Koharu tells Monzaemon (disguised as a samurai) that she wants out of her suicide pact because she is concerned about her mother and wants to live; later we learn that she wants out of the suicide pact because it is what Osan has asked of her, woman-to-woman, in order to protect Jihei and his family.
What do you think: Does Koharu want out on her own behalf--or only because Osan has asked her to help Jihei alive?
Cite some text to support your position (or to disagree, kindly and collegially, of course) with a classmate.
Deadline: Wednesday (2/9), start of class.
8 comments:
I think that Koharu opted out of the suicide pact initially because Osan had asked her to. At the end of Act 1, the Chanter says, "Her true feelings are hidden in the words penned by Jihei's wife, a letter that no one has seen. Jihei goes his separate way without learning the truth."
So far, I think the Chanter appears to be an omniscient narrator. If the Chanter said something false, it would destabilise the whole presentation, so I would think that the audience would trust what is said by him.
Later Osan reveals the truth behind Koharu's feelings. She says, "There is not a grain of deceit in Koharu." Again, I think Osan is a fairly reliable person. She is pawning her clothes for the sake of her family, cares more for her husband's honour than her own comfort and subjugates her own interests to a prostitute out of a womanly solidarity.
Koharu also ends up going through with the love suicide. She expresses a desire to "protect women of [her] profession" to prevent future love suicides, suggesting that she feels that she has been driven to the moment by circumstance. She is no more reluctant than Jihei is and her only concern is that they should try and make it not look too much like a lover's suicide for the sake of his and Osan's honour. He tells her of how he is now "unencumbered by wife, children or worldy possessions" and in response she says simply, "I am happy." The Chanter describes the way she cuts her hair as "ruthlessly" and "unhesitatingly" and he notes her "encouragement lends him strength" when he is preparing to stab her.
I think that Koharu wants out of the suicide for herself, and uses Osan's request as an excuse. In Act 1 and Act 2 it is said several times that the affair between Koharu and Jihei lasts for two years, if Koharu was really concerned with Osan and her family she would have ended the affair much earlier. It is ironic that when her life is on the line she starts becoming concerned about Osan and the children. She is also quickly convinced by the samurai to change her mind. In her reasoning for not wanting to commit suicide with Jihei she mentions only things that effect her, like her mother, not once does she mention Jihei's family and how devisated his wife and children would be. I think that Koharu simply get in over her head and is looking for a way out.
I agree with Shaun that Koharu’s decision in act one to not go through with the love suicide is motivated by Osan’s request. Yet I think that her attitude toward Osan results more from a social duty than a personal obligation. This obligation is mutual between Osan and Koharu as each demonstrates a concern for the other. For Osan, allowing Koharu to die would violate the “obligations [she owes] her as another woman” (58). Koharu demonstrates a general concern about shame and how others perceive her behavior. Despite her romantic relationship with Jihei, Koharu realizes that her behavior opposes the concern for familial stability conveyed by other characters.
This separation between social and personal sources of responsibility and morality that we observe confronting Koharu is also something that is seen in Fantomina. The story makes a distinction between virtue, an internal state, and reputation, which is socially determined. In Fantomina’s opinion, virtue is important, but it is eclipsed in importance by reputation. She exhibits only minor scruples about losing her virginity and behaving promiscuously. Instead, Fantomina is more concerned about someone exposing her behavior. Koharu is similar to Fantomina in this regard because the highest disgrace for her is not the fact that she is in a relationship with Jihei but that this prevents her from upholding her duty to Osan.
Despite this initial feeling of social duty that Koharu thinks she has toward Osan, I think that their relationship becomes more personal even though they never meet. When describing to Jihei her doubts about salvation, Koharu explains that she fears Osan’s “contempt more than the slander of a thousand or ten thousand strangers” (66). She values Osan’s esteem more than other people’s and is despondent because Koharu perceives herself as the source of trouble for Jihei’s marriage.
This shift in perspective ultimately allows the suicide to take place. Establishing Jihei’s domestic life as her chief concern allows Koharu to be persuaded by Jihei to commit the suicide. He tells her that all his familial responsibilities are dissolved, so, by extension, Koharu also does not have any social or personal obligation to Osan.
The idea that Koharu changed her mind concerning Jihei's pledge of suicide of her own accord just doesn't seem to resonate with the story. Near the end of the play, Koharu's only hesitation seems to be for Jihei, and I think this comes from her social obligation to Osan (she has not yet been informed of the divorce) and possibly because of her fear of seeing Jihei hurt or shamed. The only reason she tells the false samurai (Daegomon) that she wants protection was merely opportunistic. Just as she had decided to follow Osan's wishes and stop the suicide, a new customer that she believes can offer her protection comes around and she jumps on the opportunity to stop the love suicides.
