The Thousand And One Night: How Women Cheat On Their Husband

The thousand and one nights have a very strict view and set of roles for the women and wives. One view of women is that they are always inferior to their husbands and they are disobedient and always eager to please men. Also, that women do not have any rights or say in what happens to their body and their reputation. Women only have one way to get back at their husbands for the unbearable and unfair treatment that is given to them which is to cheat on their husband. Women in the thousand and one nights must fight to make their view of their rights and freedom seen which is not recognized until Shahrazad gets the king under her power. The roles of women is to reach the desires and assumption that men have for their gender. In the beginning

Even though in the Decameron his wife shows that by committing suicide that no matter how low women are seen in their husband eyes they will make sure they get what they set out for, which was being with the other Messer. In the thousand and one nights, his wife does not make her point across that she will get what she wants and one way this is shown is because she does it secretly and behind his back whereas the Decameron his wife does it with him knowing. In both stories, the women cheat to prove a point to themselves that their husband does not own them and to take revenge on their husbands for the unfair treatment that was dealt to them, even though the thousand and one nights was more evident with this the Decameron also presented

In the story about Alatiel, the roles of gender do not switch because she was passed from town to town just for pleasure to everyone and she could not stop it, therefore she was under control of a male the entire story and had no say in how things went about. In the story about the two Messer’s and the wife, the roles do not switch particularly, but it can be seen as power is transferred in the end. One reason is because the wife still got buried by her lover which was not what the husband wanted. Even though she gets her way and still end up with the lover in the long run, it is not seen as necessarily as a switch in the roles of gender like it is in the thousand and one