, Penelope, Medea, and Shahrazad are three strong women whose perseverance and cleverness help them to attain their goals.

    Read More

  • Women In Tales From The Thousand And One Nights

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    At first glance, the reader sees the women shown as malicious, conniving adulterers. But, if one looks deeper into the stories, in reality, the women are rather clever and tactful.  In the Prologue, a women who is the prisoner of a jinnee threaten Shahriyar and Shahzaman to do her bidding

    Read More

  • Victorian Sexuality in Stoker’s Dracula, LeFanu’s Carmilla, and Polidori’s Vampyre

    1689 Words  | 4 Pages

    Strongmore is described as alluring and seductive, making him appear as the sexual man that women of the Victorian Era tried to help to control their desires.Men were encouraged to repress their sexuality as well as women, and men who could not were permitted to see prostitutes.The young unmarried girl was the last person that a man should be seen with, but Strongmore violated this became a foil for young women desiring marriage.This story illustrated the fears of unrestrained sexuality and sedutive men who could ruin young girls, and both fears are embodied by Lord Strongmore.

    Read More

  • The Wife Of Bath And Janekyn Analysis

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    During this era, women were intended to be ruled rather than be in a position to rule themselves. Lines 660-664 of The Wife of Bath describe not only Janekyn’s view of a husband’s supposed dominance of a wife, but also the general view held by society at the time. Through the passage, Janekyn advices that “Thanne woulde he saye right thus withouten doute/ Whoso that buildeth his hous al of salwes/ And priketh his blinde hors over the falwes/ And suffereth his wif to go seeken halwes/ Is worthy to be hanged on the galwes” (Chaucer 297). In other words, Janekyn is suggesting that any husband that is a pushover and not only allows, but also encourages his wife to run around and go on trips is foolish and worthy of the worst punishment. These lines are important because they seem to contradict what has happened in the paintings. Janekyn talks as if he defines social hierarchy as a man controlling what his wife does in order to not be seen as one who is stepped all over. The Wife of Bath’s description in her prologue suggests that she was not easily dominated, and more of the taking rather than giving type. It also implies that her love stems from ability to satisfy her appetite, and she often chose direction based on satisfying these desires rather than rule. Similarly, Phyllis atop of Aristotle suggests her overpowering of him. Not only were the roles of men and women reversed in this work, but also the roles of man

    Read More

  • Miguel de Cervantes

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 16th century romances of chivalry had enjoyed a tremendous vogue. He wrote a humorous parody of these high-flown chronicles. His original intent was to write a book for wide popular appeal, addressed not to the few of...

    Read More

  • Married Women in Troubadour Lyric

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sex sells. It’s the clichéd advertising motto that pops into your head every time you turn on the television, and it’s true. From soap operas glorifying the drama of an affair to day-time talk shows mediating spurned spouses to news shows exposing philandering politicians, the more illicit the relationship, the better. The same maxim applied to medieval Occitania and the lyrics of the troubadours. Married women were frequently the subject of these songs, depicted as the neglected wife, the frightened victim of a jealous husband, the passionate lover, but always an idolized by the voice of the troubadour. With stolen moments and secret glances, the noble woman plays coy and resists the advances of her suitor. Or does she? Absent her husband, what is to stop our noble heroine from falling into the arms of a smooth talking performer? While adultery is not always explicitly referenced, vivid descriptions of sensual rendezvous do more than suggest illicit activity. This fascination with unavailable women is curious but not inexplicable, regardless of any truth behind the songs.

    Read More

  • Female Gender Roles in Haggard’s She and Haddawy’s The Arabian Nights

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel She and in the stories of The Arabian Nights, both Haggard and Haddawy explore the expanding gender roles of women within the nineteenth century. At a time that focused on the New Woman Question, traditional gender roles were shifted to produce greater rights and responsibilities for women. Both Ayesha, from Haggard’s novel She, and Shahrazad, from Haddawy’s translation of The Arabian Nights, transgress the traditional roles of women as they are being portrayed as strong and educated females, unwilling to yield to men’s commands. While She (Ayesha) takes her power to the extreme (i.e. embodying the femme fatale), Shahrazad offers a counterpart to She (i.e. she is strong yet selfless and concerned with the welfare of others). Thus, from the two characters emerge the idea of a woman who does not abide by the constraints of nineteenth century gender roles and, instead, symbolizes the New Woman.

    Read More

  • The Decline of Chivalry Explored in Araby and A&P

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Araby” tells the story of a young boy who romanticizes over his friend’s older sister. He spends a lot of time admiring the girl from a distance. When the girl finally talks to him, she reveals she cannot go to the bazaar taking place that weekend, he sees it as a chance to impress her. He tells her that he is going and will buy her something. The boy becomes overwhelmed by the opportunity to perform this chivalrous act for her, surely allowing him to win the affections of the girl. The night of the bazaar, he is forced to wait for his drunken uncle to return home to give him money to go. Unfortunately, this causes the boy to arrive at the bazaar as it is closing. Of the stalls that remained open, he visited one where the owner, and English woman, “seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty” (Joyce 89) and he knows he will not be able to buy anything for her. He decides to just go home, realizing he is “a creature driven and derided with vanity” (Joyce 90). He is angry with himself and embarrassed as he...

