The Peony Pavilion is a Chinese play written by Tang Xianzu and first performed as Kunqu in 1598. Tang Xianzu was one of the greatest poet-playwright that lived in Ming dynasty of China. The Peony Pavilion was a very popular play on that time, and it was also a very long play that had total fifty-five scenes. The Peony Pavilion is not only told a story of love but also revealed women in the feudalistic society of China was mostly control by clan and didn't have chances to do what they wanted to do. The Peony Pavilion told the love story of Bridal Du and Liu Mengmei. On a Spring morning, Bridal visited the garden and saw lots of beautiful views. Bridal’s mother and father never told her about the exquisite spot in their garden. After Bridal …show more content…
The Peony Pavilion was written in the Ming dynasty of China. When Tang wrote this play, he was affected by the Confucianism and Taoism. For example, the setting of this play was in a Confucian feudalistic society which controlled people’s thought. The Flower Spirit was from Taoism that everything had their own spirit. During the Ming dynasty, the Cheng-Zhu school, a philosophical group that believed and asked people to “uphold justice, annihilate desire”. Under this situation, young women were blocked by the society to touch the outside world, and against from desire of love. During that time, Bridal born in a noted line of holders of offices, her clan was traditional and always asked her to do things that they thought a genteel woman should do, like needlework and reading. But they never thought and understood what Bridal wanted and needed. They tried to prevent Bridal from what she like. For example, Madam said the garden was too lonely and deserted and asked Bridal don't come to the garden and stay in her room, but Bridal liked it very much. The history background caused Bridal didn’t have a chance to love someone in the real world. When she looked forward to love, she could only dream and have a love in the dream. This play revealed the special history background, the affected of Confucianism and Taoism and philosophical view “uphold justice, annihilate desire” had limited woman a lot to get their love and the life they
It has been specified in the play that the setting must have a “small vase with too many flowers in it or a large vase with too few” on top of the small dining table where Vernon and Lucy eats. Considering that the scene presumably happened at Vernon’s place, it was assumed that he was the one who prepared the vase for their lunch. Accordingly, the “small vase with too many flowers in it, or a large vase with too few” represents Vernon in the play. (Hollinger 1385; act 1) A vase that is pleasing to the eye is arranged perfectly having a number of flowers matching the size of the vase. But in the play, the vase intendedly does not correspond to the amount of flowers in it. As a man, he would not care too much about the small details of the presentation, for what matters for him was his hope to be reconciled with his ex-partner and have a sexual intercourse between them. The vase symbolizes Vernon as the one being in control of the relationship. Considering that man was not expected to usually do house chores, the way Vernon did the flower arrangement implies masculinity. Aside from that, it also indicates that it is up to Vernon whether he would take too much effort on a work that is usually done by a woman. The imperfect flower arrangement in the vase represents Vernon’s character denoting manhood, being the manipulative and superior particularly in a
The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on the land, their family structure, and their local conflicts.
The narcissus in the woman’s garden release petals in one clump (Otsuka 15). Furthermore, the narcissus is a sign of bad luck to the family and their survival. Otsuka (103) uses another flower to represent both hope and sorrow. However, for our theme of the tragedy, a man in the camp dies and an unfamiliar and rare flower was spotted on the other side of the fence”. The man was purportedly shot while reaching for the flower, symbolizing the struggle for freedom and a better life (Otsuka 101) In the end, the death of the man represents persona tragedy from an innocent action, an action with a deadly
One of the most important differences between the classical Egyptian poem “My god my Lotus” and the Chinese poem “Fishhawk” is the representation of female sexuality. In terms of female sexuality, the ancient Egyptian poem “My god my Lotus” is clear, dramatic and visual. The physical appearance of women indicates freedom of sexual expression regardless of their gender. For instance, in the poem the girl is says “My heart longs to go down to bathe before you, that I may show you my beauty in a tunic of the finest royal linen.” here she is describing her technique of attracting her lover. She is also describing her desire for her loved one by saying “My heart desires you, Let us release it to...
The fact that the fictional mothers and daughters of the story have unhappy marriages creates a common ground on which they can relate. However, marriage has different meanings for each generation in this book. In the mothers’ perspective, marriage is permanent and not always based on love. Especially with their marriages in China, which was a social necessity that they must secretly endure in order to be happ...
The Monkey Garden by Sandra Cisneros tells the story of a young girl’s loss of childhood innocence. The story is narrated by a mature woman remembering her initiation into adolescence through the images and events that occurred in an unused neighborhood lot. She is not ready to mature into adolescence and uses her imagination to transform the lot into a fantasy garden--a place where she can hide from the adult world.
