Preview

Similarities Between The Thousand And One Night

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
898 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Similarities Between The Thousand And One Night
The human condition of what it is like to be a person who discovers their identity and their place in the world could be interpreted differently depending on the story. The Odyssey is about the man Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who wanders for years trying to get home after the Trojan War. Yet The Thousand and One Nights revolves around the opposite, two brothers, each with their kingdom to run, both find out their wives are cheating on them, and it focuses on the story of how they work to remove the remorse they feel toward their lives. In a way, they are similar; Both stories have the idea of men going on a journey to discover themselves in one way or another, be it a grand voyage or to their brother's kingdom. Both stories are vastly different, …show more content…
This test sheds some light on why their love for each other is so natural in the first place. None of the suitors could ever replace Odysseus, just as Circe or Calypso could never replace Penelope. Despite The Oddessey being about traveling to love, The Thousand and One Nights talks about traveling away from one love to escape it. In this story, two brothers, King Shahrayar and King Shahzaman are both cheated on by their wives. At first, it was King Shahrayar whose wife was caught sleeping with the kitchen boys, King Shahrayar killed both the kitchen boys and his wife, as well as promised to never fall in love or marry again. Overwhelmed with grief for his life, Shahrayar decides to go to his brother's kingdom, only to be so depressed that he doesn't go on a hunting trip with his brother. While his brother is watching Shahzaman’s wife cheating on him with slaves, Shahrayer feels better that he is not the only one whose wife cheated on him and tells his brother. They then decide to set off on an adventure to discover a guy who is more unfortunate than themselves. After finding one, they come back to their own house, and Shahrayar returns with vengeance in his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Throughout Odysseus’s journey, he misses both his wife and son. This, however, is one of the first instances in which he feels he can do nothing to resist Calypso and return to his faithful wife Penelope. Furthermore, even when Calypso offers Odysseus immortality he declines because his true love is Penelope and a life surrounded by beauty would not change how much he loves his wife. Odysseus finally realizes that looks can be deceiving and even though Calypso’s Island is beautiful, it has brought him misery for seven years.…

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    AMSND Study Guide

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The second plot is that of the four young lovers. Hermia is in love with Lysander,who returns her feelings, but she is betrothed to Demetrius. Demetrius is also in love with Hermia and at the same time is trying to fend off Helena who is in love with him after he played with her heart. Hermia and Lysander plan to elope to his aunt’s house which is out of the kingdom and will protect them from Theseus’s law. Helena and Demetrius go after them into the forest.…

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    With Odysseus’s departure twenty years prior, Ithaca has descended into chaos, by a swarm of suitors, who plague the palace, and pursue Odysseus’s wife and queen, Penelope. Odysseus father, Laertes, and Penelope, his wife and queen, are the two individuals who truly test him— he returns the favour—, as personifications of Ithaca, they act as stepping stones in his reinstitution as head of his household and kingdom.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At last, Odysseus broke down and wept into Penelope, his faithful and loyal wife, who he had yearned for twenty years. Few men can return after twenty years to find their wives still faithful and loving the way Odysseus had. The two hugged for what seemed like forever, and rejoiced, for the battle and difficulties were now behind them. For the first time in twenty years, Odysseus and Penelope enjoyed a blissful night and exchanged an endless number of stories. It was as though twenty years had come and gone, and nothing had changed. They were still the power couple everyone dreamed to be.…

    • 1317 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Odyssey” is a story about a King named Odysseus, who goes off to lead a war and is separated from his family and kingdom for 20 years. While he is away for so many years his son grows up into a man and helps his mother; Odysseus’ wife, Penelope rules the kingdom. After many years of Odysseus being gone, suitors or “wooers” arrive trying to win over the queen. When Odysseus gets back he brutally slaughters everyone who was involved with the suitor’s plans, including the innocent servant women, who were working in his castle at the time.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, tests him to assure herself of his identity. As he listens, she asks Eurycleia to move the bedside out of the couple’s chamber and spread it with blankets. The king himself had carved the bed as a young man, shaping it out of a living olive tree that grew in the courtyard of the palace. He built the bedroom around the tree and would know that the bed cannot be moved. When Odysseus becomes upset that the original bed may have been destroyed, Penelope is relieved and accepts him as her long absent husband. For the first time in twenty years they spent a blissful night together. In relation to a soldier some have trouble stepping back into relationships with family and friends after an experience that sent home a different person.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play focuses on the exploration of romanticism and the pursuit of love. The story revolves around the upcoming marriage between Duke Theseus and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. The Duke is approached by a man named Egeus who is in complaint of his daughter’s choice of men. He wishes that his daughter, Hermia, will marry Demetrius in which she declines. She is in love with Lysander and proclaims “O hell, to choose love by another’s eyes” (Shakespeare 1659). The Duke gives Hermia an ultimatum to either marry Demetrius or accept the penalty. The penalty is “Either to die the death” or “To live a barren sister all your life” (1657). Hermia and Lysander make plans to run off and get married. Hermia’s friend, Helena, comes into the picture. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he is not in love with her. Helena tells Demetrius the plan of the elopement in an attempt for him to fall in love with her. While this is happening, a group of craftsmen are putting together a play for the Duke’s wedding. This comes into play because they are practicing in the woods where Hermia and Lysander are waiting to run off to get married. Also in the woods are the Fairy King, Oberon, and Queen, Titania. The fairies have a magic love dust works when sprinkled in one’s eyes. When the person awakes, they fall in love with the first thing they see. The play continues with Lysander and Hermia in the woods with…

