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

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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

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