Themes in Excerpts in the book: The Thousand and One Nights
The excerpt “The story of King Shahrayad and Shahrazad, His Vizier’s Daughter” Prologue presents the theme of penalties for women’s disobedience vs Male’s transgressions. Each gender appears to have distinct forms of punishments for the same type of transgression. The issue of people having sexual affairs out of wedlock is common in the excerpt. However, women appear to have a harsher penalty than men. Females get killed for having sex with people other than their husbands. Contrary, men do not get any form of punishment. Prominently, when Shahzaman “found his wife lying in the arms of one of the kitchen boys” he became infuriated (Haddawy 926). He considered the act one of the worst betrayals. “As his anger boiled, he drew his sword and struck both his wife and cook” (Haddawy 926). The same aspect happens with Shahzama’s brother, King Shahrayad. After killing his wife and cook, Shahzama’s goes to visit his brother. In the palace, he finds the king’s wife fraternizing with one of the black slave boys. When Shahrayad witnesses the act after pretending to go out for a hunt and sneaking back to get his wife with the slave, he also becomes distraught. Eventually, the king orders his queen killed. Both kings do not get the same punishment for the same transgressions. After Shahrayad witnessed having sexual acts with the slave, he goes on a quest with his brother. On the quest, a demon’s woman sleeps with each of them. Such act means that they also had sexual relations out of wedlock, However, they do not get punished. Besides, King Shahrayad starts marrying a new woman each night and killing her so that she can never betray him.
The excerpt: “The Story of the Merchant and the Demon,” particularly the narration on the first night, in the book includes the themes of the role of demons and oho has power and who is in control, and when does power/control shift. The story portrays demons as supernatural creatures that cause havoc and demand vengeance. The beings usually enjoyed delivering punishments to humans. In the story, when the merchant had become tired after travelling for four days, he went to take rest in an orchard. He started eating loaves of bread and dates. He threw date pits left and right. After he had finished and ready to go on with his journey, an old demon emerged with a sword in its hand and told him, “Get up so, that I may kill you with this sword, as you have killed my son” (Haddawy 937). The fact that the merchant became terrified after he saw the creature, that accused him of murdering its child with one of the date pits that he threw, highlights that demons caused havoc. They also demanded vengeance, as the being targeted to kill the merchant in return. The excerpt also depicts that demons had a greater power than humans. The creatures appear to control the lives of people, such as dictating when they will die. Prominently, the merchant appears to accept the fate that the demon decides for him for killing its son. However, the power could shift when a person was courageous and clever when dealing with a demon. The merchant appeared to trick the creature when he begged it to first go back to his home and share his property among his children before it killed him. The trick made him to come up with a better plan to save himself.
Works Cited
Haddawy, Husain, ed. The Thousand and One Nights. 922-948.