The Thousand and One Nights

The Thousand and One Nights are 42 tales from Middle Eastern and Indian stories. The main overall storyline is King Shahrazad had uncovered that throughout his nonappearances, his wife was very disloyal to him and he ends up assassinating her and whoever she associated herself with. The king becomes into a huge monster and seems like he kills anyone in his path. He would marry and then execute a spouse every day.  It sounds something similar to Sakuntala and Madea with their significant others and how the male runs everything.

In the story “The Merchant and the Jinni, The king had a repetitive line which was “Rise, that I may kill thee, and thou hast killed my son. To me, it shows how hostile he is toward people. In the “Second Sheykh and the Two Black Hounds”, the King says, “I became most cordially attached to my wife, so that, on her account, I neglected the society of my brothers, who, in consequence, became jealous of me, and likewise envied me my wealth, and the abundance of my merchandise; casting the eyes of covetousness upon the whole of the property.” So it seems as though whoever is in his way will face the consequence of death or face some sort of a consequence. He doesn’t have remorse for anyone.

One thought on “The Thousand and One Nights

  1. I think that one of the coolest things about the thousand and one nights is the different translations and how the author portrays these characters. In the story that is provided in the textbook, it gives readers the impression that the king was indeed wronged and that the wife was completely out of line. However, in other texts that we read in class, we saw different portrayals of the king, the wife, and the cook whom the wife is cheating on the king with. This was a story that definitely resonated with me the most because I loved seeing the different sides portrayed by the translator.

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