StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Psychoanalytic analysis of the madness of Shahrayar - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
King Shahryar’s actions in the book, “A Thousand and One Nights” shows evidence of what many psychoanalytic experts describe as human attitudes, mannerisms, experiences, and thoughts largely driven by irrational drives…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.1% of users find it useful
Psychoanalytic analysis of the madness of Shahrayar
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Psychoanalytic analysis of the madness of Shahrayar"

Psychoanalytic analysis of the madness of Shahrayar King Shahryar’s actions in the book, “A Thousand and One Nights” shows evidence of what many psychoanalytic experts describe as human attitudes, mannerisms, experiences, and thoughts largely driven by irrational drives. As a matter of fact, the entire book is espouses a case study of subversions were gender, time, experiences and space play a fundamental role. The narrative provides a detailed description of King Shahryar’s wife betrayal and his resulting urge and endeavors to revenge his single-day wives (virgins). Psychoanalytic theory starts with Freud’s notion that the psyche has a number of different levels, one of which, the unconscious, is not accessible to us (Gerhardt 45). Martin states that, “It was a triumph for the interpretative art of psychoanalysis when it succeeded in demonstrating that certain mental acts of normal people, for which no one had hitherto attempted to put forward a psychological explanation, were to be regarded in the same light as the symptoms of neurotics: that is to say that had a meaning, which was unknown to the subject but which could easily be discovered by analytic means…A class of material was brought to light which is calculated better than any other to stimulate a belief in the existence of unconscious mental acts even in people to whom the hypothesis of something at once mental and unconscious seems strange and even absurd (Martin 126).” The paper argument without appearing to defy male power as well as the evidently visible craze in Shahryar’s book, is structured in such a manner that it attains an increasingly interesting narrative situation left incomplete by the approaching dawn, and hence encouraging king Shahryar to engage in constructive daydreaming by freeing a creative part of his mind which assists him in establishment of own solutions. The aim of bringing together psychotherapy and fairy tales is so important that it comes as no wonder that the story looks more of a fairy tale than a reality. The therapeutic touch in the story is therefore effectively improved by content of the tales itself. As a result, the gradual madness changes arising from sexual jealousy as a result of the belief that all women are cheats comes as a surprise and inappropriate considering that a person of such high caliber should understand that an individual woman cannot pass for all women. The cure should therefore be premised on helping understand that a single woman’s mistake cannot be embodied to imply all women. As a matter of passing, the wisdom lies in curing Sharyar’s homicidal madness by helping him be able to not just trust women again but also further understand that women are as different within as they are outside, and hence bring the happy-ever-after effect associated with fairy tales. The thirst for revenge through murder of virgins is cancelled with the arrival of Scheherazade, who unexpectedly willingly offers herself as “a ransom for the many virgin daughters of Moslems and charts a path for the cause of their deliverance from the hands of the Shahryar. When he realizes that his younger brother murdered his wife shortly after discovering her betrayal, Shahryar claims that he could not have achieved satisfaction without killing one thousand women; this is premise for equating his behavior to madness. Before meeting Scheherazade, King Shahryar experiences two fold bloodlust where in the first case he kills the virgin on their wedding night to proof that the virgin did not betray him her entire life. An important question in building a case for this argument is, where do King Shahryar’s actions in “A Thousand and One Nights” originate? Where do the human attitudes, mannerisms, experiences, as well as thoughts which drive her actions originate? Travelling back in time, King Shahryar is portrayed as a generous, kind and loving man, who is loved and adored by his subjects. He is portrayed as being content and satisfied with what fate as in store for him. A picture is presented of a man who adores his wife with the only shortcoming in his life being the absence of his younger brother, Shahzaman, who resides in Samarkand, a distant land. Eventually, Shahryar invites his brother to visit. His brother arrives with the treachery of his wife still in mind only to find consolation on realizing that even her brother despite being better than him in many ways is still being cheat on by his wife. However, her brother does not take the treachery well and asks her brother to come along a tour the world to see if other people also suffer the same fate. This is where the madness starts. He develops some attitudes, mannerisms based on his experience. Based on this, be develops some thoughts which drive her action to be irrational and lacking in substance. Shahryar’s attitudes arise from the rage he builds in himself and this forms the premise for his determination to seek vengeance on all females. Every day Shahryar marries a new woman, spends a night with her to prove that the woman is a virgin and then haves the woman beheaded in the morning. Ultimately, however, Shahryar marries Sheherazade, a beautiful girl born to his vizier. Sheherazade shrewdly finds a way of escaping his executioner. On their wedding night, Sheherazade tells Shahryar an intriguing story, which only stops close to dawn leaving the final part hanging. Shahryar is anxious to hear the story’s end and hence reluctantly spares her life. However, as soon as the first story ends, Sheherazade begins a new story which ends with the final part left hanging once again. This continued until a thousand and one nights were over. By the time this story comes to an end, Shahryar had fallen in love with Sheherazade. In essence, the story takes the form of many mental disorder cases. The environment triggers a mental order, in this case, the madness exhibited by Shahryar. The stimulant in this case is the wife’s betrayal. The resulting depression leads Shahryar to do things that a rational human being would not do. She is caught in this situation for a long time and is unable to free herself until she meets Sheherazade, who through her stories, takes him through therapeutic sessions that see his mentality towards women change and he eventually falls in love with her. In the 1001 storytelling nights, Shahrazad bore three sons to King Shahryar (Burton 88). Sheherazade humbles herself before Shahryar, presents her sons and seek that she be granted the right to live just for the sake of the sons. Witnessing this, the King humbles himself and for the sake of the sons and Sheherazade’s chastity, purity, ingenuousness and piousness, promises her forgiveness. This is more of forgiveness for all women and not just Sheherazade. As already mentioned, the story plays a therapeutic role. References Burton, Randy. A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights. Benares: Kamashastra Society, 1995. Gerhardt, Mayer. The Art of Storytelling: A Literary Study of the Thousand and One Nights. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J Brill, 2005. Martin, Gerret. Beyond Laughter: Humor and the Sub-conscious. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Psychoanalytic analysis of the madness of Shahrayar Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1496742-write-an-argumentative-research-paper-on-a
(Psychoanalytic Analysis of the Madness of Shahrayar Essay)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1496742-write-an-argumentative-research-paper-on-a.
“Psychoanalytic Analysis of the Madness of Shahrayar Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1496742-write-an-argumentative-research-paper-on-a.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Psychoanalytic analysis of the madness of Shahrayar

