Scheherazade's Portrayal Of Women In The Thousand And One Nights

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Ever since the beginning of time, women have been looked at as possessions, items of pleasure, and lesser than men. These views are often skewed by a corrupt society that is driven by masculinity and power. The movie Arabian Nights and the stories in The Thousand and One Nights, show a unique perspective of the roles of women in a Muslim society. Some of the stories portray women as disobedient wives, beautiful slaves who are always eager to please men, and as prisoners isolated from the real world. The main character, Scheherazade, decided to challenge these standards and fight for freedom, as well as love. By deceiving her husband, she saved all the other women from death and lead Shahrayar to sanity. Although she was not set up for success, …show more content…

Over that time she fell in love from a distance; but this is where her similarities with the average damsel in distress end. Scheherazade took her fate, and the fate of others into her own hands instead of waiting around for her prince in shining armor. The frame story in The Arabian Nights, describes her as intelligent, witty, and also very beautiful. Unlike other women in her time period, she is seen as more that just a prize to be won. Although some other women in the en-framed stories also show underlying strength. A great example of this, is in the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” Morgiana (Ali Baba’s maid after he becomes rich) shows multiple acts of courage and intelligence. The first is when she figures out that there are men hiding in the jars waiting to kill Ali and decides to dump them out of the cart. The second act of bravery, is when Morgiana is dancing and strikes down the leader of the Black Coda. At first glance Morgiana might have just looked like a servant girl with no value, but by the end of the story she is a hero and has a husband. This is very similar to Scheherazade’s story. Taking this all into consideration, one question still remains unanswered: Why do women need to commit outrageous acts of either betrayal or bravery to become relevant in literature? Many books allude to this answer but so far only one explains it …show more content…

Ava lives on a spaceship where women are locked away at night, and only have jobs such as tending to the animals and kitchen duty. They have no choice in who they marry but the men can pick whomever they want out of the “pile.” At first thought Ava sounds like the exact opposite of Scheherazade, but an unseen turn of events lands Ava on Earth with nothing after she took a chance to escape execution. The two things that make Scheherazade and Ava both powerful women, is their willingness to take risks and their ability to positively influence those around them. The reason that women always have to make a big move to get noticed in literature is because of oppression. Not only oppression from men, but also from society in general. In countries other than American, women are fighting daily for simple rights such as

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