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. Unlike many women of the nineteenth century, both Ayesha and Shahrazad are highly educated females. Their vast knowledge allows for them to have an upper hand in situations and assists them in furthering their goals. During a debate between Holly, the male protagonist in She, and Ayesha, Holly asks himself “how little chance, then, should I have against one whose brain was supernaturally sharpened, and who had two thousand years of experience, besides all manner of knowledge of the secrets of nature at her command?” (Haggard 184). Ayesha’s vast knowledge of the world allows her to outwit and ultimately control people. Ayesha explains to Holly “it is not magic, that is a fiction of ignorance. There is no such thing as magic, though there is such a thing as knowledge of the secrets of Nature” (Haggard ). The powe... ... middle of paper ... ...hange and self-empowerment. Works Cited Enderwitz, Susanne. “Shahrazad Is One Of Us: Practical Narrative, Theoretical Discussion, And Feminist Discourse.” Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 18.2 (2004): 187-200. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Haddawy, Husain. The Arabian Nights. Rpt in Engl 123 B16 Custom Courseware. Comp. Lisa Ann Robertson. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta, 2014. 51-64. Print. Haggard, H. Rider. She. Ed. Andrew M. Stauffer. New York: Broadview Press, 2006. Print. Nussbaum, Felicity. “Risky Business: Feminism Now and Then.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 26.1 (Spring 2007): 81-86. JSTOR. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. Rodgers, Terence. "Restless Desire: Rider Haggard, Orientalism And The New Woman." Women: A Cultural Review 10.1 (1999): 35-46. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” Nineteenth Century Literature March 1966: 102-106. Jstor. On-line. 10 Nov. 2002.
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.
Bogard, Carley Rees. “The Awakening: A Refusal to Compromise.” University of Michigan Papers in Women’s Studies 2.3 (1977): 15-31. Gale Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 January 2014.
Jerome Clinton’s article The madness and cure in the 1001 nights is intended to look at the psychoanalytic side of king Shahriyar’s problem with females and the way Shahrazard uses her wit and the art of story telling to stop her husbands murderous rampage. Clinton uses a female’s perspective on how the stories are viewed instead of the male’s perspective. Clinton also argues that the actions of king shahriyar are not just a brazen result both his brother’s and his own wives infidelity. Clinton uses the idea that king Shahriyar and his brother Shazaman have lost the “anima” in their subconscious mind because they have grown up in a world that gives women no importance but only to please men (Clinton 491-492). Therefore both are unable to form positive lasting relationships with women in their adult lives.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature 's Ancestral House: Another Look At 'The Yellow Wallpaper '." Women 's Studies 12.2 (1986): 113. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Both el Saadawi and Al-Shaykh both show how perception and expression are both affected within the confines of politics, social opportunities, and male privilege depicted in their stories. Whether the reader is a follower of the feminist movement or not, it is very clear and easy to see that these women are not being treated with the respect that any human being deserves. The misogynistic stranglehold on society, especially in this part of the world, is excessive and avoidable in today’s world but it is very likely that the traditional, conservative ways of the past will continue to control and inhibit women from being able to be fully treated as equals for many years to come, perhaps even after this generation has
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
Ford, Karen. “The Yellow Wallpaper and Women’s Discourse.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 4.2 (1985): 309-14. JSTOR. Web. 6 April 2011.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Women's Studies. 12 (1986): 113-128.
Hymowitz, Carol, and Michaele Weissman. A History of Women in America. New York: Bantam, 1978. Print.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" Women's Studies 12:2 (1986): 113-128.
Norris, H.T. "The Arabian Nights: A Companion." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 58 (1995):148-149.
Throughout “Araby”, the main character experiences a dynamic character shift as he recognizes that his idealized vision of his love, as well as the bazaar Araby, is not as grandiose as he once thought. The main character is infatuated with the sister of his friend Mangan; as “every morning [he] lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door…when she came on the doorstep [his] heart leaped” (Joyce 108). Although the main character had never spoken to her before, “her name was like a summons to all [his] foolish blood” (Joyce 108). In a sense, the image of Mangan’s sister was the light to his fantasy. She seemed to serve as a person who would lift him up out of the darkness of the life that he lived. This infatuation knew no bounds as “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance…her name sprang to [his] lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which [he] did not understand” (Joyce 109). The first encounter the narrator ex...
In contemporary society, feminism is emerging as a theory of social construct. In literature it is often challenging to discover female characters that go beyond the limits of marginalized female stereotypes and roles as a means to transgress beyond societal norms. Women are characterized as subordinate objects, amid the dominant patriarchal nature entrenched amid the epic. In The Ramayana, women are portrayed as powerless objects that succumb to the manipulation of men as the text portrays a false empowerment of women, which ultimately succumb to common archetypes accustomed to women in literature; implementing a hierarchy of gender that institutionalizes male dominance amid female inferiority. The women of The Ramayana struggle to oppose the systemic patriarchy and pursue a pathway towards attaining dynamic elements of power, that enable their ability to embody autonomous authority. In Valmiki’s The Ramayana, while women appear to be empowered, ultimately they are feeble instruments utilized to fulfill the desires of men.
In “The Marvelous Women”, Kahf praises women who have a strong desire to fight in order to have their rights and eliminate the patriarchal system. She also describes how women’s stories and experiences help her to write poetry, which is her way to confront the stereotypes against women.