EA 170/G&S 170 Week 3a Outline (Fall 2017)

Jealousy and Possession Continued

I. What subsequently happens to Rokujo?

A. What is the situation at the beginning of the Chapter 10, "The Green Branch" (Sakaki)?

p. 193: As the High Priestess's journey to Ise approached, her mother, the Rokujo Haven, felt increasingly miserable. Now that Aoi, showing commanding rank she had so resented, was no more, people told one another that her time had come, and her own gentlewomen looked forward eagerly to the future; but when she considered Genji's subsequent silence and his shabby treatment of her, she recognized that something must really have happened to distress him, and she therefore put her feelings aside to prepare for a resolute departure.

1. What were Rokujo's ladies-in-waiting expecting after Aoi's death? What happened instead?

Genji, p. 189: As to the Rokujo Haven, her plight affected him very much, but things would never go well if he acknowledged her formally, whereas she was just the woman to discuss things with now and again, if she would only let him go on seeing her as in the past. He could not bring himself to give her up even now.

B. What does it mean that Rokujo's daughter is being sent to Ise as the priestess?

1. The historical political situation for imperial princesses:

2. In the fictional world of Genji: New emperor (Suzaku) means they need new Ise and Kamo Priestesses. Also Suzaku is very interested in her, so makes sense that Minister of the Right would get rid of her as competition.

C. Why has Rokujo made the "unprecedented" decision to go with her?

1. Genji?

2. Guilt?

3. Plot (narrative necessity)?

D. The Shrine of the Fields (Nonomiya)

1. Setting of the temporary shrine in the fields

[193-94] Melancholy overwhelmed him as soon as he set out across the moor's vast expanse. The autumn fiowers were dying; among the brakes of withering sedge, insect cries were faint and few; and through the wind's sad sighing among the pines there reached him at times the sound of instruments, although so faintly that he could not say what the music was. The scene had an intensely eloquent beauty...With so few people about, a deep quiet reigned, and the thought that she had spent days and months here alone with her cares moved him to a keen sympathy.

2. Issue of Buddhism and Shinto at Ise and Kamo

3. Do they sleep together?

[Tyler, trans., 195] "No one could ever convey all that passed between those two, who together had known such uncounted sorrows."

[Helen McCullough, trans., 188] “Their feelings for each other, Genji's and the lady's, had run the whole range of sorrows and irritations, and no words could suffice for all they wanted to say to each other.”

a. use of the term monogatari (literally, "to talk about things") in Tale of Genji

E. What happens to Rokujo later in the book

1. Chapter 14 "The Pilgrimage to Sumiyoshi"

a. Genji returns from a two year exile when his half-brother abdicates the throne; his secret son by Fujitsubo becomes Emperor.

b. Rokujo returns with her daughter from Ise and resumes her salon, but although Genji helps her keep track of her property, he does not become intimate with her again. Then Rokujo suddenly falls ill and becomes a nun; Genji rushes to see her:

p. 293 The Haven led an elegant life once more in her old residence, for Genji still saw to having it done up and maintained. Her taste and flair had not deserted her, many distinguished gentlewomen and cultivated gentlemen gathered around her, and despite her apparent loneliness she was living very pleasantly when, all at once, she fell gravely ill and sank into such despair that alarm over her years in so sinful a place decided her to become a nun.

(Oblique reference here to the fact that at Ise you cannot perform Buddhist rituals.)

This news brought the astonished Genji to her, for even if they were no longer lovers, she was still someone to talk to, and he wished that she had not done it. His expressions of sympathy and concern were extremly moving. She gave him a seat near her pillow and answered him leaning on an armrest, but even this much made it clear how weak she was, and Genji wept bitterly, fearing that it might be too late for him to assure her of his enduring devotion.

d. On her deathbed (pp. 293-294), Rokujo entrusts her property and her daughter (Akikonomu) to Genji, warning him not to trifle with her. Genji promises he will take care of her interests.

