English 2332 Unit 11 Study Guide


(Return to the Unit 11 Home Page) Unit 11 Study Guide Without argument, the single, most popular piece of literature to enter the canon of world literature from the Arab Middle East, The Thousand and One Nights continues to entertain readers of every age. The Nights is a compilation of stories built loosely around a frame in which Shahrazad, a young maiden, must save her life from the threats of her sultan by telling him a different story, night after night, until he abandons a practice of killing each maiden that he marries every day. The earliest manuscript still extant dates to the Syrian 13th century, but the stories are much older, and the trail of its origins unclear. Some of the takes and the names suggest Persian and Indian sources, but wherever the tales traveled, they were embellished by enthusiastic story tellers who felt inclined to add their own narratives. Two different "strains" of the Nights survive: the first, the older Syrian version, and the second, Egyptian. The latter contains numerous newer additions to the original collection, including the popular legends of "Sinbad, the sailor" and "Aladdin and his magical lamp." The Arab world has not uniformly shared the Western affection for Nights, and at least one conservative government, Egypt, has declared the work immoral and banned it from distribution. Clearly, however, the work has found its place on the shelves of popular literature around the world. Readings Read the Introduction to The Thousand and One Nights, pp. 1586 - 1588 Read the selections from The Thousand and One Nights, pp. 1588 - 1609 Study Questions 1) What is the source of Shahrazad's cunning? How does she win her reprieve from execution each night? 2) What is the Arabic view of women that emerges from the tales? 3) Characterize the various "demons" of the tales? What is their function? How do they support the condemnation of women in the various tales? 4) Reconstruct the value system that emerges from the tales. What constitues a universal sin? Key Concepts The Demonized Woman *A universal or archetypal image of woman is the femme fatale,* the sexual succubus who devours her mate after copulation.** This pattern is modified in the tales of the Nights by the compromising reseating of power in the hands of the cuckholded husband. Unrestrained and in private, the woman becomes licentious and fickle. The Cuckholded Husband The counterpart to the demonized woman is the cuckholded husband, made the public laughing stock and fool by the unfaithful and adulterous wife. The Trickster Another universal folk character is the "trickster" who, in its various motifs, outwits the traditional seats of authority by wit and cunning. The Narrative Frame The tale-within-a-tale is an old narrative form, also with origins in folklore. The narrator tells a story within the narrative of his or her own actions. The pattern is familiar in the ballad, but has been used in as the pretext for introducing narrative in many novels, short stories, and narrative poems. See the same pattern used in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. This page was last modified on January 17, 2006, and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes.