When you think of an Arabian escapade, what do you imagine? Do you sit atop a camel, looking out into the vast expanse of sand dunes as the sun sets behind the pyramids, painting the evening skies with brilliant streaks of orange? Do you wind through the busy streets of a bazaar, listening to the hum of bartering between merchant and patron as you savor the aroma of exotic spices? Maybe you lounge on a velvet divan, tucked away within the walls of a palace, escaping the desert heat under the arches of a secret courtyard. Or perhaps you envision the mysterious gaze of a woman peeking through her veil, or the alluring sway of a belly dancer’s hips as she balances a curved sword atop her head with expertise.This vision of the Middle East is a common motif across all media and all genres. It is constantly reimagined, reconstructed, and reinforced through different scenes with different characters, but the root of it remains the same. This specific jasmine-scented fantasy is cultivated by the Western viewpoint, and doesn’t actually represent the East at all. Sure, some aspects may have traceable roots in Eastern peoples and practices, settings and symbolisms, however this detailed depiction of the East comes about from a concept coined “Orientalism.” This term comes from Palestinian-American academic, Edward W. Said, who even warns, “One ought never to assume that the structure of Orientalism is nothing more than a structure of lies or of myths which, were the truth about them to be told, would simply blow away” (Said, 23).

Orientalism Defined

Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of the Eastern world, or the “Orient,” by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. The Orient refers to the East in relation to Europe, and the antonym of the word, the Occident, refers to the Western world. For the purpose of this essay, I will loosely define the Orient as Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies. In his book Orientalism, Said critiques Western scholarly and cultural representations of the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa, arguing that these depictions are a result of imperialistic interpretations and positional superiority. Said analyzes literature, art, and academic discourse to prompt discussions on the representation, power, and the relationship between the West and the East. To put simply, Said uses Orientalism to describe the framework through which Western writers have interpreted and defined “the Orient.”Orientalism was a scholarly discipline of the 18th and 19th centuries. It focused on the study of languages, art, and religions of Asian societies, with interest in ancient civilizations. Orientalist artwork from this time is one of the most notable examples of misrepresentation, fetishization, and obsession with the East. In his own words, Said states, “Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient—dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said, 20). Orientalism will always be detrimental as it is a way imperialism continues to assert power over the Orient by dictating perspective. Worse, Orientalism still persists today, now anchored in works of fantasy as opposed to outdated academic disciplines and oil paintings.The meaning of Orientalism and the perception of the East have continued to evolve throughout the years. Both are ever changing, and the concept of Orientalism may have outgrown the parameters of Said’s original scope. However, he had expressed two fears: inaccuracy and distortion (Said, 25), and it is those two fears that are able to pinpoint exactly what Orientalism is.Said introduces an aspect of Orientalism called “otherness.” The action of othering in the context of Orientalism refers to the way Western societies have historically portrayed and constructed the East as “exotic, static, irrational, remote, barbaric, primitive, and emotional–in binary opposition to characteristics used to describe the West— modern, rational, civilized, advanced, and scientific” (Burney, 29). Fiction is often characterized by a sense of estrangement from the reader’s everyday reality in order to cultivate a sense of unfamiliarity, perhaps to lead into escapism. In modern fantasy, the fictional Orient, whether it is an explicit allegory to the East or a coincidental overlap, is constructed with these characteristics and othered in order to create parallels to the constructed East.

Introduction to A Court of Thorns and Roses

Through patterns of otherness, Orientalism misrepresents the East as fundamentally different, exotic, and dangerous. It paints the Eastern setting as barbaric, Eastern women as sexual, and Eastern men as aggressive. This paper will illustrate the pervasive nature of Orientalism in A Court of Thorns and Roses, a fantasy series by Sarah J Maas, by examining a selection of scenes and identifying the Orientalist motifs found in each. A Court of Thorns and Roses is just one of many works of fiction complacent in normalizing Orientalism in the present day. By using the writings of Maas as an example, I intend to raise awareness of this persistent problem in order to root it from the modern publishing sphere and foster a more culturally sensitive mindset.A Court of Thorns and Roses is an extremely popular high fantasy romance series. It is comprised of five books and has earned a spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list. It is one of the most discussed books on social media, ranking as the number one “romantasy” book, or romance-driven fantasy, with Maas being a key exponent of the subgenre. Her books have sold 12 million copies and have been translated into thirty-seven languages, and Hulu is currently in the process of adapting A Court of Thorns and Roses into a TV series. Needless to say, A Court of Thorns and Roses has become an influential work of fiction in pop culture, unintentionally popularizing covert forms of Orientalism.The series follows the story of Feyre, a human hunter who accidentally shoots and kills a High Fae, a member of the ruling class of faeries. Following the eye-for-an-eye agreement Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court, comes to take Feyre into Prythian, the faerie realm, as his prisoner. Feyre finds herself falling in love with Tamlin, but before she can break his curse and free him from the rule of High Queen Amarantha, he is captured. Feyre pursues, and undergoes a series of brutal trials in order to rescue Tamlin from the grasp of Amarantha. Out of desperation, she makes a deal with the High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand, Amarantha’s close companion. Ultimately, Feyre completes the trials, Tamlin is freed, and Amarantha is killed, but not before Feyre’s life is taken. With the help of the High Lords of all seven courts of Prythian, Feyre is revived and becomes fae herself, finding her fate inescapably intertwined with Rhysand.

