Why does trickery and deceit play such an important role in "The Forty Thieves"?

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004

Answers

Well, the story is about thieves, after all. The story seems to be saying a sort of "live by the sword, die by the sword" message. The thieves live by cunning, deceit, and trickery - but meet their end at the hands of someone more cunning and decetful than themselves. Notice also that Cassim, who thought to trick and cheat his brother Ali Baba, was betrayed by his own trickery.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004

I see trickery and deceipt as the theme of the story. I simply see it as what the author was writing about. Maybe there is a moral message such as "Its okay to give someone a taste of their own medicine." I believe that the story was written to be ironic, because that is what is just. What goes around comes around.

Rock, Rock On "Buy all our playsets and toys!"

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004

Sometimes, when dealing with enemies, it is necessary to use their tactics to defeat them. There is no way Morgiana or Ali Baba could have negotiated with the Forty Thieves without getting a knife in the back and/or face. There are forty thieves, after all, and Morgiana or Ali Baba could not take them out in a fair fight. The author is perhaps condoning such sly measures when one's life is on the line. When death is involved, morals and principles often become irrelevant

By the way, I would like to officially recognize and approve Josh's Cheat Commandoes reference.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

I think trickery and deciet play such a role because we're dealing with thieves. You can't trust them, and when they have swords and there are forty of them you don't want to face that head on so you work around it. The servant couldn't openly attack a Captain of theieves, she had to sneak up to him. And when they are trying to cheat you, you have to play their game and that was lies, because theives lie and play tricks.

-ror

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

I think this is just another example of the ends justifying the means, as discussed on Monday. The perceived "good guy" uses technically underhanded methodology, but it's ok, because he's the "good guy."

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

I would agree with Baines on "the end justifies the means" message. The Fourty Thieves is the typical "dog eats dog" senario: cheat the thives, get rich; make a mistake, die. Ali Baba and Morgiana have gotten themselves too knotted into the thieves affairs to back out, and now its a fight to the death. You have the moral question of whether Ali Baba should have entered the cave in the first place, but after that both the theives and Ali Baba's honor has been challenged and now they have to duke it out. trickery and decit are simply the form of battle, as opposed to open warfare or dueling for instance.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

I agree that this is a case of the ends justifying the means. The truth is, Ali Baba can not take on the thieves in a direct battle,while the thieves should not have to resort to trickery. So it is more like "the ends should justify the means" because for some reason these thieves just can not seem to understand that they have the upper hand. Also, there seems to be the feeling the Ali Baba is simply displaying "turnabout is fair play." He does not steal from the rightful owner of the property and he (with the help of Morgiana) rids the world of forty horrible thieves. So he keeps what they leave behind. Ali Baba simply uses their own tactics agaist them. They steal everything and try to kill him. He never steals anything from people who did not steal it first and he does not seek out the thieves to kill him. They choose the method of attack, so he has to turn it to his advantage.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

I agree with Rory that the trickery and deceit used by Morgiana and Ali Baba is simply giving the thieves a taste of their own medicine and the whole live by the sword, die by the sword thing. It is completely inherent to a story about thieves.

Also, why didn't the thieves just outright kill him. I think they were taking the whole trickery thing a little too far when they have to come up with an elaborate plan when there are 40 of them and about 3 or 4 of the people they wanted to kill.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

It seems like most everything worth saying about this particular question has already been mentioned, but on another note I found it interesting that while the wife is tricked into giving away Ali Baba's secret (a motif in Arabian Nights tales it seems), it is in fact a woman, and even a slave, who winds up saving the day.

And what is "Cheat Commandoes" anyway?

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

Seeing how the story is about thieves it would appear that “trickery and deceit” would come up quite often. The thieves are victims of their own practices in the end: someone even more deceitful than they came along much to their chagrin. It’s seems rather strange that what is considered morally bad behavior becomes the means through which justice is served.

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2004