The Arabian Nights is a short story collection that originated in the Middle East but soon become popular worldwide for its stories. Not only has it spread in its original form, but many adaptations of it have been made, including movies and television shows. Over the years, many people have debated on the different aspects and translations of the Arabian Nights, and have come to the conclusion that there are many problematic things with it. Taking a certain excerpt from the Arabian Night texts, it shows the reader how The Arabian Nights is actually has elements of sexism and racism integrated into it, which are both subtle and prominent.
Taking into consideration a small excerpt from the Arabian Nights, “Then they sat down, took off their clothes, and suddenly there were ten slave-girls and ten black slaves dressed in the same clothes as the girls. Then the ten black slaves mounted the ten girls, while the lady called, “Mas’ud, Mas’ud!” and a black slave jumped from the tree to the ground, rushed to her, and, raising her legs, went between her thighs and made love to her [Haddawy 38], the text shows the underlying racial condescension with the characters. The text refers to the black slaves without any gender specification. It was just assumed that the black slaves were men. The other slaves, probably presumed to be white, were women, and the black men were dressed up as women too. This gender and colour distinction comes across as extremely racially biassed and ignorant. Not only that, but it is degrading for both women and men of all colours to be written about like this.
It is degrading for women because in both circumstances, the reader can observe that the one who committed the act of infidelity was the wife. The women in the story have been put across as people who are evil and destined to cheat on men. The text says “How will it be and what will happen behind my back when I go to visit my brother in India? No. Women are not to be trusted” [Haddawy 33]. The generalisation of women and saying that all women are not to be trusted is an incorrect notion that should not be encouraged, but it is further delved into when the king’s brother’s wife also ends up committing infidelity.
The women are nothing but tools for the story to have a forward moving plot, and the text clearly shows the viewer that the women are inferior beings to the men by how they are treated. It is almost as if the kings are entitled to have loyal and faithful wives, but they are not held accountable to the same rules when they can have multiple mistresses and wives. This degrading treatment puts across a message of how it is okay for men to treat women this way, and how they deserve abuse because they are beneath men. Especially the scene where the king kills his wife and the cook she cheated on him with, by throwing them in a trench. He is portrayed as someone who is acting morally right, and that the wife and the cook deserved to be killed. It is obvious that is not the case, as they do not deserve death for committing that sin, even though it is a grave sin. This also delves into the power dynamics that exist within the community, and between royalty and common people. Murder was an act punishable by death as well, so technically this makes the King a hypocrite for not abiding by his own laws.
The Arabian Nights, though one of the most well known collection of folk tales in this day and age, is still with its own package of problematic themes, and many of these aspects have even been heightened by translators, especially those from Britain and France. The translators made the prose more sexually explicit and increased the levels of racism towards not only Black people, but also Jews, Persians and many more ethnicities and cultures. It is evident that many of the details in the modern day The Arabian Nights have either been forged or unnecessarily been increased in severity. The Arabian Nights will always be popular, but it is important for people to know the adverse impacts it has had and can have on gender and race.
Why does the second paragraph only imply that the women were white? I suggest that you don’t use the word ‘but” in the very last sentence to close your essay because it would make the sentence negative. Maybe use different words instead of subtle and prominent at the top?
Why does the second paragraph depict to me that women who were slaves were white? I suggest that you don;’t use the word ‘but” in the very last sentence to close your essay because it would make the sentence negative. Maybe use different words instead of subtle and prominent at the top?
This is a really great response, Sinhayana. I like how you make your claims very clear and explicit. Based on my reading, you are claiming that The Arabian Nights is problematic because it incorporates elements of sexism and racism. You then go on to claim that the tales’ racism lies in their inappropriate representation of black slaves and its sexism lies in its portrayal of women as unfaithful and unloyal lives. I also really liked how you included specific quotes from the tales as forms of evidence. I especially liked your claim that “It is almost as if the kings are entitled to have loyal and faithful wives, but they are not held accountable to the same rules when they can have multiple mistresses and wives.” I think this really hones in on the hypocrisy and double standard that existed at that time. I think, however, you could benefit from further explaining the paragraph on race (paragraph 2). The last five lines are a little hard to follow, so you may want to reword them to make your argument clearer and more effective. Also, I liked how you noted that the tales “delve into the power dynamics that exist within the community, and between royalty and common people.” However, if you are to make this point, I think you should expand upon it more because I’m interested to learn more about how this concept shows up in the Arabian Nights. If you find that you do not have enough room in the paper to go into it, then maybe consider removing it from the paper. Other than that, this is a great paper that I very much enjoyed reading.