The Thousand and One Night

The Thousand and One Night
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‘The Thousand and One Night’
Orientalism as a concept is a brainchild of Lord Byron. He came up with the idea in the 1800s, and it describes the fascination with the practices, mores, and customs of Eastern cultures and its depiction in the Western world (Lum and Harvey, 2018). Orientalism mostly involves perceiving the Eastern cultures, especially the Arab culture, as being exotic, uncivilized, backward, and in some instances, dangerous. The text The Thousand and One Night played an integral role in establishing and legitimizing orientalism in the West. In this text, the oriental people are stereotyped and brought out as being less intelligent and highly interested in sex and sexuality.
The oriental people, especially men, are represented as being shiftless and less intelligent. As opposed to being motivated by thought, they are inspired by sensual feelings. A perfect example is Nuredin who is brought out as being lazy and with nothing in his name (Mahdi, 1995). Despite Zumurud choosing him, he eventually loses her because of the laziness and his limited ability to think logically. Another oriental individual who is brought out as being less intelligent is Aziz. His thinking is shallow and is portrayed as lacking in individual talent (Mahdi, 1995). This representation is quite different from the Western tradition in which men are expected to be smart, full of talent and capable of making positive contrib…