As Walker lightens the reader with the importance of quilts in “Everyday Use”, she amplifies the significance of it by presenting Maggie, the younger of two sisters. Maggie’s strong attachment to these quilts have carved memories in her heart that she ‘”can’ member Grandma Dee without the quilts”’ (Walker 321). I contrast is Maggie’s sister, Dee, who refers to them as “priceless” (Walker 320). Observing them from an economic view, she tries to posses them. The author implies that although both sisters differ in reasons to value quilts, the legacy that the quilts represent is indeed priceless. In “Hangzhou”, Chang presents the reader with a different legacy. Represented by the legend of the Pagoda, a female trapped spirit, the author reveals it as “a punishment” (Chang 101) for trying to hold a husband using dark sources instead of fathering him with a son. A strong belief handed down for generations. Regardless of their origin, these legacies encourage both families to deeply treasure the traditions that have formed each of
The novel “The Jade Peony” is narrated by three different characters throughout the story as it progresses. In part one of the book, it is narrated by a character named “Jook Liang” but usually just called Liang while in conversation. The reader is told the setting and time of the plot, which is in Vancouver, BC and in the time of the Great Depression (In the 1930s). We also learn the names of all the members in Liang’s family. An important figure in Liang’s portion of the story is a man named Wong-Suk. Wong-Suk and Liang become great friends, he occasionally tells her tales from the past. While Poh-Poh was helping Liang tie a ribbon for her tap dance shoes, we learn about her childhood. Poh-Poh was considered disfigured and her mom sold her to a family, where she
The speaker personifies the flower by describing how the moon-lily sings: “…it is singing—very far/ but very clear and sweet” (10-11). The voice of the flower is the voice of the woman. The flower is calling out to the man. The fact that the flower has to call out to the man implies that he does not accept the love of the woman. The speaker also describes the distance between the two people. He states, “The voice is always in some other room” (12). Once again the speaker is describing distance, but the man does not try to close the distance. The reason the man does not try to close the distance is because he does not love the woman. The lily represents the female and their love. In the poem, the speaker talks about a “garden” which is a metaphor for the female’s life (13). In the garden the speaker describes the flower as “in bloom” and that the flower “stands full and/ proud” (13,14-15). This section of the poem tells the reader that the woman’s love is strong and unwavering. The speaker compares the woman’s love to a lily because the love is pure of heart and beautiful. The relationship that the poem depicts is unhealthy for the female. The woman is putting too much effort into a nonexistent
Perhaps one of the biggest issues foreigners will come upon is to maintain a strong identity within the temptations and traditions from other cultures. Novelist Frank Delaney’s image of the search for identity is one of the best, quoting that one must “understand and reconnect with our stories, the stories of the ancestors . . . to build our identities”. For one, to maintain a firm identity, elderly characters often implement Chinese traditions to avoid younger generations veering toward different traditions, such as the Western culture. As well, the Chinese-Canadians of the novel sustain a superior identity because of their own cultural village in Vancouver, known as Chinatown, to implement firm beliefs, heritage, and pride. Thus in Wayson Choy’s, The Jade Peony, the novel discusses the challenge for different characters to maintain a firm and sole identity in the midst of a new environment with different temptations and influences. Ultimately, the characters of this novel rely upon different influences to form an identity, one of which being a strong and wide elderly personal
Kingston uses the story of her aunt to show the gender roles in China. Women had to take and respect gender roles that they were given. Women roles they had to follow were getting married, obey men, be a mother, and provide food. Women had to get married. Kingston states, “When the family found a young man in the next village to be her husband…she would be the first wife, an advantage secure now” (623). This quote shows how women had to get married, which is a role women in China had to follow. Moreover, marriage is a very important step in women lives. The marriage of a couple in the village where Kingston’s aunt lived was very important because any thing an individual would do would affect the village and create social disorder. Men dominated women physically and mentally. In paragraph eighteen, “they both gav...
A Doll House gives us a true insight into the roles for men and women during the late 1800’s. This is why the play has been said to be able to take place in any and all suburbs. At this point in history, the roles of gender were mainly consistent across the world. Men vs. women in economics, social status, gender rights, marriage and divorce, and occupation can best describe this.
Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House is an astonishing, yet accurate portrayal of how women were treated in the 1800s. It is essentially a force runner to women's rights and sets a path for many more feminist works to come. The novel fiercely challenges the modern idea that all women, by virtue of being women, are inclined towards feminist political interests. The roles of women have been a big part of literature and are usually a representation of how the roles of women in real life have evolved and continue to evolve. A Doll's House is an essential part of IBO specifically for the fact that it shows historical realism in the Victorian Era, and continues to challenge the unrealistic expectations of women in marriage.
The old and new attitudes toward sexuality and the proper behavior of women is very apparent in the play called A Doll House. The play shows how each woman has sacrificed who they were for the men and the other people in their lives. The play also shows how men see women in general. Several characters give up who they thought they were meant to be, because of the social aspect in their lives. Society has always placed a burden on women as who they are supposed to be as wives, mothers, and as adult women. Women were seen as the inferior sex in the past and in the present. Things have changed over the years as women earn more and more freedom and rights that men have had for a very long time. The sacrifices that are made in this play speak to how things work for women in society. Women give up their right to happiness because they feel obligated to change who they are to help someone else.
The nineteenth century was truly a different time for women and what their assumed roles in life would be. Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” is an examination into those assumed roles and a challenge to them. It was a time of obedience and inequality and in the first act each character is shown to portray these qualities. However, the characters in this play have multiple layers that get peeled back as the story progresses. As each new layer is revealed the audience is shown that even with the nineteenth century ideals, the true nature of each character is not quite what they appeared to be initially.