The Thousand and One Nights depicts its characters in a thousand and one lights. From Aladdin to Ali Baba, there are many interesting characters among this classic of the Islamic Golden Age. But one character who stands out above the rest is the protagonist of the frame narrative, Scheherazade. While many of the females depicted in the stories that she tells are shown as sex-crazed backstabbers, Scheherazade is presented as virtuous, witty, moral, and intelligent. When the sultan of her land, Shahryar, is betrayed by his wife, he turns on the women of the country and begins to slaughter them. He calls one virgin woman into his room every night and has her slaughtered the next morning. Scheherazade decides to offer herself up to Shahryar, but …show more content…
It is not uncommon for the virtues of a society to be engrained directly into the heroes of their tales. But what makes Scheherazade notable as a fictional character is that she takes the role of a virtuous protagonist in a culture which has often been criticized for its mistreatment of women. Despite this, Scheherazade is held up as a figure of cunning and virtue. In the face of slaughter, she bravely takes a stand for all women in her country and uses her wits to save thousands of women from an untimely death through the art of storytelling. Such a position in this beloved story points keenly to her role as a role model for women in the Arabian Golden Age. But her influence has extended beyond that, for even modern feminists and Arab women finds inspiration in Scheherazade’s fantastic …show more content…
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a role model as “a person whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others.” In other words, role models are our heroes and inspirational figures. At best, they embody the positive cultural values of the society in which they exist. But a role model can really be anybody. One could choose the President of the United States as their role model as much as they could choose the local car mechanic. And role models aren’t limited to just real world people. Fictional characters may be chosen as role models as well. This could be Superman, Doctor Who, Odysseus, or even our humble Scheherazade. The Social Learning Theory states that role models facilitate the acquisition of morals and other types of behavior. (Brown and Tevino 1) This means that when somebody is chosen as a role model, their behaviors and morals are adopted as one’s own over time. In Sir Richard Burton’s translation of The Thousand and One Nights, Scheherazade is described as
In modern society, we would consider a hero as a role model, and someone who we would want to emulate. For example, George Washington, the first president of the United States, is considered a hero by many in present day society.
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...
Throughout history, women were not always well regarded by men. Because of this, most societies treated their women as second class citizens. The stories from, Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, illustrate how the portrayal of women affected Muslim society in the Ninth century. Sometimes women were seen as mischievous, unfaithful temptresses. Other times they were depicted as obedient, simple minded slaves looking to please their master. With the use of charm, sex and trickery, they used the labels that they were put in, to their advantage; demonstrating that women during this century were clever, smart, and sly.
Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, tells the stories of women in Afghanistan in the late twentieth century. Hosseini shows the women’s strengths, weaknesses, tribulations and accomplishments through their own actions, and how they are treated by other characters in the book, particularly the male characters. Hosseini portrays men in A Thousand Splendid Suns to create themes of justice and injustice within the novel. The justice, or lack thereof, served to the male characters is a result of their treatment and attitudes toward the female characters in the book and towards women in general.
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.
Stories like Sindbad, Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and other popular stories are very common today in the western culture. Animated movies were also made for the entertainment of kids on these popular stories. One might wonder that where these stories originated and how it came down and made place in the western culture. Although these stories are very popular in both the western culture and the eastern culture but the original literary work is not so popular in common people. Theses stories are some of the stories from the Arabic work "The Thousand and One Nights." The work of "The Thousand and One Nights" represents basically a female that is a strong and clever idol and continuously imaginative and creative. It is an anonymous work which is widely known in the Arab world. It is an Arabic collection of a thousand tales, which is derived from the Persian version, telling of a King who was in the habit of killing his wives after the first night, and who was led to abandon this practise by the cleverness of the Wezir's daughter, who nightly told him a tale which she left unfinished at dawn, so that his curiosity led him to spare her till the tale should be completed. Many people have written about these stories, that where they originated, what time period was it originated, how they have been changed, and also literary criticism of the work.
someone who deserves to be known as a good role model. Here are some reasons to
Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious
... subjects such as literature, medicine, and philosophy. By knowing all this, Shahrazad is able to come up with a brilliant plan and uses it in a cunning way so that she is able to convince the king to cease killing the women. By use of sexual advancements, sly stories, and the help of her sister, Dinarzad, she is able to successfully follow through with her plan. A main factor driving her is her compassion and drive to help other people in need. The Thousand and One Nights is an intriguing story that will keep readers on their toes, and like King Shahrayar, keep coming back for the rest of the story.
Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.
Throughout studies of ancient civilizations Woman's place seems to be similar, but through a large spectrum of roles; as in the tales of Medea and Gilgamesh. Both tales tell their own views on Women, but also show each woman in their best and worst: The common, the priestess, the harlot, the wise, or just an evil witch. By analyzing and contrasting each woman one can see the view of women in ancient societies through the way stories detail them and their defining actions.
The inventions that the authors had for their writing were met by showing the misogyny in Egypt and encouraging the revolution that was occurring. Through the authors’ setting, the techniques used throughout their writing, and the similar goals that they set in their journey, both authors were able to produce written work in which one could draw many connections. Works Cited El Saadawi, a.k.a. Nawal. Woman at Point Zero.
Many people find someone in his/her life to look up to, a role model. There are many different kinds of role models; they can be singers, public speakers, a parent, or even a friend. Role models also are not determined by certain criteria. A role model can be a role model just because they are a leader or have a great talent. Oprah Winfrey is considered a role model to many individuals because of her tough childhood, wonderful charity work, her schools, and the true relationships with her fans. Oprah stands out among many people on her ability to feel others’ pain and help those people get through their troubling times.
Role models have an astounding effect on the lives of young people in our society. A role model has the ability to shape the views, ideals, and actions of a young person. Role models help youth discover how they wish to become in the future. The influence that role models have on young people is tremendous. It is important for role models to be positive and responsible in instilling good morals and values because future generations are directly dependent on the role models of today.
My grandfather was my role model because he would always help others. He was a doctor, and he would treat patients, even if they could not pay him. It did not matter to him. All that mattered was that he was able to help someone.