2. How does Genji use Rokujo's property and her daughter politically?

a. marriage politics

1) [296-97] discussion with Fujitsubo about presenting Rokujo's daughter to their (secret) son, the Reizei Emperor (about 12 at the time). Eventually she becomes mother of the crown prince. Classic politics.

b. mansion Moves her into the Nijo mansion to live with Murasaki (they are about the same age, 19-21). Tears down Rokujo's mansion and starts building a new one where he can install everyone.

II. Rokujo after death

A. Much later in the book (chapter 35) Rokujo attacks Murasaki and the Third Princess

B. When does Murasaki become vulnerable?

1. Growing older (unlucky age: 37)

2. Genji marries again: who is the Third Princess?

a. Daughter of the Suzaku Emperor, granddaughter of Kokiden [genealogy] so much higher status than Murasaki

b. midteens when Genji married her (chap 34), now early 20s (chap 35)

3. How has Genji forestalled jealousy among his women after his wife Aoi's death?

a. has everyone living in one place (Rokujo mansion), encourages poetry exchanges, and brings women together for events.

b. gives Akashi Lady's daughter to Murasaki

B. What happens right before Murasaki is possessed?

[Tyler 646] Her Majesty's mother the [Rokujo] Haven comes to mind as someone of unusual grace and depth, but she made painfully trying company. I agree that she ahd reason to be angry with me, but the way she brooded so interminably over the matter, and with such bitter rancor, made things very unpleasant. There was something so daunting about her that I could never enjoy with her the daily intimacies of life; I could never drop my guard, lest informality invite her contempt, and so she and I soon drifted apart. I regretted her distress when scandal touched her and her good name; but to make it up to her I ensured that her daughter, who of course was so destined anyway, rose to be Empress, ignoring by the way a good deal of slander and resentment, and I expect that by now, in the afterworld, she has come to think better of me. Casual amusements always risk grave and painful consequences.

Genji goes off to see the Third Princess, leaving Murasaki to brood over old romances.

C. What are her symptoms?

1. Why does Genji move her away from the Rokujô mansion?

2. Murasaki stops breathing while Genji is visiting the Third Princess. Then Rokujo possesses one of her handmaidens (a young girl).

p. 654 Perhaps the Buddha responded to his intense grief, because the spirit, which had refused for months to declare itself, now moved into a litte girl in whom it screamed and raged, while his love began at last to breathe again. He was overcome with happiness and dread.

a. Etiological or hysterical possession? Why different than Aoi's possession?

b. Narrative necessity?

D. What are Rokujô's reasons for attacking?

[Tyler 654] "Leave, all of you. I wish to speak to his Grace alone,"' it said. "For months you have cruelly chastised me and cause me such pain that I had thought I might teach you a proper lesson, but even now, when I have assumed this shocking form, the sight of you broken by a grief that may cost you your life has quickened feelings from long ago and brought me to you here. No, I could not ignore your suffering, and that is why I have appeared to you. I never meant you actually to know me."....I kept my eye on you from on high, and what you did for Her Majesty [Rokujo's daughter] made me grateful, but perhaps I do not care tha much about my daughter now that she and I inhabit different realms, because that bitterness of mine, which made you hateful to me, remains. What I find particularly offensive, more so even than your spurning me for others when I was among the living, is that in conversation with one for whom you do care you callously made me out to be a disagreeable woman. I had hoped, as I did then, that you might at least be forgiving toward the dead and come to my defense when others maligned me; and that is why, since I have this shocking appearance, things have come to this at last. I have little enough against this woman, but you are strongly guarded. I feel far away and cannot approach you, and even your voice reaches me only faintly. Very well, do now what must be done to ensure that my sins are lifted. These rites and these noisy scripture readings only surround me with searing flame, and I hear nothing holy in them. That is my torment. Please let Her Majesty know what I have told you. As long as she serves His Majesty, may she never indulge in jealous rivalry with other women. Make sure that she aquires the merit to lighten the sin of the time she spent as Ise Priestess. I so wish she had never done it!"

III. Rokujô as a "Madwoman in the Attic"

1. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar: idea based on the 19th c. novel Jane Eyre, in which the heroine falls in love with a man who turns out to have a previous wife, who is mad and has been kept hidden in a suite in the attic.

