Write a 3-5 page (double-spaced) paper on ONE of the two topics given below. Provide a cover sheet. Make sure that you give me plenty of concrete examples and quotations from the readings to support your points, and that you cite your sources with page numbers or lecture dates. Please use the citation form I've provided on the main page for paper topics (under "READ THIS!") If you're not sure what "citing your sources" means, click here.
1. How is the treatment of the theme of the jealous woman in Muromachi Noh plays such as Aoi no Ue and Nonomiya the same as in Heian/Kamakura literature (the narrator [Michitsuna's mother] of the diary Gossamer Years, Rokujô and other women in Tale of Genji, the pseudo-classical tale Wagami Tadoru Himegime discussed by Donald Keene) and how is it different? Why do you think these differences develop? Points you should consider: differences in authorship/patronage, audience, goals, changed religious context, and the changed economic and social position of women (for the last, use Tonomura's "Women and Inheritance...").Use specific examples and quotations from the primary readings we've read to support your points.
2. Compare the representation of women in Noh and Kyôgen: How do they seem different? How are they similar? Try to think about both the content of the plays/description of the women, and the way they are presented in performance (i.e. costumes, wigs, masks, makeup etc). What factors might explain the differences? Among other points you should consider the goals (didactic? entertainment? both? serious or humorous?) of each kind of theater; the authorship and audience, the social class of the women involved; and how the women characters fit (or fail to fit) the dominant stereotypes of their time about properly feminine behavior. Use specific examples and quotations from the plays we've read to support your points. Useful readings to frame the argument: Tonomura, Brazell's introduction and "Elements of Performance" in Traditional Japanese Theater.