Abnormal Psychology - Psychoanalytic Model and Behavioural Model

All these affects the self esteem of the individual, hence there is a need to undergo psychoanalytic treatment.... Psychoanalysis encompasses treatment of cataleptic factors encumbering relationships, work performance, mood alterations and their impact on self esteem.... The method is based on the verbal procedures....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Psychoanalytic Literary Analysis of Rites of Passage

Psychoanalytic Literary analysis of Rites of Passage The psychoanalysis of literature is a method of examining a piece of poetry or prose that was first developed by Freud.... Using psychoanalytic literary analysis techniques on the poem Rites of Passage reveals potential underlying emotions that the author had on events described in the text.... hellip; As such, a psychoanalytic criticism seeks to uncover the unresolved emotions within a piece of writing, through the use of aspects such as symbolism, displacement and condensation....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Freudian Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

The paper "Freudian Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy" attempts to compare and contrast Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-CBT and Freudian psychoanalytic therapy in a brief manner, having considered their main aspects of influence on a person.... Both CBT and psychoanalytic therapies try to identify common themes in patient's emotional reactions, narratives, and imagery.... nbsp;A major difference in the basic principles of these two theories is that in cognitive therapy, the therapist relies on the information that is readily available for conscious interpretation, whereas, in psychoanalytic therapies, the therapist emphasizes identifying unconscious or repressed information that must be inferred....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Psychoanalytic Treatment: Is Winnicott Good For Piggle

Secondly, the treatment appeared to satisfy the parents, who received back the child they had seemingly lost; and Gabrielle herself seemed very satisfied with the treatment, and the troubles which she had had at the beginning were apparently ended through the analysis.... However, her conceptions about what were actually happening in the analysis may not have been that of an adult patient; Gabrielle clearly did not feel "Under analysis", instead, she described her visits to the doctor as occurring when he was writing his autobiography, and that "He used to write and I used to play" (Winnicott, page 201)....
10 Pages (2500 words) Case Study

Psychoanalytic therapy

Since Freud came up with the analysis assisted by some of his friends, psychoanalysis has been revised, expanded, reformed as well as developed in… This was done initially by Freud's students and collogues whom went ahead to develop their personal ideas very independent from Freud. There are about twenty-two theoretical orientations with regard to human mental development under psychoanalysis.... Since Freud came up with the analysis assisted by some of his friends, psychoanalysis has been revised, expanded, reformed as well as developed in various directions....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

The History and Development of Psychoanalytic Ideas

"The History and Development of psychoanalytic Ideas" paper elucidates the history of psychoanalytic ideas and focuses on Winnicott's concept.... abbard, Litowitz, and Williams (2011) asserts that during the conception of psychoanalytic ideas, Freud conducted a scientific assessment on individuals suffering from psychosis as well as other medical conditions....
9 Pages (2250 words) Term Paper

Use of Psychoanalysis in Feminist Theory

 It is their belief that conscious calculations are insufficient explanations for patriarchal production and reproduction, relying on Freud's psychoanalytic concept that gender as a phenomenon is not biologically determined (Mitchell, 2011: p17).... Thus, feminist theorists like Nancy Chodrow, Ellyn Kaschak, and Erich Fromm build, on the psychoanalytic theory, to emphasize the importance of unconscious processes of the mind and issues of child development to explain human behavior....
6 Pages (1500 words) Literature review

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

The paper "Freud's psychoanalytic Theory" highlights that psychoanalysis is a methodical theory due to the truth that it is falsifiable and has, in fact, been demonstrated bogus for the reason that other methods of healing have been established as successful.... n this paper, I will explain the main principles of Freud's psychoanalytic theory with reference to the film Pretty Woman is the film in which Julia Roberts plays the lead role.... I will analyze her behavior in different parts of the film in context to Freud's psychoanalytic theory....
3 Pages (750 words) Article
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us