The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

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The protagonist of the book – The Tale of Genji, was a factious character named Genji who was certainly a legendary figure. His countless intimate relationships with a variety of women were truly unbelievable by modern standards. It is easy for the readers to notice the amorous character of Genji. However, behind this certain image, there were surely some other noticeable traits of him through his affairs with some of the important women in his life. For instance, he was brave and treated the women he loved with sincere and courtesy; moreover, when it came to women, he was sort of an unrealistic perfectionist. Nonetheless, sometimes he could also be selfish for his own interest without taking other’s ideas and feelings into consideration.

Genji showed great braveness through his love for the unfortunate dead beauty – Yugao. Their intense love comes so fast and deceased instantaneously as well. Yugao was different from the women whom Genji would normally have been interested in. However, perhaps just because of her uniqueness, Genji fell in love with her deeply. Afterward, he even persuaded Yugao to elope with him. Unfortunately, shortly after their journey had just begun, Yugao died tragically for no reason at all. Witnessing Yugao’s death, he shed heart-broken tears. To avoid the gossip among the public, he could not accompany her before she was laid into the grave, though he wanted to badly. It was miserable for him. Genji was undoubtedly not a brave person since he was always cautious about keeping the secret affairs from leaking to the public; he cared about his reputation. Nevertheless, after some struggles, he decided to see her for the last time at the risk of being caught because he loved her with all his heart. Hi...

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... After he possessed the girl, he raised her according to his thoughts and ideas, hoping that someday she would become the perfect woman he had been searching for. This might sound unfair to the girl because he deprived Murasaki of freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, to achieve his perfectionism he would do anything, which was selfish but intriguing.
To sum up, Genji had many praisable characters based on the ways he treated his lovers, such as braveness and genuineness. However, it was kind of a sickness that he tried to raise a girl to be a perfect lover by stealing someone who did not belong to him. This was just as selfish as the way he betrayed his father who loved and cared for him unconditionally. Overall, Genji, the protagonist of The Tale of Genji was truly a fascinating person who possessed a variety of characters, which made this book really interesting.

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