A Thousand Splendid Suns takes place in Afghanistan, where the status of women at home and in their families, but also in society, is extremely limited and where they have much less freedom than their male counterparts This story depicts the lives of Afghan women, and the struggles and thoughts they live with Mariam, Nana and Laila are the three main female characters in the book who experience life as. equals and the only meaning of life is motherhood Shakespeare's work Hamlet also exhibits sexism against women A Thousand Splendid Suns and Hamlet have both stood the test of time, the former. having been written in the mid-1900s and the second in the early 1600s despite their powerful effects on societies around the world, both texts reveal discrimination against women, and sexist actions perpetrated against women in Afghan and Shakespearean societies cannot be ignored. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay One of the lessons that can be learned from reading A Thousand Splendid Suns is that women in Afghan culture are only accustomed to having children and serving men. This is first demonstrated by connecting Nana to Jalil. Nana was a servant of Jalil before being exiled because she was pregnant with Jalil's child. It is not known whether Jalil took Nana by force or whether he charmed Nana, but with her small size and status as a woman, he was able to exile her and their child, Mariam, to a small hut in outside of Herat. Mariam decides to leave her kolba, or cabin, one day and go to Herat to see Jalil. Once Nana realized that Mariam was gone, she had nothing else to live for because her sense of motherhood was lost. It ended when Mariam came home to find that Nana had hanged herself. Jalil, considered “one of the richest men in Herat” (Hosseini 6), has not even helped Nana and Mariam, even though he is fully capable of doing so. Nana states that Jalil told his wives that she forced herself on him, but in their society, the woman is to blame. The fact that Nana is Jalil's servant is a key factor in this story, as Nana's demeaning and status as a servant in Jalil's home shows that women are not only exploited, but do not have much to live on. Once Jalil's family finds a husband for Mariam, she discovers what being a woman is really like in their society. Besides not being able to go to school and receive an education, Mariam doesn't really face the difficulties of being a woman in her society until she is forced into marriage to Rasheed. Once Rasheed and Mariam are married, Mariam has no power over their relationship. After a week of heartbreak, Rasheed finally tells Mariam that it's time she started acting like a wife. This involved servant-like behaviors: washing the house, sweeping floors, cooking, and running errands. This also brought about the act of procreating children. In Afghan society, women being financially dependent on their husbands shows that they are considered property and servants, because they cannot provide for themselves. What women do in their society is not controlled by them due to discrimination and the status they hold within society. the community. They are told not only how to dress, but also how to live their lives and what to do with them. When Rasheed sees a teacher walking down the street revealing her faceand his body, he says: “frankly, it bothers me to see a man who has lost control of his wife” (Hosseini 70). Rasheed then goes on to explain how he believes a woman's face is her husband's business. This presents women as property and shows that when a woman demonstrates control over her own body, it is frowned upon by other men in society. Since it's not up to Mariam to decide what she wears, Rasheed ends up telling her that she must now wear a burqa when she leaves the house. Although Mariam states that "the loss of peripheral vision was unsettling and she disliked the suffocating way in which the pleated fabric continued to press around her mouth" (Hosseini 72), it did not matter. importance to Rasheed. He did not want to disgrace his honor and pride like other men who bring their wives to his store. From Rasheed's point of view, when a man brings his wife into his store and they wear makeup and skirts, he considers them soft. This mentality, that men own their women and women are not free to represent themselves, shows that women in Afghan society have very little control over their own bodies. When looking at the similarities between the women in Hamlet and A Thousand Splendid Suns, one I can note that the women are both portrayed as weak and cannot make decisions in their lives. In both writings, it is clear that women are treated significantly less equally than men. In A Thousand Splendid Sun, women are usually covered from head to toe so as not to be seen by other men in society. In Hamlet, Hamlet puts on a play, but the law prohibits women from acting in plays; this was common practice at that time. In the play Hamlet, the men dress like women because the women didn't even get a chance to perform. The women in Hamlet cannot present themselves as they wish and are not given the same opportunities as the men, which shows the similarity of the two societies. Another thing to consider in both writings is the imperfect representation of women. In Hamlet, Gertrude always looks to Claudius regarding Hamlet's behavior, even though Hamlet is Gertrude's son. Additionally, Gertrude's quick marriage to Claudius after her husband's death can be seen as Gertrude's need for attention. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, every female character is still seen as flawed by the men in their society. When Mariam cooks Rasheed a meal he doesn't like, Rasheed goes out and gets some rocks to put in his mouth and chew. Just because a meal prepared by Mariam is not up to Rasheed's standards, he mistreats her, showing that there is no room for error or flaws for women in their Company. Finally, a common parallel between the two texts shows us that men are manipulative. In Hamlet, Claudius covers up his manipulative behaviors by acting like a caring person towards Hamlet to gain Gertrude's trust. Another depiction of manipulation in Hamlet is that of Hamlet manipulating Ophelia's emotions throughout the play. Hamlet always keeps Ophelia guessing throughout the play. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed threatens to beat Mariam unless Laila has sex with him. Rasheed also manipulates Laila by telling her that if she didn't, he would hand her over to the Taliban for her dealings with Tariq. Although the texts take place in completely different eras, the treatment of women does not seem to change much. There.