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Document-6.3 Shahrazad Mollifies A Murderous King

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Document-6.3 Shahrazad Mollifies a Murderous King. The Arabian nights, which is set in the ninth-century at the court of Harun-al-Rashid (r. 786–809) is a unique work of literature that has entertained people of the East and the West for generations. Although the literary work is based on imagination and fantasy, it reveals some of the most critical aspects of the early Muslim/Arabian society. The world that the tales of the Arabian nights describe is full of suppression and tyranny. As discerned in the excerpt, Shahryar, the king, is represented as an authoritative figure with absolute power who gets to marry a new virgin every night and kill them the next morning. As the ruler, he makes all the rules and everyone must submit to his will, …show more content…

On one instance, women are portrayed as unfaithful and disobedient wives, such as the first wife of Shahryar, who happened to share an extramarital relationship with the royal cook. And it is because of her unfaithfulness, Shahryar decides to kill every young woman he marries before they could betray him. On other occasions, women are represented as victims of men, who are nothing more than mere “objects of pleasure” meant to be bought or possessed by men and kings. Although it might be just impossible for some of us to imagine such a life for ourselves, but women, at the time, had no rights and were in a way captives held in harems, kept out of the outside world. Surprisingly, the tale also represents a different aspect of the role of women in the early Muslim world portrayed through the character of Shahrazad. First, Shahrazad is represented as a heroic figure, who vows to save other women from the death plot constructed by Shahryar. The fearless and brave nature of Shahrazad is highly contrasted with what the character of women was thought or expected to be at the time. Second, she is portrayed as a faithful and loyal wife who makes various attempts through her narratives to alter her husband’s perspective and heal his distrust of women. It was because of her astuteness and courage that she was able to placate the king and save all the women of her city from

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