Critical Essay on One Thousand and One Nights by Hanan Al-Shaykh

Introduction

The theme of, love and romance in the society is crisscrossing the entire piece of work. Incidences that build up the plot have exemplified this to a greater degree. This opens with King Shahrayar who notices his wife's overindulgence in debauchery character. He develops a mental schema that all women are sluts. Given his position, he is a king, who wields the power he develops a grudge against the female race and will always marry a virgin each day and brutally exterminate her the next day. This is to serve as retribution for this act of infidelity committed by his maiden wife. In this turn of circumstances, the woman has been on the receiving end in the twists and turns of love and romance, together with its accompaniments.

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The author writes that attitude is dark towards women and as such, they have to devise witty ways of staying up in the man's dominated world. The main character, for instance, is a virgin brought under the king's decree to be the wife then get executed the next day. She, however, salvages herself from this situation by telling tales that she tactfully puts them in suspense so that the king is always anticipating and consequently, will delay her execution. Sexual violence and mistrust are also perpetrated against women. A shah tells of how he caught her wife with the kitchen boys. He took a grave decision by executing both of them and brutally dumping their bodies in a trench. The book also has an incidence of noble Women sexually assaulted by African slaves. All these erotic moments have subjugated the female gender the sexual violence meted it against them by their male counterparts. In a nutshell, this book is replete with incidences of romance and love struggles.

In the same vein "The Pillow Book" by Sei Shonagon the theme of love is also zeroed in on the subtext and textual analysis. This is perhaps what would be a memoir for the royal court lady in the imperial ambiance of a medieval Japan city. The protagonist is imbued by her father's perfection in art and takes after it. She embellishes art to reflect the royal aesthetics--the beauty in the palace. Romantic and love instance punctuate the whole work. Sei Shonagon explores the craft to present life and her relation to real-time experiences. In her book, she tips on erotic relations and weirds how it was a norm to have multiple partners and extra-marital relationships, all these in pursuit of sexual gratification. Quoting a section she calls love priorities, "I do wish men when they're taking their leave from a lady at dawn, wouldn't insist on adjusting their clothes to a nicety, or fussily tying their lacquered cap into place.... One does want a lover's dawn departure to be tasteful. There he lies, reluctant to move so that she has to press him to rise. "Come on, its past dawn," she urges. "How shocking you are!" and his sighs reassure her that he hasn't yet had his fill of love, and is sunk in gloom at the thought that he must leave." In cultivating this theme, she shows the diversities and anomalies of human nature where men fall for "ugly women." These diary entries of Shonagan, as a courtier, consist of fragments and scenes that employ art to the fullest potential. By exploiting art to present sexuality the theme of love and romance continues to be propagated.

A cross-examination at both of the literary texts, the thematic concern of love and romance is important since it comes handy in understanding the plot and its development. Without this theme that would be a difficult end to meet. This theme also sparks dramatic effect in acting of the story. With the audience needs in mind then these scenarios would be riveting and captivating giving the feeling of pleasure from literature. Of equal importance is that art in its intricate form imitates real-life. As such these classical literary texts, with the latter written a thousand years back correctly map and apply to the contemporary world and situations. Viewing both from a critical eye then there is a sense of interconnectedness, looking at the former will deepen our understanding of the latter. Both pieces are indispensable in their text. They seem to agree to the theme of love and romance. Both have boosted our understanding on this since the theme is intertwined in both literary works. Looking at the first play where love and romance put the lady as an underdog and a victim of circumstances, who ends up heroic by cleverly subverting the punishment, the king executes this event act as a precursor to the next literary piece where love and romance is a carefree pursuit of pleasure. Thus the theme and secondarily the texts are understood from a multi-faceted aspect enabling us to apprehend and comprehend literature better.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the entire traversing theme is an intertexture in both works. The analysis of the plot of the first text that culminates in the presentation of a woman of mythical and unmatched storytelling prowess prepares us for the next piece. Here the power transitioned to art. The protagonist lady is an artist who presents nature, conversations, and poetry in a surreal way. This not only brings the end-result of literature where good triumphs over evil but also shapes a perfect world brought to being by the adept skill and talent in women.