The Thousand and One Nights Essay Example

"The Thousand and One Nights" is a one of the world's well-known collection of Arabic short tales. Although the stories were originally composed and transmitted orally several centuries ago, they have developed to be an inextricable segment of the Western cultural heritage. The author has used the style of the story within a story, which was traditionally linked to medieval Arabic culture. The stories come from a variety of genres including poems, tragedies, mysteries, fables, adventures, horror, and love stories. However, most of the tales are rooted from different geographical areas and historical period. Many themes are also addressed in the stories, making the collective work relevant to the present times. Among them is the theme of power, feminism, romance, and deception, which are still evident in the modern societies. Therefore, this paper will be an analysis, dissection, and response to the theme of gender and power dynamics in the text "The Thousand and One Nights".

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Power can be defined differently based on various contexts. The term power may refer to the ability of someone or something to act in a particular way. In other cases, it is the ability to influence the behaviors and actions of other people in the course of an event. One's power depends on numerous factors such as gender, social class, race, and religion. Essentially, in the contemporary society power should be a balanced value between genders. From "The Thousand and One Nights" although it was the males who took the mantle of leadership, women were equally respected. For instance, the sovereignty of the kingdom of Sasan and that of Samarkand was under two brothers King Shahryar and King Shahzaman respectively (McCaughrean p1). The kings took pressure on their wife and appreciated their beauty but did not share their authority with them. In fact, the moment Shahryar decided to visit his brother in the neighboring kingdom, he did not discharge duties to his wife. He only kissed his spouse goodbye and veiled her face so that nobody would have a glimpse of her beauty (McCaughrean p2). Therefore, imbalance of power between genders was prevalent in the early societies and the same vice continues in the modern domain.

The Arabic story collection also signifies conflict between two genders. Shahryar represents males' struggles while Shahrazad signifies females' tussles for equality and respect. Although the kings were initially adored, Shahryar decides to use his power and sword against women after finding his wife romancing with palace cook. Out of anger, he uses his sword to kill the culprits before embarking on his brother's visits. Instead of remarrying, Shahryar developed hatred towards women and used his position as a king to sleep with virgin women every night. Eventually, every morning he would kill the woman he slept with using his own sword. Shahrazad decides to salvage women from the wrath of Shahryar by using her power of mind, culture, and words to fight against women oppression. Therefore, as a king, Shahryar denotes continuous misuse of power in the society. Today, the gender conflict persist with different organization standing strong against various forms of female oppression.

From the tales of "The Thousand and One Nights", Shahrazad symbolizes women power and resilience by deciding to marry King Shahryar despite the risk of her decision. She uses her unique style of storytelling to instill moral lessons to the king. For instance, through the story "The Merchant and his Wife", Shahrazad conveys a society where men have influence over women. The story is a reflection of men and Shahryar and their actions that have been oppressing women. Likewise in the tale "Fisherman and the Jinni" she shows her prowess of story-telling by making the king want to hear more of her stories. In this story, the fisherman denotes a small organism as compared to Jinni but he is in a position to outwit a powerful creature (McCaughrean p23). The tale takes a similar social construction of power dynamic where the minority is taking the mantle of leadership and high public positions.

Similarly, from the tale of Ala-al din or the Wonderful Lamp, women were barely given any power and were only to be admired by men. The character Ala-al din becomes a greedy man who flaunts with the things he wants (McCaughrean p171). One of his main aims was to win the love of a sultan's daughter despite her being married to another man. Women are taken as desirable objects and were hardly respected. Afterward, Ala-al din succeeded and was made captain to the Sultan's army. He also changed to become a courteous man winning the hearts of many. Initially, Ala-al din was a low life person who managed to rise to power by outsmarting those of a higher social status.

Through her stories, Shahrazad stands as a powerful and wise woman who managed to manipulate King Shahryar. She gives a composed view of wrong deeds and human mistakes to symbolize that both men and women are equally evil. Consequently, Shahrazad becomes a valiant hero by denying to relent to male power. In fact, most of her stories have a feminist motivation, and as a result, for one thousand and one nights she saves women from the wrath of misogynistic Shahryar. Eventually, the king takes her as a wife and acknowledge her wisdom changing his perception about women.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the rivalry and voracity for power continue to carry the day in the modern society. Similar to the Sasan Kingdom some society has been looking down against women leading to mushrooming of feminist movements. The feminists have been advocating for gender equality in different social, economic and political spheres. The rising literacy levels among women who for long have been associated with domestic responsibilities have seen them take dominance not only in the economic realm but also in the politics. The power dynamic, therefore, continues to resonate with only a few societies in the world failing to honor women for their vibrant contribution to civilization. However, there is continues to struggle to have a considerable number of women take part in politics. Lastly, as evident from "The Thousand and One Night" women possess the power of intelligence that helps them retain their influence in the society. Societies should, therefore, cultivate on this wit to overcome gender inequality and women oppression, which have been an enduring problem.

Work cited

McCaughrean, Geraldine. One thousand and one Arabian nights. Oxford University Press, 2013.