Rhysand's Character

At first glance, A Court of Thorns and Roses appears to be a normal fantasy romance series set in a world with humans and faeries. With parallels to 18th-century France, Orientalism may not be something readers expect to find when cracking open the first two books. The Orientalism in this series is covert, making it a dangerous beast to tame. When Orientalism is not immediately visible, it tends to go unnoticed and left uncorrected. And though the series as a whole makes very little reference to the East, there is one character in particular who is written with an amalgamation of Orientalist stereotypes: Rhysand.High Lord of the Night Court, he is described with golden skin, raven black hair, and feline movements. He is the only dark-skinned main character in book one, A Court of Thorns and Roses. He is often referred to as “Amarantha’s whore” and presides over the Court of Nightmares, a sub-court of the most barbaric people of Prythian. His private place of residence and its clothes are described with vague Middle-Eastern influence, which Feyre even describes as “exotic”. He is a morally gray antagonist for the majority of the first book and the first couple of chapters of the second.When Feyre is undergoing the series of trials, she suffers a broken arm. Near death, Rhysand visits her in her prison cell to propose a bargain. He offers his healing abilities to save her life with one simple request— he gets to own her for a handful of days out of every month. Rhysand tells Feyre, “I’ll make a trade… I’ll heal your arm in exchange for you. For two weeks every month, two weeks of my choosing, you’ll live with me at the Night Court. Starting after this messy three-trials business” (Mass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 332). When she disagrees, Rhysand grabs her broken arm and twists it, laughing as she cries out in pain. Experiencing extreme amounts of pain, Feyre is coerced into accepting his deal, also knowing that she will face death if Rhysand doesn’t heal her arm right then and there. She manages to haggle two weeks down to one, and the deal is made, permanently marked on her left arm in the form of a tattoo. Rhysand’s ownership is branded on her, visible to everyone, and not just during the one week out of every month he gets her. Even though Rhysand appears to have the upper hand in this situation, his actions reveal him as irrational and cruel.Furthermore, this tattoo is described similarly to a henna tattoo, or mehndi. Henna is a dye made from henna leaves, dried and ground, then kneaded with water to make a paste. The custom of dying the hands was common amongst the people of India and Persia, as well as amongst the Arabs (Sharaby, 14). Henna is generally applied for ceremonies and festivals, and for women, it is usually drawn on their palms and the backs of their hands. Though usually brown or red, henna can also be black, and the designs usually consist of repeating patterns. Though mehndi is temporary and Feyre’s tattoo is permanent, it is the design that mimics the style of henna while disregarding the significance. Maas may have chosen this particular design to imitate South Asian aesthetics, and in doing so, completely undermine a cultural practice. The tattoo appears immediately after Rhysand heals her. She recounts her left arm “covered in swirls and whorls of black ink. Even [her] fingers weren’t spared, and a large eye was tattooed in the center of [her] palm” (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 335). This eye might even be a reference to the nazar talisman, or the evil eye, a belief embedded in the folklore of societies throughout the Middle East, representing the fear of envy and jealousy. The evil eye’s influence is warded off by devices and practices intended to annul its power (Abu-Rabia, 242). The eye on Feyre’s palm may have been a means of protecting her from the evil eye, but it most likely serves to cultivate a feeling of unfamiliarity in the reader with a strange cultural practice.Later, Rhysand sends his attendants to Feyre’s cell. They strip her naked, bathe her roughly, and begin to paint on her body, as per Rhysand’s request. Feyre describes her newly painted appearance as follows: “From the neck up, I was regal: my face was adorned with cosmetics– rouge on my lips, a smearing of gold dust on my eyelids, kohl lining my eyes– and my hair was coiled around a small golden diadem imbedded with lapis lazuli” (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 346). Kohl, an eye cosmetic made by grinding stibnite, has been used traditionally in the Middle and Far East as eyeliner since antiquity. Worn by both men and women, it has been traditionally used to protect one's eyes from the harsh rays of the sun, but it is also worn for cosmetic purposes (Al-Kaff, et all, 29).Additionally, lapis lazuli is a semi-precious stone, with a name originating from the Persian word lazhuward, meaning “blue”. It is historically mined from the Badakhshan region of upper Afghanistan, and has been traded through the East, especially through Egypt and Syria since ancient times (Sarianida & Kowalski, 13). The cosmetics and jewelry applied to Feyre by order of Rhysand have connections to the East. These details may be small, but they are something to take into consideration whilst searching for traces of Orientalism, as they have associations with Middle Eastern practices and are utilized in a scene displaying sexuality, cementing the connection of “the Orient” and the voyeuristic Western gaze.In the same scene, Feyre is also put in a very revealing dress. It is described as “little more than two long shafts of gossamer, just wide enough to cover [her] breasts, pinned at each shoulder with gold brooches. The sections flowed down to a jeweled belt slung low across [Feyre’s] hips, where they joined into a single piece of fabric that hung between [her] legs” (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 247). Feyre is left nearly exposed, intentionally sexualized by both Rhysand and Maas. Additionally, the low, jeweled belt is seemingly taken from a bedlah outfit, discussed later in this paper. When Rhysand appears, he informs her that she will be his escort to the party. Feyre, now put on display for every attendee, notes, “Rhysand didn’t touch me, but he walked close enough for it to be obvious that I was with him— that I belonged to him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d attached a collar and leash around my neck. Maybe he would at some point, now that I was bound to him, the bargain marked on my flesh” (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 348). Rhysand is clearly positioned as cruel and misogynistic, having forced Feyre into this bargain and now exerting dominance and power over her as her owner. It reflects an Orientalist trope, painting a Middle Eastern adjacent man as an aggressive slave owner, creating a spectacle for the party. Said writes how the Orient is watched for its offensive behavior, becoming a living tableau of queerness (Said, 104). Here, Rhysand and Feyre are representatives of the Orient, while Amarantha and her party are the watchers.

