Gina Tangelo

Tuesday, November 8th

English 10
Miriam Rock

Disaster Marriages because of Father-Daughter Relationships

There is are father-daughter relationships in Arabian Nights. Shahrazad

is the daughter of the vizier of King Shahrayar. Shahrayar is mad with all

women because of his cheating wife and decides to sleep with a woman and

put her to death the next day. Shahrazad doesnt like this and decides to

marry Shahrayar to stop all the killing of women. One of the many tales that

Shahrazad told Shahrayar so that she could stay alive was the story of the

vizier, Shams al-Din, and his daughter, Sit al-Husn. Shams al-Din already

wanted his daughter to marry his nephew but the king doesnt approve of

this and so makes the vizier write up a contract between a hunchback and

Sit al-Husn. Though Shahrazad and Sit al-Husns fathers both refuse their

daughters marriages and dont get what they want initially, Sit al-Husns

father eventually gets what he wants while Shahrazads doesnt; Shahrazad

does this to suggest that her father was wrong to oppose the idea of a

marriage with Shahrayar.

Looking at the emotions of both of the fathers from the story of

Shahrazad and her father, the vizier and Sit al-Husn and her father, Shams

al-Din, both of the fathers refuse the marriages of their daughters initially.

Shahrazad told her father that she wanted to marry King Shahrayar after

hearing that the king was planning on sleeping with women and putting

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them to death the next day, her father not approving of this decision. The

vizier tells his daughter, Foolish one, dont you know that King Shahrayar

has sworn to spend but one night with a girl and have her put to death the

next morning? If I give you to him, he will sleep with you for one night and

will ask me to put you to death the next morning, and I shall have to do it,

since I cannot disobey him (pg. 15). In this passage the vizier is telling his

daughter the consequences of her decision by saying Foolish one, which

are not going to be in her favor. This shows how much the vizier cares about

his daughter and that he only expects the worst to come from this decision.

When he says I cannot disobey him, he is saying that he would have no

choice but to put her to death even if he doesnt want to. For the other story,

the king wants for Sit al-Husn to marry him but Shams al-Din says otherwise

because he already has someone else in mind for his daughter. He tells the

king, O King, accept my apology and do not reproach me but grant me your

indulgence Having recorded the date of the day I got married, the night I

went in to my wife, and the day she gave birth, I have reserved my daughter

for her cousin; besides there are plenty of other women and girls for our lord

the king (pg. 205-206). The first thing that Shams al-Din says is accept my

apology, which is already implying that what the king wants cant happen

and will never happen as long as Shams al-Din has a day in it. Shams al-Din

tells the king that he has already given his daughter to his nephew and thats

who he wants his daughter to marry by using the term reserved. This

shows that even though Shams expects for the king to not be okay with this,

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he still tells the king about his other plans for his daughter anyway,

signifying hope for his daughters future. For both the viziers, however, their

attempts of trying to get what they want for their daughters dont exactly

work how they want them to.

Sadly, in both stories the fathers end up not getting what they want for

their daughters initially and even though they are both sad about it, they

cannot do anything because they must obey their king. Shahrazad hears the

tales that her father tells her to try and convince her not to marry Shahrayar,

but she is very stubborn. She said, Such tales dont deter me from my

request. If you wish, I can tell you many such tales. In the end, if you dont

take me to King Shahrayar, I shall go to him myself behind you back and tell

him that you have refused to give me to one like him and that you have

begrudged you master one like me. The vizier asked, Must you really do

this? She replied, Yes, I must. (pg. 20) Shahrazad is telling her father that

no matter what he says, whether she has his approval or not, she is going to

marry the King for the sake of all the other women who could be put to

death. When she says such tales dont deter me from my request, she is

saying that her mind is made and cant be changed. Shahrazad is showing

that she is very determined and is going to attempt and that she really

doesnt care for what her father has to say about it since she says that she

shall go to him behind his back. Must you really do this? Yes, I must:

these words are the acceptance of what the viziers daughter is going to do

and that he cant do anything to change her mind. The king was not happy

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with what the vizier has said to him and decides to mean: It happened that

the king had a hunchbacked groom with two humps, one behind and one in

front, and he sent for the hunchback and, summoning witnesses, ordered the

vizier to draw the marriage contract between his daughter and the

hunchback that very day, swearing that he would have the hunchback led in

procession and that he would have him go in to his bride that very night.

