Essay Questions

What deductions are evident from Shahrayar’s wife’s unfaithfulness?

Shazaman asserts, “Oh brother of mine, you are the ruler of the entire world, length and width, the towering knight, the implacable, the pious; and yet your wife seems to find delight only with the slave Mas’ud between her thighs. And to add insult to injury, they were at it in your home. If only it was your wife, but all your concubines and slaves too.” Being a king is not a guarantee that one would not be a victim of cuckoldry. Perchance, the king's wife and concubines seek for the carnal satisfaction which the king cannot accord them in the slaves. The slaves are good lovers who offer the king’s women erotic satisfaction which he cannot offer them. The king’s noble status may not correspond with his sexual prowess.

Using psychoanalysis deconstruct Shahrayar's decree after witnessing his wife's immorality.

Hanan al-Shaykh explains, “The next day Shahrayar stood at the heart of his palace and decreed a new law. ‘I, Shahrayar, shall each night marry a virgin, kissed only by her mother. I shall kill her the following morning and thereby protect myself from the cunning and deceit of women, for there is not a single chaste woman on the face of this earth.” The king’s decree is a blatant Displacement. He intends to displace his pain, originating from his wife's deception, on virgins. The virgins are not involved in the wife's actions, yet they are sacrificial lambs for the king's hurt. The king anticipates that killing them after intimacy would guarantee that they will not deceive him like his wife did. He unconsciously loathes all women due to his wife's behaviour by concluding that all women are bound to be unfaithful.

Describe the foremost ideology in the encounter between "The Fisherman and the Jinni".

Fisherman states, “Forgive me jinni for setting you free. I was only trying to fish, so that my wife and children will not die of hunger”. The jinni replies, ‘I must kill you, it is the best reward that I can grant you for setting me free. Now hurry up and choose the manner of your death." Jinni's response implies that he believes in repaying goodness with evil. Comparatively, the fisherman supports the ideology of being kind. The exchange between the two parties indicates that in cases of moral dilemmas it is imperative to select the moral road.