Feyre's Dance and Parallels

During the party, Rhysand offers Feyre a goblet of wine, and when she refuses it, knowing the effects of faerie wine, he orders her to drink. She blacks out, awaking back in her cell the following morning with no memory of the night prior. A character informs her of what unfolded at the party, telling her that Rhysand had made her dance for him in a way implied to be very sexual in nature (Mass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 352). This became routine. Feyre’s inner monologue recounts, “Night after night, I was dressed in the same way and made to accompany Rhysand to the throne room. Thus I became Rhysand’s play-thing, the harlot of Amarantha’s whore. I woke with vague shards of memories– of dancing between Rhysand’s legs as he sat in a chair and laughed; of his hands, stained blue from the places they touched on my waist” (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 354). Feyre and her dance parallels Kuchuk Hanem, a key figure in Said’s Orientalism. Kuchuk is a famed beauty and dancer, written in two accounts of travel to Egypt, known for provocative dances akin to strip-tease. Said states that she is a symbol of “carnal female temptation” in the works she appears in, “peculiarly Oriental in her luxuriant and seemingly un-bounded sexuality” (Said, 188). She is described as an almeh, an Arabic term used originally to describe learned women and female reciters of poetry, that has become synonymous with courtesans and belly dancers in Orientalism (Hawthorn, 3). Gustave Flaubert is the author of one of these accounts, writing Kuchuk in his “Oriental” travels, but her legend transcends his bibliography. She inspired the character Salome in his story, Hérodias, which influenced Oscar Wilde’s play, Salomé, featuring the Dance of the Seven Veils. The Dance of the Seven Veils is Salome’s dance performed before King Herod Antipas, found in modern stage, literature, and visual arts. It is the centerpiece of Oscar Wilde’s play and popular in others, displaying erotic nudity for the gains of power and exploiting the female body. It is connected to the process of unveiling, both her body and herself as a whole. It is even thought to be the origin of the strip-tease.It is later revealed that the purpose of this dance was to enrage Tamlin, Feyre’s lover, in order to make him angry enough to kill Amarantha and free them all. The Dance of the Seven Veils “contains both the use of the female body exploiting the male gaze and the transformation of earlier female dependencies to a new form of freedom, including its positive and negative aspects” (Kultermann, 187). Feyre’s dance was a tool, just like the Dance of the Seven Veils, using the female body to access a form of freedom. By unveiling her body and making her dance, Rhysand turns Feyre into a mirror to Kuchuk and Salome, the provocative female dancer of the East— the almah.Feyre’s dance also mimics a handful of paintings by Fabio Fabbi, a 19th-century Italian Orientalist painter and illustrator. Many scenes depict the Raks Baladi, a popular folk dance of Egypt, of which Kuchuk performs. His works, Dancing in the Harem Courtyard and Oriental Dance, are just two examples of his paintings of dancing women of the Orient. Furthermore, Fabio Fabbi’s Young Female Slave features a man pulling the fabric away from his slave’s body to expose her, and The Slave Market depicts a woman, half exposed, on display for an audience. Feyre’s dance in A Court of Thorns and Roses very closely resembles this Orientalist motif of the almah and the slave women, keeping this symbolism very much alive.