2. Idealized women:

a. Angel in the House:

b. Madonna in Heaven:

3. Demonized women: why are they so useful to female authors?

Marriage Politics in Tale of Genji

I. Genji’s downfall

A. Why is Genji exiled (chap 12)?

1. His father, the retired emperor, has died.

2. Minister of the Left (his father-in-law) has retired.

3. Affair with Oborozukiyo, consort to the Suzaku Emperor is discovered by the emporor: see genealogy

4. Kokiden and Minister of the Right

B. Who stays in contact after his exile? Who doesn't? What are the effects later on?

1. To no Chujo [chap 12, 250-52] goes to see Genji despite his in-laws

2. Prince Hyobu (Fujitsubo's brother, Murasaki's father) cuts off contact

C. The Akashi Lady

1. How does he meet the Akashi lady? (Suma and Akashi Chapters)

a.. Supernatural events:

Poem, p. 253:

“Myriads of Gods must feel pity in their hearts when they look on me:
there is nothing I have done that anyone could call a crime.”

What happens next?

b. p. 259 Genji's father appears in a dream, telling him to go to sea “As the god of Sumiyoshi would have you do,” and when the storm ends providentially there is the a messenger and boat from the Akashi Novice to take him over to Akashi.

Note: Genji heard about the governor and his daughter in chapter 5 "Young Murasaki" (84-85) from his retainer, who was interested in her himself.

D. How does the Akashi lady fit into the types of women discussed in the “Rainy Night Discussion” in The Broom Tree chapter?

1. What level of woman is she?

2. Who does she remind Geni of?

3. Why should she be wary of a relationship with Genji?

E. Why does Genji return from exile?

1. Supernatural events:

a. Genji's dead father appears in a dream to Genji and to the Suzaku Emperor

2. Real world events:

a. Genji's half-brother, the Suzaku Emperor, abdicates after his father-in-law, the Minister of the Right, dies and his mother, Kokiden becomes ill. Genji takes control of the government, ruling as regent through his son (the Reizei Emperor), the product of a secret affair with his father's consort, Fujitsubo. Genji brings back his father-in-law as Minister of the Left, and To no Chujo rises in rank accordingly.

II. Genji’s triumph

A. Why is Genji’s marriage to the Akashi lady important to his political comeback?

1. How does he come to marry her?

a. Supernatural influence:

b. Economic: 

1) Example from a chapter we don’t read: Genji visits Akashi lady in Oi, then goes on to Katsura where he puts on a banquet for his friends using her resources

2) The Rokujô mansion [who is going to pay for it?]

B. Marriage politics and Akashi

1. Why does Genji urge the Akashi lady to move back to the capital when she has a daughter?

2. Why is she reluctant to do so?

3. How does she dissipate possible jealousies?

C. How is the Akashi lady a “model” woman in Tale of Genji?

1. How does she pay for her “romantic” relationship with Genji?

2. What might Murasaki Shikibu be telling us about such romantic relationships?

D. Chapter 17: "The Picture Contest": clear example of marriage politics disguised as aesthetic competition

1. To no Chujo sends his daughter to be a consort to the Reizei Emperor

2. Genji, in agreement with Fujitsubo, sends Akikonomu to be a consort to the Reizei Emperor

3. Prince Hyobu attempts to send a daughter, but is cut out by Genji.

4. Picture contest: To no Chujo's daughter versus Akikonomu vying for attention of Genji's son, the Reizei Emperor

a. probably based on Teishi (Michitaka's daughter) versus Soshi (Michinaga's daughter) in Murasaki Shikibu's time

III. Class Discussion:

A. What qualities are considered ideally masculine in the Heian period?

1. How is Genji an ideal man?

2. How is Genji considered not so ideal?

B. What qualities are considered ideally feminine?

1. Who is the most ideal woman in Genji?

a. What are her qualities?

b. What is not so ideal about her?

C. What qualities are considered ideal for both men and women? i.e. not considered gender specific?

1. Example: Is aesthetic sensitivity a gendered trait in the Heian period?

D. How might the ideals for gender (masculine and feminine) support male privilege and the Heian class system?

E. How are these qualities the same or different from normative masculine and feminine stereotypes today?