Considering the chanter does only seem to tell the true inner thoughts of the characters, the end of act one shows that Koharu was really only stopping the suicide of Jihei to help Osan. Also, Jihei's brother is shocked by the contents of the letter at the end of act one, claiming he will never show the contents to anyone (an obvious lie to stop Jihei from shaming himself).
As for the suicide itself, Koharu's only protests come from her concern for Osan and Jihei's children, never for her own well-being. If she didn't really want to die, she would have called off the whole affair before letting Jihei go through with it.
I agree that Koharu saying she does not want to commit a love suicide is because of Osan’s request. When the two lovers decide on their final resting place at Amijima, Koharu tells Jihei her worries, which mostly refer to Osan’s opinion of her; “Osan will then think then that I treated as a mere scrap of paper the letter I sent promising her… She will despise me as a one night prostitute, a false woman with no sense of decency. I fear her contempt more than the slander of a thousand or ten thousand strangers. I can imagine how she will resent and envy me. That is the greatest obstacle to my salvation” (66). Koharu worries that Osan will not think she was treated with respect. Koharu’s comment that she fears only Osan’s contempt shows how Koharu does not care if she causes the contempt of society or other women. Only Koharu’s fear of Osan’s opinion keeps her in doubt of killing herself. In addition, she mentions how Osan would ‘resent and envy me’; acknowledging herself as the object of resentment and envy shows that Koharu empathizes with Osan’s emotions. She can understand that Osan would resent her because Koharu was loved more by Jihei than Osan.
I don't think Koharu knows what she wants. She seems to have agreed hastily with Jihei's request only to immediately regret it. She is easily influenced into pulling out of the pact and then easily swayed into committing suicide with Jihei.
Koharu is in a situation where she has no power, she's a prostitute (I am assuming) and because of that she has no power or respect or hopes of escaping her life (unless she chooses to go with Tahei which she doesn't want). I don't think she commits suicide in the name of love for Jihei but to escape the powerlessness she has. She has already been shamed for everyone knows of her relationship with Jihei who is a married man, no man would touch her because of that. Suicide for her might have been to escape the social alienation she would have received in the future had she decide to live.
To answer the question, I believe that she wanted to commit suicide to escape the life she was leading. However, she was willing to pull out of the commitment as a form of social duty and respect to Osan. Koharu doesn't wish to bring shame and ridicule to Osan's family, so she is willing to put aside her own wishes to "save face" for their family. Back then honor and respect was extremely important, one family member's actions reflect upon their entire family (even to their ancestors). Since Koharu has no family and her position in society puts her as the object of ridicule, she is willing to help Osan "save face"
I don't believe that the only reason that Koharu did not want commit suicide with Jihei was because Osan asked her as a woman. Koharu wants to "protect women of [her] profession, so that never again will there be love suicides"(Mon'zaemon, 65). Kohau not only wishes to protect women like her, she wishes to "save loving creatures at will when once [she] mount[s] a lotus calyx in Paradise and become a Buddha"(65). She states this while alone with Jihei before they kill themselves. Koharu is not selfish, she wishes that everyone that loves each other could be together without being criticized because of what society thinks. Koharu does not want Jihei to get hurt. Koharu "is ashamed that [the samurai] may think [her] a coldhearted woman, but [she] must endure the shame"(50). Koharu is expressing her willingness to look like something that she is not in order to protect Jihei. Koharu is willing to look like a cheap prostitute that only tricked Jihei so that he may not go through any shame, She claims that she did not want anyone else to ransom her because it would be a "worse disgrace to Jihei's honor"(50). It seems that everything that she does is for Jihei. The letter for Osan only served as another incentive to not allow Jihei to kill himself. Even though she loves Jihei she could not bring herself to do anything that could potentially do harm to Jihei. She knows that just by being with Jihei, she is lowering his image in the eyes of the people who speak behind his back.
Truthfully, I dont believe she really wants out of the agreement. I would say that the incident where Jihei treats her like dirt and backs out the agreement in front of everyone plays a role in her choosing to back out also. Now, the letter sent from Osan does in a way reinforce her position to back out of the relationship and agreement with Jihei. The promise made with Osan I believe has a large amount of weight on it because she is a actual and well positioned woman in society, while Koharu is a mere prostitute. In all, Osan said that Koharu mentioned "she would give up, even though you were more precious than life itself, because she could not shirk her duty to me." This quote shows that she didnt really want to give up but since she was asked by another female it had more weight. As we see at the end they still go through with it which proves her true intentions and mindset.
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