"The Arabian Nights"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the notion of telling a story of deception that reflects one?s current situation seems counter-intuitive due to the possibility that, in telling the story, the deceived may become aware of the secret intention. It uses as an example ?The Arabian Nights? and examines how Shahrazad?s life depends on every story she narrates, on both a momentary and permanent levels. It shows how a series of entertaining stories may allow Shahrazad to delay her execution, but never eliminate its certainty. To live, Shahrazad strives to reform King Shahrayar?s view of women as unfaithful, and she accomplishes this endeavor by means of suggesting that anger renders irrational conclusions, like those of the caliph, and multiple repetition of this theme serve only to further propound the message.

From the Paper:

"The caliph prematurely assumes that his vizier's incompetence in governing the kingdom directly or indirectly causes the young woman's murder. As previously stated, coincidence indirectly causes the girl's death. With that in mind, the young man's story exposes the vizier's innocence. Within that frame, the son's story reveals the mother's innocence. The importance of such situational repetition conveys the theme that Shahrazad aims to suggest, that solutions derived without reason or logic may never be adequate. This implication indicates a high degree of courage on Shahrazad's part. Effectively, in correlating this theme to King Shahrayar's life, she accuses the king of being wrong. The insinuation that a "king of the world" (11) is wrong seemingly harms Shahrazad's reformation of the king based considering that despots usually do not tolerate contradiction."

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