So the first half of the text The One Thousand and One Nights, the story is mainly about two king brothers that both find their wives committing adultery. The first brother Shahzaman finds his wife sleeping with the kitchen boys and kills them both. He then goes to visit his brother Shahrayar and catches his sister in law also cheating with slaves that are disguised in woman’s clothing. Shahzaman has a hard time telling his brother but eventually tells him and they both decide to go on this journey. On this journey, they come across a demon who has imprisoned his wife in a chest. When he has taken her out of the chest and is fallen asleep, the wife sees the two brother and demands that they sleep with her. They realize that no matter what they do, they can’t control the woman. Shahrayar comes back to his town and kills his wife. Then he promises himself that he is never going to marry and have himself a new woman every day. He will sleep with her and then kill her. Shahrayar’s vizier is to find his king a new woman everyday but then his daughter offer’s herself to marry Shahrayar. Her father fears for her but she is fully aware of what will happen to her but still agrees to go on due to a plan that she has.
After reading this story, I wondered what I would do if I was to be in Shahzaman’s shoes. Would you be able to tell someone close to you that their partner is cheating on them and how would you tell them? What is that person didn’t believe you?
Also this seemed to be biased against woman. The women were caught to be doing wrong and were killed. Shahrayar’s wife was called a “slut” by the slave but what makes it okay for Shahrayar to sleep with a new woman every day and kill them? Just because of what happened to them, does that mean every woman are the same? Instead of blaming the woman, maybe something was wrong with the men in the story?
This story also reminded me a little of Gilgamesh. How Gilgamesh would rape any woman and brides to be just what Shahrayar is pretty much doing. Only after reading the first half, Shahrazad (the vizier’s older daughter) seems to be that she will play a part similarly like Enkidu.
It’s evident the misogyny in the play comes from a place of male insecurity. The way the characters describe themselves it is as if to say, having certain characteristics makes them less deserving of infidelity. The women are portrayed as sex-crazed, cheating without reason or simply because the can and want to. The men see themselves as the victims. It is easier to scapegoat the women than to look inwards and sort out your own flaws. I was amused by the self-pity. I wasn’t surprised by these ideas while reading these stories. I don’t know much about those parts of the world, but I’m aware of the limited freedoms women have even in present day. I believe the limits on female freedom come out of the idea that women need to be controlled.
I agree with the previous comment. I believe that men wrote these misogynistic stories to keep reminding themselves that women need to be in control. They needed to keep their patriarchal society. It is here in US and Europe that women keep gaining equality, but the situation in 3rd world counties are very different. In some of them women are not considered as human beings, and are constantly mistreated. In other countries laws work in women’s favor, but because of customs and traditions that go back in time for hundreds of years, they don’t use them. Unfortunately, they keep quiet about constant abuse and mistreatment, because men are breadwinners, and divorce means shame on their families.
Thinking in a situation such as the one Shahzaman was put in, I feel like it would be necessary to inform someone close to you about a partner cheating on them. I feel if someone is considered “close” to you, then you should feel the importance of notifying them when someone else has gone against their trust. Now in this situation, the brothers do not see each other often, and they do have separate lifestyles. When you originally think “brothers” you would believe they are close but to me it seemed like they were not as close as we would think because of the fact that Shahzaman did not tell Shahrayar originally the situation he just encountered with his wife and killing her because she cheated. So in a way it seems like they are not close to originally tell each other everything immediately. It also brings up the point that could explain how Shahrayar did not originally believe Shahzaman and wanted to witness his wife cheating on him with his own eyes. For me, if I told someone who is close to me that their partner had been cheating on them and my friend did not believe me, I did my part and it is up to them to make their own decisions on how to handle the situation.
I feel like this story does outline a general idea of women being cruel to their husbands in a way of committing adultery and not being able to be trusted. I feel like for these brothers to kill their wives was extreme, and I feel like for Shahrayar to repetitively kill women after sleeping with them in fear of them breaking a trust was irrational. I think it is not necessary a man to put women in a group and label them as untrustworthy because of one women’s choice of action. It seems to me that blaming women in general and claiming them all to be untrustworthy could mean that the men wouldn’t be thinking in a rational, acceptable way for society. For them to be kings as well, killing women after sleeping with them does not look to be something society should have to deal with, being that they are high authority of the land.
If I was in Shahzaman’s shoes, I would definitely tell that certain someone. I feel like because you’re close to the person gives all the more reason to tell. I also definitely agree with what you said about how this play isn’t exactly fair. Especially that this happens to him once and all of a sudden he doesn’t believe in any form of commitment. However, like the previous comments have said, this isn’t without reason. It’s to show the idea that women need to be controlled.
If I was in Shahzaman’s shoes, I would definitely tell that certain someone. I feel like because you’re close to the person gives all the more reason to tell. I also definitely agree with what you said about how this play isn’t exactly fair. Especially that this happens to him once and all of a sudden he doesn’t believe in any form of commitment. However, like the previous comments have said, this isn’t without reason. It’s to show the idea that women need to be controlled. It surprises me further when you think about the kind of culture they’re coming from. Where in daily life, the women are already controlled in what they do. However in this story they really take up a different role.
I find the connection that you have made to Gilgamesh very interesting. We can see a line of parallel between almost all of the stories we have read so far, that loyalty is nothing but a recommendation.
People are perusing materialistic pleasures (sometimes royalty), better physical partners, more women or men, and other things, rather than staying loyal to who they are with, or at least picking one person. Even so, they are often lying and manipulating just to get there. I think it shows us a lot about the values.
Another interesting aspect I have seen in the comments here, is wether or not they control it. Sometimes the pulses and urges are stronger than the person’s self control, especially when they are weak or intoxicated. Either way it doesn’t mean it’s right.
Regarding the questions – I think it depends on how close the person is to you. If it’s one of my best friends there is no question, I would let him or her know right away. If it’s just someone I know, let them find out by themselves, it’s not really your business when you are not too involved in their life.
Now, if the person doesn’t believe you it’s his problem, you don’t need to provide evidence. Again, it depends on the relationship status – meaning, if you have mutual trust you shouldn’t be having trouble getting your friend to believe you. These are topics people don’t joke around about, so if you address them, it means something is going on.
Have a great weekend guys!
I also think The Thousand and One Nights treats men and women very differently. I believe these background where the story is biased against women provides information about the author and more. Female characteristics except Sharazad are portrayed very vulgar whereas men especially the king are accepted just okay in the way they are. I do not see what lessons or the stories they want to show to the readers. One thing clear as many people said above is that women were to be controlled by men.
If I were Shahzaman, I would tell Shahrayar about the truth. I would tell when such thing happens to my sister or brother because they are the closest to me. However, I think I would hesitate if it were my friends. It is more difficult when it is not matter of my family, I think.
If I was in Shahzaman’s shoes, I think I would be able to tell a family member or close friend if their partner was cheating on them because the motive behind telling them the truth would be in the best interest for them. I would let them know right away before anything else could happen which would make the situation worse.
I like what Idan said about how people pursue materialistic pleasures. Being in a position of royalty, it is easy for that power to get to your head. You feel that you should be able to get whatever you want. We see this with Shahrayar because in this case, he desires to sleep with a different woman every night and feels he has every right to do so. This type of behavior towards women reminds me of Kreon when he said to Ismene how his son will find “other fields to plow”. This reoccurring behavior shows how men looked at women as something disposable.