“The Tale of Genji” By Joy Kirchhoff
After reading the excerpt of “Tale of Genji” as a whole class, I found it very interesting. Genji Monogatari, or The Tale of Genji, is a well-known piece of Japanese literature. The Emperor was considered the most good-looking and privileged guy who had the most power in Japan during that time in the early 11th century. All the ladies wanted to be with him. At this time the emperor was with Lady Kokiden. The Emperor then finds another woman and chooses her out of every other woman because her beauty stood out most to him. After she was chosen to be with the Emperor, her life went downhill. The jealousy and hatred she received from the other ladies made her feel depressed. She often did not want to leave her home. Her father passed away but her mother made sure she was still up there since her father had some power. Eventually she gave birth to the emperor’s first son, Genji. She was his favorite despite what others had to say about her. She tried to tell him to let her go but he kept telling her to hang in there a bit longer. As this goes on longer and longer, she becomes very weak. She eventually stops eating, causing her to look very thin and sick which leads to her death. The Emperor had great interest in her but she could not handle the pressure of living with him in the household and all the political social drama that she had to face. The Emperor was very shocked by her death. In the end, he upgraded her rank by one level only. Overall, in this case, it was unfair to this woman that she was the chosen one out of everyone else.
I feel like the Emperor really liked or loved her because he wanted her to stay but was he aware of her mental health? In that part, I think he was careless and a bit selfish. Clearly, she continuously expressed her feelings of wanting to leave but he only told her to keep going until she broke down completely. She lost her own life over his action of choosing her. I still feel unsure of how I should feel about this story, who is to blame for this tragedy? I think it is combined with other women bringing her down and the Emperor not caring enough about her feelings, and well-being in general that led to her death.
I do think that Genji was selfish to not let her go. In the video it explains more what the book is about and it says how she was ten years old. No wonder she wanted to leave, no wonder her mother couldn't do much to bring her home with her. She felt powerless not having her father there to help her remove her daughter from Genji's home. In our world today this called kidnapping, child endangerment and a child molestor.
ReplyDeleteGenji was the son they had created, for clarification, I believe what you meant to write was the Emperor. I do agree with you wholeheartedly though! The Emperor was very selfish and he only cared about his needs and what he wanted. People say, "you want your cake and eat it too" and to me that the perfect saying for the Emperor.
ReplyDeleteTo think that Lady Kikiden was supposedly only 10 years when this happened is so scary. In today's society this is the equivalent of kidnapping. I cannot believe this used to be allowed. I'm glad our society has advanced and gotten better in this manner.
ReplyDeleteYour post "The Tale of Genji" illustrate the story complicated dynamics with a tragic ending. You are unhappy same like me by the Emperor's loss of comprehension about the mental health of the lady that he picked, and this hits when people wirite about feelings.
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