Patriarchy In 1001 Nights And A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Patriarchal societies play a major role in many fairy tales. These societies are especially evident in A Thousand and One Nights, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In each of these tales, the patriarchal system inherent in the story causes obvious opposition between either a husband and wife, or a father and daughter. In general, the apparent higher authority of the relationship rested with the male, however, in each of these stories, the real power rested or was transferred to the female.
Patriarchy in stories, particularly fairy tales, is a very common social structure. In general, the patriarchal system also incorporates the female in the story to be inferior in another social way ...
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has chosen for her. In other stories, the supposedly patriarchal social structure in the land, is really held by a female; however, in most of these stories, the female wielding the power is usually using that social power for evil against the underdog daughter.
In 1001 Nights, the original power rested with the king of the land, since he was the one with the ability to choose which young virgins he was going to wed and kill. The women were clearly in the submissive role, until Shaherazad was able to, through her stories, slowly reverse the role of power so that the king no longer marries for a night, then kills them the next day. The framed narrative in this story is centered around the transferal of power from the higher, dominant male to the lower, originally submissive female. Every night when Shaherazad tells her stories, her power increases just a little, because her husband will always be left wanting more from her, thereby not killing her.
The 1001 Nights narrative ...
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society dominates, although it is interesting to note that Theseus has chosen to “tame” the queen of a society completely the opposite of his own, one ruled entirely by women. The argument could be made that Theseus chose Hippolyta as his bride because his own masculinity was so threatened by her way of life, that he had to not only be rid of it, but assimilate it into his patriarchal society, making it the ultimate conquering.
There are three immediate examples of patriarchy in this play. The first was the overlying system of the male ruler of the kingdom. The second is introduced fairly quickly as well, with Hermia’s father trying to force her to marry Demetrius. Theseus agrees ...
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"Patriarchy In 1001 Nights And A Midsummer Night’s Dream." Essayworld.com. October 9, 2006. Accessed April 18, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Patriarchy-1001-Nights-Midsummer-Nights-Dream/53655.
"Patriarchy In 1001 Nights And A Midsummer Night’s Dream." Essayworld.com. October 9, 2006. Accessed April 18, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Patriarchy-1001-Nights-Midsummer-Nights-Dream/53655.
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