Did He Really Rape Her?

In this week's reading of Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz, there an interesting revelation. It had previously been obvious that Yasin had problems controlling his sexual urges. Before, he crossed the line when thinking of how to approach Zubayda. This time, he went way beyond the limit by forcing
Nur, his wife's maid, to have sexual relations with him. He definitely has problems controlling his urges, but did he actually rape her?
The following passage seems to be half Yasin's view, and the other half seems pretty neutral. Just as an alcoholic will never admit that he is drunk, and a smoker won't give up the cigarette, Yasin finds excuses to justify his actions.

His greedy appetite overcame his hesitation. He put his hand on her waist. Then he pulled her gently toward his breast. She put up some resistance and kept him from achieving his goal. Putting his cheek next to hers, he whispered in her ear, "Come to the room."
She muttered uneasily, "Shame on you, master."
Her voice rang out in the silence in a way that disturbed him. She had not raised her voice intentionally, but it did not appear easy for her to whisper or her whisper had a resonance to it, even if less pronounced than that of her normal voice. His panic quickly deserted him, both because his lust was fully ignited and because her tone lacked the protest that her words suggested. He took her by the hand as he murmured, "Come along, sweetheart."
She did not attempt to free her hand, either because she was pleased or because she was obedient. He was lavishing kisses on her cheek and neck, swaying from the intense emotional impact, in a delirium of happiness. He began to say, "What's kept you from me all these months?"
She answered him in her normal tone of voice, lacking any ring of protest, "Shame on you, master."
Smiling, he commented, "Your objections are very attractive. Make some more."
She did resist a little when they reached the entrance to the room and said, "Shame on you, master. . . ." Then, as though to caution him, she added, "The room's full of bedbugs."
He pushed her inside, whispering with his mouth at the nape of her neck, "I'd lie among scorpions for your sake, Nur." (382)

Scarleteen says “Rape is when one person wants and pursues a sexual act on, to or inside another person who does not want to participate, and who does not fully and freely consent to take part in that act. (1) In this passage, Nur seems to fit the description pretty well. It is Yasin's twisted mind that confuses the reader. He makes the reader think that Nur is being kinky. That when she says no it means yes. If there was a history of Yasin and Nur flirting in the book it would be more believable, but there was nothing before. Mahfouz also describes Yasin as being someone so lustful that the only characteristic he looks for in a woman is that she is a woman. He will engage in intercourse with any woman no matter how ugly or old. The odds are against him. In a previous essay I had mentioned that in Islam, the woman has to satisfy her husband's sexual desires no matter what they are as long as it doesn't affect someone's health. Their religion justifies that, so there can't be any “rape” in an Islamic marriage. In a marriage! Yasin and Nur had nothing going on at all, and definitely nothing remotely close to marriage. Yasin has no excuse. He raped Nur. She didn't want to cohabitate with him and he forced her to.
Yasin still has problems with his sexual urges that he has to control at this point of the novel. Hopefully, these urges won't get him in any trouble the remainder of the novel.


Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

"What Is Rape & What Is It Like to Be Raped? Scarleteen." Scarleteen Sex Education For The Real World. Web. 03 Mar. 2010. .