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For this the city would not know of the killings and would think it is but a wedding. His plan did work and the people thought that the queen has remarried. Meanwhile, Odysseus continued with plan, he was bathed by the home keeper and was beautified by the goddess, Athena and remained calm, to let his wife test him. As Penelope started to test her husband, Odysseus couldn’t stand it any longer, and cried to his wife about their old secrets, Penelope, in tears ran straight to Odysseus and threw her arms around him, asking for his forgiveness. This brought tears to Odysseus, as he wept he clung to his wife. After they were reunited, they took turns telling stories. Odysseus telling tales about his adventure in the Trojan war, and the time he was stock on the island…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Demetrius is more of a cold soul, but that is transfigured in the final bits of the play, and Lysander is the hopeless romantic of the play. He spoils Hermia with little knacks and treats and even sings to her at her window sill in the night “Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung/ With faining voice verses of feigning love[...]” (1,1:31,32). Though it is quite obvious that the two men are tremendously different, there also are some similarities, more so near the end of the play as opposed to the beginning/middle. Both men find a partner in which they marry. In the final act, Lysander and Demetrius lock away their differences, and resolve the conflict between the…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Virtues In The Odyssey

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In The Odyssey, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, has been trying to find his way home for twenty years. Ever since the beginning of his trip, Odysseus is introduced as a strong and authoritative figure. However, his journey is filled with temptation, and Odysseus does give in at times. This may be seen when Odysseus chooses to sleep with Circe, despite his yearning to return home to his wife Penelope. This is the complete opposite of a virtuous deed, and it does not go unnoticed. Calypso, a nymph who falls in love with Odysseus, takes note of the disparity among the gods. She is fairly irritated by the fact that male gods may sleep with mortal lovers, while the affairs of the female gods are considered unacceptable, as Calypso describes by saying, “you hate it when we choose to lie with men” (Odyssey, 281). This emphasizes the double standard among the gods – even in the ancient times, outsiders could see how wrong it was to have a love affair; Calypso is helping to point out the prevalent awareness of equality of the time. Although Odysseus is looked upon as a heroic figure, his immoral actions are highlighted and criticized. In modern society, many public figures would instead have their abrasive actions swept under the…

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hermia is supposed to marry Demetrius, but she is in love with Lysander. If she does not marry to her father’s consent, she can become a nun or get killed. This shows how twisted the law was…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus: An Epic Hero

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    However, this act is highly hypocritical. Odysseus orders twelve maids to be killed because they were ‘disloyal’, meaning they had fallen in love with the suitors: “You sluts-the suitors whores”(22.490)! But can they really help it? Young women of the kingdom are living with the young men, and relationships are natural and bound to happen. And besides, Odysseus should not be the one talking, since he delays his journey home to have an affair with a goddess. Odysseus is also undeniably harsh in treating the maids. He makes them clean up the bloody mess of destroyed suitors, and then hangs them. Even though in his mind they were awful women, he didn’t have to kill them in such a painful, dishonorable way. This shows that Odysseus has no compassion, nor wisdom, the characteristics of a hero.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Odyssey by Homer, three very different women are in love with Odysseus. Circe, Kalypso, and Penelope all love Odysseus in a unique way and show it differently. Circe’s love for Odysseus is based on physical attraction, Odysseus’ accompaniment and body is the premise for Kalypso’s love, while Penelope’s love is the deepest for Odysseus.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Odyssey, the act of heroism and storytelling plays a significant role in portraying the story of Odysseus. According to the standards of the Greek society, The Odyssey depicts a different aspect of a hero in which an older, more established man already starts off as a hero, but must regain his dignity after falling into a crevice of turbulent times . When pieced together, each aspect that is told becomes part of a whole however, each with a different unique function within the epic to express the Greek's view of a perfect hero. In modern societies' terms however, The Odyssey is comparatively different from other hero myths, nevertheless, it is still distinguished as one of the most dramatic and well crafted novels of all time (Griffin 46). Because of this, some would call the story of Odysseus inferior and subservient, but in realit, it really is a unique work of literature that is uncommon for its time. The Odyssey contains numerous examples of a hero's journey which can be compared and contrasted with other Greek myths such as the stories of Theseus, Jason, Hercules, and Perseus. However, Homer's Odyssey doesn't contain and follow some of the classical rules of a hero's journey by telling the story of a older, well established hero, yet it is considered far superior compared to other hero myths through its vivid character development of using real-life characters and an adventurous plot to tell the tale of Odysseus, the godlike mortal man.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Achilles In The Odyssey

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Once Odysseus has completed the contest, he then kills the suitors with the help of his son, Telemachus, for disgracing their home and for perusing his wife Penelope. Penelope is Odysseus animus, and even though Odysseus has been gone for over a decade she still only wants Odysseus. Even through Odysseus’s journey, he is tempted by beings sexually, with power, and with a fresh start. At the end Odysseus still chooses Penelope, his true love back in Ithaca. This strong connection between Penelope and Odysseus can be symbolized as their bed that he had carved from an olive tree.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays