poem

Sleep! For the sky is dark with the night,
Stars will shine brightly in the midnight light,
thy soul will soar in heavens dreams,
Only to take flight with the break of day.

1001 Arabian Nights

After reading the history of 1001 Arabian Nights, I have a better understanding of how they came about. It's been interesting reading them. There is such a wide range between many of the stories. Many have blatant racism, and of course the infidelity.
One story, The Tale of The Three Apples, was a little surprising. The beginning of the story was a little misleading to where the story was going. A poor fisherman pulled a trunk from the river in which a body had been placed. There were 3 men who confessed to killing her, but it was her husband who was guilty. The rest of the story explains why. His wife was ailing and wanted an apple, but there were no apples where they lived so he traveled far and brought her back 3 apples. When he returned to her she was very ill and bed ridden. A couple days later one of their sons took one of the apples. The apple was taken from him while he was playing by a black slave. He claimed it was given to him by his mistress, who he claims is the mans wife. The man believed the story and slayed his wife by cutting her up in pieces and putting her the trunk.
It's really annoying that these men will believe these stories about their wives infidelity, but will not check to make sure what the truth really is. Are they afraid to talk to their wives? What makes them slay them without a question? After the man slayed his wife he found out that their son did take the apple and that the black slave stole the apple from their son. The black slave was slayed for the killing of the woman. Maybe in at least one of the stories they will believe the woman before slaying her.

1001 NIghts

The history of this book and how it came to be was very interesting. The story of King Shahryar and His Brother was pretty entertaining also, but also disturbing. It seems all the stories are about women being unfaithful to their husbands. It's ok for the kings, and sheiks to have concubines to sleep with, but the wife has to remain faithful. When she does become unfaithful, she is labeled evil and it is deemed no woman is ever faithful. Do they have a vendeta against women? King Shahryar kills his first wife and every wife after her for 2 years. Why was he allowed to do this? The people of his kingdom had to know what he was doing. His last wife, Shahrazad is highly intelligent and educated. I think she was faithful to her husband, but they never do say if she was or not.

I also read The First Shaykh's Story. In this story the husband takes a concubine because his wife of 30 years has been unable to produce an heir for him. The concubine gives him a son he dotes on and again they make the wife into a witch who turns the concubine and her son into a heifer and a calf and turned them over to the herdsman's care. The son and his concubine were both slayed for the Great Festival of Allah.

The Take of the Trader and the Jinni is a strange tale. I'm not sure I understand this one, but it was interesting to read.

Othello

This is the first time I've read Shakespeare and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Some of the main characters were quite intriguing. At first I felt a little sorry for Othello, but after thinking about it I feel he doesn't deserve pity. He had no faith in his wife who was completely devoted to him. Iago wants to destroy him and move into his position of power, so he insinuates to Othello that his wife is cheating on him. He also believes his own wife Emilia has cheated on him so he is convinced every woman in incapable of being faithful to her husband.

Emilia defends her mistress Desdemona to Othello, but he has already convinced himself that she has played him falsely. It's hard to believe someone in his position of authority would be so easily turned by ideas that were manifested and blown out of proportion. He very naively believes that Iago is a trusted friend and has only his best interest at heart

He ulitmately kills his wife Desdemona and then kills himself. By taking this way out he does not have to face the consequences of his actions, but I believe he thinks he will eventually be reunited with Desdemona in the afterlife.

My first impression of him was a man of great honor and strong mind. He had earned the respect of many by his earlier actions in battle, so I expected him to have a much stronger character. One not so easily led astray by ideas that were suggested and then manifested.