Women's Purity
Usbek and his eunuchs believe that women's virtue comes not from courage or wisdom but from purity. They believe women should be shielded from contact with other men besides their husbands, and that a woman who is seen by a strange man is somehow contaminated by him. Accordingly, they keep all other men away when the women are traveling by litter in the countryside, and the women are required to be veiled at all times.
Potential for Silliness in Religion
Usbek notices a great deal of incongruity in the Christian faith as it is practiced in France. He is shocked by the amount of religious debate, believing that it is evidence of a widespread lack of certainty and faith. He also points out concepts like the Holy Trinity as being inherently self-contradictory. Yet in some of the letters from the Mollah describing the reasons why Usbek and other Muslims avoid pork, the "wise" holy man retells a story even more ridiculous than what Usbek is seeing in France.
Culture Shock
To Usbek, France is a strange and foreign place. Montesquieu uses his discomfort as a way to poke fun at some of the stereotypical people, such as the conjurer, the opera singer, the rake, and other "flat" characters the Persians meet. Looking at French and Parisian customs from the outside allows Montesquieu to exaggerate the incongruities and contradictions in French society and government to produce satirical political and social commentary.
Rulership
Although Usbek discusses many different forms of government ranging from the anarchy of the early Troglodite society to the problems of an old or ineffective ruler, he concludes that the best form of government is by a wise, just, fair, and virtuous king. He ignores this precept himself, abandoning his wives in Isfahan and telling his eunuch to punish them physically for their predictable responses to his long absence.
