The story of The Thousand and One Nights is a story that teaches morals throughout the many stories within the main story. This tale is about a clever women, Shahrazad, that saves herself as well as the women in her kingdom, from being put to death by the king. She does this by marrying him and telling him stories every night, ending the story on such a note that he had to wait with anticipation for the ending the next night.
This story starts off with the King Shahrayar finding gout his wife has been unfaithful and encompassed by his rage, driven to madness with it, his kills her. Shahrayar vows “"…I shall each night marry a virgin…I shall kill her the following morning and thereby protect myself from the cunning and deceit of women”(1182). It is then in the story that Shahrazad comes into play. It is her role in the story that makes this a feminist piece. Though women did not have social power during this age, Shahrazad had power with her stories and her knowledge. Though she was supposed to be his prisoner, it is he that becomes her prisoner--because he was enchanted to his stories, to her voice, to sitting up with her through the night.
Her tales made him think about his own life and how he handled his troubles. The life lessons that came from the tales changed the way the he thought. King Shahrayar realized his own mistakes and made plans to remedy them. These types of stories relate to how women are perceived today, the women in these stories in fact do find their own way--again and again, we watch as the powerless become powerful, and the strong become weak. We see this contradiction at work inside Shahrayar, the all-powerful king.
This story starts off with the King Shahrayar finding gout his wife has been unfaithful and encompassed by his rage, driven to madness with it, his kills her. Shahrayar vows “"…I shall each night marry a virgin…I shall kill her the following morning and thereby protect myself from the cunning and deceit of women”(1182). It is then in the story that Shahrazad comes into play. It is her role in the story that makes this a feminist piece. Though women did not have social power during this age, Shahrazad had power with her stories and her knowledge. Though she was supposed to be his prisoner, it is he that becomes her prisoner--because he was enchanted to his stories, to her voice, to sitting up with her through the night.
Her tales made him think about his own life and how he handled his troubles. The life lessons that came from the tales changed the way the he thought. King Shahrayar realized his own mistakes and made plans to remedy them. These types of stories relate to how women are perceived today, the women in these stories in fact do find their own way--again and again, we watch as the powerless become powerful, and the strong become weak. We see this contradiction at work inside Shahrayar, the all-powerful king.