The reason why I chose to write my blog about this text is because I am Egyptian and I speak Arabic and there is a very popular Arabic version of this text. I thought it would be interesting to make a connection between the use of language in the English version and the Arabic one. Something i found that really caught my attention was that in Egypt, a group of people wanted to censor the text because it wasn’t appropriate in the Egyptian society: “We understand that this kind of literature is acceptable in the West, but here we have a different culture and different religion”said lawyer Ayman Abdel-Hakim. I lived in Egypt for a few years and a fun fact was that in some schools it used to be mandatory for students to learn about this text.
I was completely surprised with what this text actually turned to be about . After reading Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection, i thought most of the plays we were going to read were going to be less dramatic and peculiar unlike the ones we read before. However, I thought this reading was even more appalling and weird then the ones we read before. I believe this text can be best compared to our previous reading, Medea, which was extremely intense and violent.
Like Medea, this text seems to revolve around the idea of revenge. In a way, the characters Shahrayar and Shahzaman can be similar to Medea. Medea seeks revenge from Jason because he broke her heart and she makes him suffer by doing the extreme and killing her own children. Likewise, the two brothers want to get revenge, but not just from their wives, but also from all the women because they are believed to be deceivers “There is not a single chaste woman anywhere on the entire face of earth” (p562). As the story progresses, we see that more women start to appear as betrayers. First was King Shahzaman’s wife, then King Shahrayar’s wife and his slave-girls, and then the young woman with the demon. Thus, King Shahrayar decides to kill his slave-girls and swears to marry a new woman every night “in order to save himself from the wickedness and cunning of women” (p562).
The king seems to redeem himself from the dishonesty of these women by using them to satisfy himself and then by murdering them the next morning. Now my questions to the class are, Do you guys think that King Shahrayar is insane for doing this act in order to get his revenge? If so, what other way can he and his brother get their vengeance?
Website – http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/11/world/la-fg-egypt-book-ban-20100711
Work cited
Hassan, Amro. “Egyptian Group Wants to Censor Arabic Classic.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2010. Web.
Hi Karim
I agree with the Idea that king Shahrayar is similar to Medea because he might be little insane. They are both using extreme level of emotions to take their revenge. For example Medea chooses to kill her children to take revenge from Jason. Similarly, king Shahrayar also chooses to kill a new wife every night, and these women are innocent. They could have used other ways take revenge.
Hey Karim,
I agree with your statement about Medea and King Sharayar being similar; however, I do think Medea is a lot more driven. Medea appeared to be an unstoppable force, whereas King Shahrayar was blinded by a young girl. To answer your question regarding whether or not there was a better way for King Shahrayar and his brother to get revenged; yes, there is definitely countless ways for them to get revenge. In the Qur’an it is stated although “an eye for an eye” is a viable option, those who opt to forgive are loved by God. This theme is recurring throughout all of the stories Shahrazad tells the king.
Hi Karim,
Thanks for your thought-provoking post.
I definitely agree with the fact that revenge is a major theme in both Medea and The Thousand and One Nights, which displays the idea of intertextuality. In previous classes we argued that Medea was insane for acquiring revenge in the ways that she did—by murdering her own children, etc.—and we tried to justify her actions by underscoring them with ideas such that she was deeply wounded by Jason’s betrayal of their vows. The Thousand and One Nights demonstrates a similar scenario, in which revenge is sought for the betrayal of marital vows. Although the text states that “When King Shahrayar saw the spectacle of his wife and the slave-girls, he went out of his mind,” I do not believe that he is insane, at least not in a literal sense (560). However, the King does display multiple psychopathic behaviors, which arise as a result of his deep agony over his terrible misfortune. According to http://www.sociopathicstyle.com, psychopaths possess such behaviors as: lack of remorse or guilt, callousness or lack of empathy, poor behavioral controls, promiscuous sexual behaviors, and impulsivity. The King demonstrates each of these behaviors. Although I do not consider him to be mentally unstable, he does resemble an individual who does not behave like a stable citizen.
Works Cited
“Psychopathic Traits.” The Sociopathic Style. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. .
The Thousand and One Nights. Trans. Husain Haddawy. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 2012. 552-577. Print.