The Night Court as an Orientalist Fantasy

When Feyre is brought to the Night Court in A Court of Mist and Fury, she struggles to settle herself within her new surroundings. Feyre, assumedly white with pale skin and light eyes, was expecting a place “full of depravity and torture and death” (Mass, A Court of Mist and Fury, 45) and was pleasantly surprised with a quiet, serene escape, even if the foreign design in architecture and clothing felt foreign and strange to her. Rhysand’s private residence of the Night Court is reminiscent of an Orientalist paradise. Maas writes, “The hall around us was open to the elements, no windows to be found, just towering pillars and gossamer curtains, swaying in that jasmine-scented breeze… Little seating, dining, and work areas dotted the hall, sectioned with those curtains or lush plants or thick rugs scattered over the moon-stone floor. A few balls of light bobbed on the breeze, along with colored-glass lanterns dangling from the arches of the ceiling” (Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury, 46). Jasmine is Syria’s national flower, and its name originates from the Persian word “yasmeen” which means “gift from God.” Syria’s capital, Damascus is even nicknamed “the city of Jasmine'' as the fragrant jasmine flower is very common. Moonstone is a gemstone mined from Sri Lanka, and has symbolic associations with love in Eastern cultures. The lantern and stained glass lanterns are akin to the Egyptian fanous, a traditional lantern that appears during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. However, I will admit that the description is too vague to be sure if that was the intended association. Additionally, arches are a distinctive feature in Islamic architecture. Arches characterize buildings from houses to mosques, commonly lining courtyards (Rahman, 1). In fact, arches have been used in Orientalist works to indicate an Eastern setting, becoming a concept called “architectural orientalism” or the imitation of the Eastern design in architecture to exoticize the cultures of origin. Arches are also a common motif in Orientalist paintings in the 18th and 19th centuries. Even if these details are seemingly small, they all come together to paint the fictional Orient. It is clear that the Night Court is meant to evoke imagery of the Middle East, and if Rhysand’s implied ethnicity wasn’t clear before, it is clear now.Feyre’s Night Court attire only continues to validate this orientalist identity. She is left with clothes to change into, and she describes them in detail. “My high-waisted peach pants were loose and billowing, gathered at the ankles with velvet cuffs of bright gold. The long sleeves of the matching top were made of gossamer, also gathered at the wrists, and the top itself hung just to my navel, revealing a sliver of skin as I walked. Comfortable… Feminine. Exotic” (Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury, 54). This exotic outfit, as Feyre calls it, is not actually drawn from any cultures from the Middle East. In fact, this specific outfit is called the bedlah– a belly dance costume of Western invention originating in the late 19th century. Bedlah costumes vary, but there is emphasis on showing skin with a bare midriff or sheer pants. It is “a composite of Indian, Middle Eastern, Western, and Far Eastern costumes particularly inspired by the Indian choli (a midriff-baring top) and skirt, and popularized by Salomé dancers of the early 20th century” (Frühauf, 124). The bedlah represents the colonial relationship while sexualizing its wearer in typical Oriental fashion. This trope has a name, Bedlah Babe, and it occurs when a work portrays the bedlah as everyday dress for women of the Middle East (TV Tropes). Think Princess Jasmine from Disney’s 1992 Aladdin. Not only is putting Feyre in the bedlah an act of Orientalism in and of itself, but with the combination of the Night Court palace, it is a way that Maas creates a sense of estrangement to make both Feyre and the reader feel unfamiliar with the setting. Furthermore, this outfit is yet another connection to Salomé and the Dance of the Seven Veils. In fact, Feyre’s outfit may even be inspired by Rita Hayworth’s Dance of the Seven Veils final costume from the 1953 film, Salome, with its peachy pink gossamer fabrics and gold accents, though we can’t be sure. Nevertheless, this outfit and its history enforce themes of sexualization and exploitation.The Night Court’s sub-court must not be forgotten. The Court of Nightmares is best summed up as a place of violence. Also known as Hewn City, the residents are known for their heartless cruelty and violent principles. The Court of Nightmares is believed to be an accurate representation of the Night Court by all of Prythian. Feyre, in A Court of Mist and Fury, is brought into the city. She observes, “A place of such terrible beauty that it was an effort to keep the wonder and dread off [her] face” (Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury, 404). She watches Rhysand stroll to his throne, as “Nothing but the elegant, cruel High Lord the world believed him to be” (Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury, 408). The depiction of the Court of Nightmares, as part of the Night Court, in which Rhysand rules over, also checks the boxes of othering the Orient; being exotic, irrational, barbaric.Another point of interest is the baths of the Night Court private residence. Feyre is delighted to indulge in the luxury of the bath within her room. She describes it as, “A pool for soaking or enjoying myself… Open, airy, plush… and calm. This room was fit for an empress. With the marble floors, silks, velvets, and elegant details, only an empress could have afforded it” (Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury, 51). And, as this has no apparent connection to Orientalism, it is evocative of bathing scenes depicted in Orientalist paintings. An example that comes to mind is Jean-Leon Gerome’s Pool in a Harem, depicting Turkish bathing in a Harem. It shows how the pervasive gaze of Orientalism penetrates the private chambers of a woman, exhibiting her in the intimate act of bathing. Feyre also uses the word “empress", which isn’t a title used in the hierarchical systems of Prythian. It may be an attempt to evoke a feeling of a foreign land. Though this scene may not have inherent Orientalist ties, it is incredibly interesting how Orientalist imagery continues to appear within the Night Court of Prythian.Relating to harems, Rhysand has a harem of his own. Harem refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. The term is often used to reference a group of women. It is important to acknowledge that a harem includes wives, female relatives, but also female domestic servants. Rhysand has two female attendants who go unnamed for the entirety of the first book. They are who prepare Feyre for her dance each night. Feyre narrates their arrival when they come to fetch her from her cell, “their features barely discernible save for their loose, flowing cobweb gowns… They had to be sent by Rhysand– some servants of his from the Night Court. They could have been mutes” (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 346). They later make an appearance in A Court of Mist and Fury to wake Feyre and draw her bath. For the entirety of their presence, they do not speak or contain an identity outside of being Rhysand’s servants. They become Flaubert’s model of the Oriental woman; “she never spoke of herself, she never represented her emotions, presence, or history. He spoke for and represented her” (Said, 7).

