Description

The Thousand and One Nights; Write a paper of 700-800 words in length (written in MLA format), answer the following question:
How are we to interpret Shahrayar’s madness’ Does it make sense to you? (Ponder this: Are male egos so fragile in macho societies or is his a special case? Conversely, how are the women portrayed in these stories? Does ‘good daughters/bad wives’ cover it? What are we to make of the relationships between the sexes in light of your answer?
After you think of answers to this question, and think about the character of Shahrayar himself write your essay answering this:
What does Shahrayar see as his dilemma? Determine whether you think he has a legitimate dilemma, and then examine the choices he did make. What are the social consequences to his society as a whole? To the people who surround him? What happens to him?
Sample format:

I. Identify the person (Shahrayar) and discuss the society/culture in which he lived, central issues that were significant to this person, beliefs they attempted to promote with their life’s work, and the impact this work/belief system had on the culture of the time. This is where you will introduce his “insanity.”
II. Write at least two body paragraphs, each one describing in specific detail two examples of the choices which were available to Shahrayar. What drives him? What is significant about these examples that help us to assess his character? In these paragraphs, you may use textual evidence as well as reactions to Shahrayar’s behavior by individual characters.