# Rabesqurat — The Shaving of Shagpat character guide

> Rabesqurat in The Shaving of Shagpat by George Meredith.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Queen Rabesqurat

**First appearance:** 0011-the-wiles-of-rabesqurat

## Snapshot

Queen of the Enchanted Sea who lures Shibli Bagarag with song, wine, and the promise of kingship, nearly blinding his soul to his true errand.

## Who they are

Rabesqurat rules a realm of beguilement, a queen whose arts exhaust the mines of her wealth to fascinate the wandering Shibli Bagarag, calling him lord and king and offering him the lap of abundance. Her tension is the seduction itself: she is so convincing that she half-forgets her own sorcery in the strength of the draughts they share, until her eye catches the Lily he keeps at his side. She matters because she is the great test of the middle arc — the temptation that would seal the inner spirit's sight, and the proof that Shibli's faithfulness to Noorna is the one thing her magic cannot dissolve.

## In the story

### [The Wiles of Rabesqurat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_shaving_of_shagpat_se/chapters/the-wiles-of-rabesqurat)

Queen Rabesqurat uses her wiles and magic to try to seduce Shibli, employing music, feasts, and illusions to make him forget his quest.

### [The Veiled Figure](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_shaving_of_shagpat_se/chapters/the-veiled-figure)

Revealed as the Veiled Figure when Shibli flashes the Sword; her sight overwhelms Shibli.

### [The Flashes of the Blade](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_shaving_of_shagpat_se/chapters/the-flashes-of-the-blade)

Streams in the sky like a red comet, dives to retrieve Shagpat, and creates a thousand illusory Shagpats.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_shaving_of_shagpat_se/characters/rabesqurat
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_shaving_of_shagpat_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_shaving_of_shagpat_se/characters