    Read More

  • Native Son Poem And Racism In Richard Wright's Orientalism

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his thesis for his book, Orientalism, Edward Said states that the existence of a subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture derives from Western culture 's long tradition of false and romanticized images of Asia. This same could be said about America’s prejudice against African-Americans and America’s tradition of false notions about the brutality of African-Americans. Richard Wright was determined to make his readers feel the reality of race relations by writing something so hard and deep that they would have to face it without the consolation of tears; his goal for writing Native Son, and his success. Wright created a character that rejected the domestic black life and instead actively plays

    Read More

  • The Thousand and One Nights

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a person becomes trapped in a situation that stems from an individual with greater authority, being manipulative can be a very promising method to escape. The Thousand and One Nights does a very good job of being a good example of someone in this situation that uses stories within a story to capture encapsulate the attention of the reader. Despite the many little stories that go into the text, the main story behind it all is about a king named King Shahrayar and how he goes insane after catching his wife having sexual relations with a slave. After he sees this happen, he realizes that he can never trust any woman again and none of them are trustworthy. By expressing his views on women, he decides to marry a different woman every night, then the next morning have them killed by beheading. This is an ongoing event that brings death to most of the women in the village. Soon after, the king’s Vizier’s daughter, Shahrazad, came up with a brilliant idea that will end up saving her fellow countrywomen and hopefully keep the king from murdering so many innocent people. Her method behind all this is by telling the kind a different story every night that leaves him on a cliffhanger, making him curious enough to keep her alive for another day to continue her story. Shahrazad keeps herself spared from the king because of her cunning, and compassionate personality.

    Read More

  • Role of Women in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and The Wife of Bath’s Tale

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Middle Ages, the roles of women became less restricted and confined and women became more opinionated and vocal. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight presents Lady Bertilak, the wife of Sir Bertilak, as a woman who seems to possess some supernatural powers who seduces Sir Gawain, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale, present women who are determined to have power and gain sovereignty over the men in their lives. The female characters are very openly sensual and honest about their wants and desires. It is true that it is Morgan the Fay who is pulling the strings in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; nevertheless the Gawain poet still gives her a role that empowers her. Alison in The Wife if Bath Prologue represents the voice of feminism and paves the way for a discourse in the relationships between husbands and wives and the role of the woman in society.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Beauty And The Beast

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beauty’s sisters marry rich men, who seemingly have acceptably desirable attributes as husbands. One man is detailed as a man of good looks. The other man is noted for having great wit. The two possess qualities most women seek in a husband, but it is indicated in descriptions that the two sisters are both unhappy in their marriages. Although the first husband is handsome, this serves him as a drawback, for he is a narcissist, only concerned with himself. The second husband’s wit is also a severe disadvantage due to the fact he uses his wit to torment other people, including his wife. It is when Beauty reviews her sisters’ marriages and the unhappiness her sisters experience in relation to their husbands that helps Beauty realize The Beast’s true worth and her love for him: “I should be happier with the monster than my sisters are with their husbands; it is neither wit, nor a fine person, in a husband, that makes a woman happy, but virtue, sweetness of temper and complaisance and Beast has all these valuable qualifications.” (9). The juxtaposition made between the husbands and The Beast create the disclosure of the appropriate masculine qualities a man should encompass. De Beaumont presents the contrast of characters to the reader as a method of emphasizing the

    Read More

  • Feminism In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Geoffrey Chaucer used his characters in Canterbury Tales as a way to illustrate stereotype of medieval society. The Wife of Bath, one of the pilgrims in Canterbury Tales demonstrates an authoritative role in marriage The Wife of Bath’s unusual behavior and attitudes can be interpreted by two motives: feminist ideals or sexual indulgence. When considering feminist viewpoints, it can be concluded that the Wife of Bath’s behavior is motivated by sexual indulgence.

    Read More

  • The Wife Of Bath In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    1765 Words  | 4 Pages

    Going back to her prologue, The Wife seems to be criticized for something different she does by each of her husband 's. She can easily be seen as violent, demanding, too controlling, too lustful, and many other qualities. The Wife argues that no matter what women do or don’t do, they will always be criticized, “Thou seyst that som folk desiren us for richesse,/ Somme for oure shape, comme for oure fairnesse/ And som for she kan synge and daunce/ And som for gentillesse and som for/ daliaunce,/ som for hir handes and hir armes smale” (lines 257-262). While she makes a great point, she interjects these opinion’s during her tale as well. Interrupting the flow of her story to display her opinions in this way can lose the audience 's focus of the true meaning of the story. The story itself does a great job of bringing the role femininity into play without The Wife’s interjections. In the beginning of the tale, right after the queen orders the knight to go on his quest she gives him some hints. “Somme seyde wommen loven bset richesse;/ Somme seyde honour, somme seyde jolynesse,/ Somme rich array. Somme seyden lust/ abedde/ And oftetyme to be wydwe and weedde” (lines 925-928). This shows that women want more than materialistic things, contrary to popular belief. While these things aren’t bad to have, it means nothing if they do not have the power over their significant

    Read More

More about A Comparison Of Orientalism In 'A Thousand And One Nights'

Open Document