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Patriarchal societies play a major role in many fairy tales. These societies are especially evident in A Thousand and One Nights, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In each of these tales, the patriarchal system inherent in the story causes obvious opposition b ....

Middle of Essay
.... daughter is almost never given a choice in the matter, but another common motif in fairy tales is when the princess conveniently falls in love with the man her father has chosen for her. In other stories, the supposedly patriarchal social structure in the land, is really held by a female; however, in most of these stories, the female wielding the power is usually using that social power for evil against the underdog daughter. In 1001 Nights, the original power rested with the king of the land, since he was the one with the ability to choose which young virgins he was going to wed and kill. The women were clearly in the submissive role, until Shah ....