Rhysand Sexualized

Returning to the characterization of Rhysand, it is important to discuss the dynamic between him and Amarantha, High Queen of Prythian. As established, Rhysand is depicted as an assumedly Middle Eastern man, while Amarantha is assumedly white, with red-gold hair and snow-white skin (Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses, 296). She has an inherent power over Rhysand, in both status and race. Furthermore, she had stripped him of his magical ability, reducing his power to resist. He is often referred to as “Amarantha’s whore” in a derogatory manner by other characters. In A Court of Thorns and Roses, he expressed that he is her sex-slave against his will, and in A Court of Mist and Fury he tells Feyre, “I had very little to use against Amarantha. So I decided that to keep her from asking questions about the people who mattered, I would be her whore” (Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury, 184). Men are not exempt from the sexualization of the Orient. As Said puts it, “the association between the Orient and sex is remarkably persistent” (Said, 310), and Rhysand, the Eastern adjacent character, is sexualized by Amarantha, a Western adjacent character with power. Depicting the East as sexual reinforces the power differentials between the West and the East. By portraying Eastern characters as morally deficient or sexually deviant, it validates the Western dominance and control over the East. Here, Rhysand is written with a Western perspective, resulting in the exoticization of Middle Eastern men while feeding into the cycle of sexualization and justification of Western supremacy.

Unveiling the Significance

In her popular A Court of Thorns and Roses series, Sarah J Maas undoubtedly utilizes Orientalist motifs, presenting Eastern cultures through a lens tainted by exoticism and othering. Through this lens, the East becomes a backdrop against which Western desires are projected, perpetuating a narrative of Western cultural superiority and Eastern inferiority.Readers praise Maas for her feminist themes, overlooking the impact of her Orientalist portrayals, internalizing and perpetuating harmful stereotypes. By analyzing Maas's work within the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, this paper serves as a model to illustrate the pervasive presence of Orientalist stereotypes in modern fantasy literature. Only after Orientalism is recognized, identified, and understood, may it be dismantled.

Works Cited