(pg. 206) In this passage, the king decides that because Shams al-Din has

other plans for his daughter that he will force Shams to write up a marriage

contract between the worst servant that he has and Sit al-Husn. This

happens because Shams al-Din opposes the king, which is something that

the king obviously doesnt appreciate. The term hunchback is a term that

is looked down upon and no one wants to marry someone like that. Shams al-

Din is ordered to draw the marriage contract because the king knows that

his vizier cant disobey him and uses this to his advantage. The king is very

mean and tells Sit al-Husn and the hunchback to be ready that very night

because he didnt want to waste any time with his vengeance. Because both

fathers refuse initially, they end up not getting what they wanted for their

daughters initially either, which is extremely unfortunate in their cases

though not really for their daughters.

Though both fathers dont get what they wanted for their daughters

initially, the vizier doesnt end up getting what he wants because his

daughter still ends up marrying King Shahrayar while Sit al-Husn ends up

sleeping with her cousin which is exactly what Shams al-Din wanted. The

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vizier couldnt do anything his daughter marrying the king so he just allows it

to happen. This is what he said: The king was delighted and said, Go to her,

prepare her, and bring her to me early in the evening. The vizier went down,

repeated the kings message to his daughter, and said May God not deprive

me of you. (pg. 20) The vizier is forcefully giving his daughter permission to

marry King Shahrayar and knows that he cant stop it now. The vizier went

down because he had no choice but to tell Shahrazad what the king told him

to. He is also doing this not just because he cannot disobey the king but also

because he knows this is what his daughter wants to do. Since the vizier

knows that he cant do anything to change his daughters mind he just

wishes that she doesnt get taken away from him because he will still care

for her even though she went against him since he tells her May God not

deprive me of you. He will do anything for his daughter and is starting to

trust her and her decision since he doesnt say anything more. Shams al-Din

thinks that Sit al-Husn slept with a man other than the hunchback last night,

but he gets a surprise when he is looking around Sits room. This is what

happens: Then he unfolded the trousers and found the purse with the

paper, he read, Badr al-Din Hasan al-Basri has sold to Isaac the Jew the

cargo of the first ship to arrive for a thousand dinars and has received the

money, and as soon as he read it, he screamed and fell into a swoon. (pg.

221) Shams al-Din finds out that it was actually his nephew that slept with

his daughter, something he never expected to actually happen. He just reads

the name alone and knows that this is his nephew, hence why he falls into a

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swoon. He doesnt even care for what the rest of the paper is saying

because all he cares about is the fact that his daughter slept with his

nephew. This shows that even though he thought that his nephew and his

daughter could never be together, fate decides to be on his side to help his

daughter get pregnant with his nephews child, exactly what he wanted the

whole time. This difference shows that maybe Shahrazad is telling her father

that what happened to Shams al-Din and Sit al-Husn could happen to her and

her father: fate could end up being on their side and the marriage could turn

out to be a good thing and not what the vizier thinks it will turn out to be.

The parallel between the two stories was created because Shahrazad

wanted to suggest that her father was wrong to oppose her marriage with

Shahrayar since Shahrazad hasnt been put to death yet. Focusing on the

ending of the story of Shams al-Din and his daughter, the marriage that was

supposed to happen between her and the hunchback ended not even

happening, which is to show that anything could happen. Shams thought

that all hope was lost and that what he wanted would never happen yet the

exact opposite of what he thought would happen ended up happening. He

just waited to see what happens and then is surprised to find out that he was

wrong. Now looking at the story of Shahrazad and her father, the vizier, the

vizier thinks that Shahrazad will end up getting put to death, and of course

he doesnt want to put his own daughter to death. Shahrazad was suggesting

that her marrying Shahrayar will end up being a good thing and she will not

be put to death like her father thinks she will. She also suggested that her

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father shouldnt look at the marriage negatively and to just go with it until

something bad happens, just like what Shams al-Din did.