Question

How do Shahrazad's stories work not only to keep her alive but to restore balance and order to the kingdom? Answer in 4-5 sentences.

Answer 1

Answer.

The Persian story collection ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ demonstrates the young protagonist Shahrazad's power over the impulsive king through her tactful articulation of narratives and stories. Her stories connect back to the current life of her listener the King in a way that it communicates a hidden moral directive about right conduct and social transformations.

Thus, Shahrazad outsmarts the king by telling him a story each night before he goes to sleep. She ends each tale with suspense within an episodic structure, to keep her husband hooked and herself alive to be able to finish the story the next night. Moreover, other than personal survival, the collection presents a theme of the oppressor and the oppressed. There is a tension that plays out in her stories through powerful Djinns locked in bottles, kings and their servants, parents and children which undercut the situation of women's own battle for survival in a world ruled by men as they make their own choices and try to live according to their beliefs about freedom, sexuality, and love.