First of all.....wow. I had not read nor was familiar with 1001 Nights before this class, and after reading the story of King Shahryar & His Brother, I was surprised. Everything has this erotic, sexual overtone and has to do with sex, sex, and the consequences of sex. Shahryar's brother kills his wife and the "black filthy cook" that he found in her bed without a second thought. The same ill fate comes to Shahryar's wife when Shah Zaman witnesses her and the concubines and Mamelukes getting it on in the pleasure garden. Then after that the guy kills every woman he marries because no woman is trustworthy and all are evil. I believe they said they were justified in killing her so no one else could endure her malice, and stopped her from further contaminating the earth.
Is it just me, or does this seem to set the stage for the current-day feelings that Middle Eastern men have towards their women? Is this where it started? Why haven't we gotten over the sexist and oppressive stance against Middle Eastern women in the 21st century? I might be making a big assumption here, but I don't think women today go around demanding sex and threatening death otherwise. It just seems that in this day and age, we have advanced so tremendously that it shouldn't be happening anymore. I guess, in all reality, we could ask the same questions about why 3rd world countries are so poor, and have so little healthcare and basic living functions. Here's a link I looked at that has to do with women in the Middle East and what direction the US is going with their Foreign Policy: http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol5/v5n30women.html. I found that to be very interesting.
Is it just me, or does this seem to set the stage for the current-day feelings that Middle Eastern men have towards their women? Is this where it started? Why haven't we gotten over the sexist and oppressive stance against Middle Eastern women in the 21st century? I might be making a big assumption here, but I don't think women today go around demanding sex and threatening death otherwise. It just seems that in this day and age, we have advanced so tremendously that it shouldn't be happening anymore. I guess, in all reality, we could ask the same questions about why 3rd world countries are so poor, and have so little healthcare and basic living functions. Here's a link I looked at that has to do with women in the Middle East and what direction the US is going with their Foreign Policy: http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol5/v5n30women.html. I found that to be very interesting.
The picture is of Shahrazad and her younger sister in the bedchamber of the King, as she tells him stories.
The daughter of the Minister, Shahrazad makes a plan to try and convince the King to stop killing the women. So she is determined to marry him, against her father's will, and help him to see what he is doing is not right.
I still have to read three stories in 1001 Nights, but so far, the loud sexual overtone mixed with the dominance of religion and the infereriority of women is proving to be very, very interesting.
3 comments:
I think it is quite supprising how close the relations in the story are with todays "problems" if you will. I think its quite ironic how little the treatment of men and women has changed since the stories were written.
I completely agree with you assessment of the stories. "Sex, sex, and the consequences of sex," is a very apt description.
The "oppression of women" in the stories does seem to mirror the modern day oppression, but I think most of the oppression now has it's roots in religion. They had were Muslim back then too however, so it may be the case that the oppression in the stories didn't lead to modern day oppression, but rather oppression was already common practice and the book is reflecting something that was already part of the culture.
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