When examining The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies the question regarding Middle Eastern women representation arises. The tale provides a copious amount of details about the appearance of the three ladies so that the audience can clearly see an explicit pattern of sexual content throughout the story that diminishes a woman’s value.
Vivid details are used to describe the female characters in the story. When the porter meets the doorkeeper he describes her as “all charm, beauty, and perfect grace, with a forehead like the new moon, eyes like those of a deer or wild heifer, eyes like the crescent in the month of Sha’ban…” (Haddaway 82). The description of the woman continues and leads into a love fevered poem furthering the beauty of the doorkeeper. When looking closer at the structure of the text, it took approximately three paragraphs for the description of the doorkeeper to conclude.The extensive description sends across a point of the importance of beauty within the culture. This is proven by the many in depth descriptions directed towards the three ladies. In addition, the doorkeeper’s nakedness is sketched later in the story. The porter examined her as “she washed herself under her breast, between her thighs, and inside her navel” (Haddaway 88). The author clearly had a choice to just simply say the girl took a bath, but they continue to overstimulate the descriptions with clear sexual links. It is baffling as to why these details are necessary when the doorkeeper was already previously picked apart for her beauty in three paragraphs. In contrast, the narrator only spends a few sentences describing the appearance of the male characters in the story. The men use most of their dialogue in the story admiring the three ladies and explaining the predicament they are in when arriving at the house. In the story, the only description of the men’s looks is the singular word “respectable” (Haddaway 95). Men were not objectified in this tale, instead being held to a more respectable standard because they aren’t seen as vulnerable as the women. The men are being praised for their refined “respectable” personalities, while the women are praised only for their beauty. This brings into question the purpose of the men in the story, as the story’s focus is on the sexualized descriptions of women.
As analysis of this text continues, women are constantly compared to animals or inanimate objects. This sends a message to the reader that women are seen as spectacles and weak. Going back to the description of the doorkeeper, “eyes like those of a deer or wild heifer” (Haddaway 82). A deer represents a sense of grace, innocence, and empathy. Wild heifer in this context is referencing the wide eyes of the doorkeeper. The text is suggesting that the doorkeeper is someone who can be taken advantage of because she is innocent and interested in the porter. It is implied that the doorkeeper is desperate for male attention from the porter. Was the author’s purpose of these descriptions to make the three ladies seem willingly obedient to the men? This can be seen in a description in which the author uses the words, “unveiled bride” (Haddaway 84). An unveiled bride symbolizes the loss of purity and innocence of a young woman as she is being handed off to a man. Through a man’s perspective, in the time period of the story, a woman would be thought to tend a man’s pleasures. This idea is even explicitly said in the story, “the pleasure of a women is not complete without men”(Haddaway 85). These are just a few of the examples of innocence seen throughout the story. The descriptions of the male characters in the stories do not suggest the males are weak or a spectacle, but that the male characters are powerful. The male characters Caliph Harun al-Rashid and his vizier Ja’far are treated as people of higher standing. Even, the porter is in a higher standing than the women because he “studied the sciences and attained knowledge”(Haddaway 85). Whereas, in the story the women have simple household jobs and are meant to be perceived as uneducated. The three ladies in the story are made to be inferior to the men throughout the story—likely to satisfy a mainly male audience.
Overall, The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies is extremely problematic because of its portrayals of women. The story itself is favorable toward the preservation of male dominance over women in that women are innocent and only seen for their beauty. This brings to light a false narrative to middle eastern women’s power and strength. In reality, these women are extremely intelligent and continue to change societies standards to empower other women around the world.
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