Ideal Man and Woman in The Tale of Genji

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As with all cultures of ancient times the difference in though process and the way people deal with everyday situations are totally different from our modern times of today. This paper will be about such a culture. The culture that is presented within this paper is about the Heian period of Japan, and what men and women of the Heian court thought of each other in terms of marriage, and relationships. This paper will analyze this subject through one of Japans great tails about court intrigue The Tale of Genji: by Murasaki Shikibu.

Mans idea of women can be found early on in the Tale of Genji within the second chapter known as “Hahakigi (The Broom Tree)”chapter. Within this chapter Genji and his friend Tō no Chūjō broach the subject of women. Within the abridged version of The Tale of Genji translated by Royall Tyler, Tō no Chūjō gives his idea of what he thinks of women from different classes or social backgrounds. Tō no Chūjō Give his philosophy of women of highborn birth first by saying “When a girl is highborn everyone pampers her and a lot about her remains hidden so that she naturally seems a paragon”(page 21). Tō no Chūjō goes on to speak a little more highly of those of middle birth by saying “Those of Middle birth are the ones among whom you can see what a girl really has to offer” (Page 21). And as for the lowborn, well let me just say that according to Tō no Chūjō they are not really though about since they are far to beneath them. So to sum it up The highborn are stuck up and pampered, the middle born are the women worth knowing, and the lowborn are really nothing to think about. So it seems that the men in The Tale of Genji prefer women of middle birth even though Genji seems to be having relations with many ...

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...hich we say today how strange they are, but as all people tend to do when we see anything substantially different from our perceived norms we automatically assume it to be strange or wrong in thinking. To many The Tale of Genji is a book to be criticized for its archaic ideals of how badly women were treated in this era and their wrong ideals of marriage. I see this as a wonderful opportunity to study a culture who is different in ways than our own. The Tale of Genji is a book I find to be a wonderful History book. Even though the tale itself is fiction, truths of that society can still be gleaned from within these pages. I for one applaud Murasaki Shikibu for giving us a taste of her time and consider her book to be a novel to be praised.

Works Cited

Tyler, Royall. The tale of Genji: abridged. Abridged ed. New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2006. Print.

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