The tale of Genji, Chapter 4: Evening Faces

This is a long chapter, but it is very attractive. Evening face, refers to a pure flower shown in the story, also refers to the mysterious lady, which is the main character of this story. As the name shown, evening indicates the end of the day. It also indicates the end of the mysterious lady's life and the love between Genji and her.

Once, Genji goes to visit his old nurse, a procedure which involves a great deal of weeping by everyone, plus much commenting on how utterly perfect, gorgeous, and wonderful Genji is. Genji is attracted by the perfect foreheads of women in the neighborhood, and he exchanges poems on a fan with a mysterious lady. Later, Genji runs off with the mysterious lady, who seems sweet and shy. Actually, she's not all that passive, because since Genji refuses to tell her his name, she refuses to tell him hers. So they are having this nice affair, when suddenly this mysterious lady died.

The death of the mysterious lady drives Genji to distraction. Genji makes sure she gets a proper funeral, then he collapses from the stress and grief, and is ill for quite some time.

The puerility, simplicity, and early death of this young mysterious lady make her looks like a spirit in the story. She is such a pure lady without jealous, veteran, and vicious personalities. I think that's the reason why Genji loves her, and misses her even though she died for years.

♥Family Love♥

The most important factor about the world I live in is family love. Family love is a special feeling especially between falimy members. They love each other no matter they are rich or poor, healthy or sick, or even good or evil. My friends always ask me a question, "Will you stay here or go back to China after your graduation?" Every time I will think about my parents. They will become old and I cannot left them at home lonely. Parents love their children, both strength and weakness. His parents will love him extremely more if a boy is deaf and blind. Yet, love between men and women is different. Lovers love each others strength, like appearance, money and social positions.

Parents love their children for a long time from their birth to next generations. I can still remember the year of 2008 when I went back home to get my surgery of head, my parents left their jobs to take care of me in the hospital for a whole month. I am a timid guy who even afraid of taking shots, but when my parents touch my hands, I feel full of courage. However, when the doctor took a piece of bone of my head, my parents cried. At that time, I feel love. Family is the greatest power in my world. Even now, when I meet some troubles, my parents will always give me power.

Money, reputation and social positions are certainly something which are often discussed in today's world. Hardly a day goes by without the subject of money being raised in most people's lives. However, it is highly debatable wether it is more important than other considerations, such as love and happiness. A lot of young people in this world, left their homes and go to metropolis to get education and jobs. They follow their greams to live better, and they may not go back home for saving tickets' money or for intense competition. Of course they may make more money than that at home, however, they lose the chances to enjoy family love, and left their parents feel lonely at home.

Different people have different dreams. For me, I don't eager for much money, but happiness, and family love is a bid part of my happiness. It is the longest, the biggest, and the pure love in my world. All of my proud and fame, are based on my falimy.

Antigone (Revision)

After I re-read the story Antigone, I feel this is a very good story. In this story, the wirter depicts many people's death, and there is some valuable meaning behind each person's death. That's the reason why tragedy is the process that valuable things were ruined. Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written before 442 B.C. The main character Antigone is the play's tragic heroine. She has a boyish physique, and her fratemity with her brother Polynices make her die.

In this play, Antigone appears as a young girl who rise up alone against state powers. She has two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, and they killed each other in a battle. The King Creon banned a decree that nobody can bury Polynices. However, Antigone, ignore the decree and follow the god's rule to bury her brother. Unlike her docile sister Ismene, Antigone is recalcitrant. She was trying to persuade her sister to bury their brother, but Ismene refused.

Creon, the king, killed Antigone, and his son Haemon died besides his dead lover Antigone. Haemon loves Antigone strongly. When he knows that his father, Creon, captures Antigone, he threats Creon that he will commit suicide if Antigone was killed. Finally, this warning did not working, and both Antigone and Haemon were died.

 After their death, Haemon's mother Eurydice died without saying a word. The lost of son makes her feel so hard to express her feelings and passions. I can tell she loves her son. When she knew that Haemon was dead, she killed herself right away.

This is a tragedy because that all valuable things were dismissed, and the love make more people die. Finally, Creon lost all his familes, suffered the loneliness and punishments which were made by himself.

The Love Between Sakuntala and Dusyanta ( Revision)

The drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is telling a story about the love between Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta. These two main characters have an unintended meeting at the beginning, then they fall in love, and the story expands with their love relationships. As many of my classmates' blogs write, this story is to praise for the sincere love between Sakuntala and Dusyanta. Sakuntala is  naive, brave, and beautiful. She is a symbol of the drama of all virtues. This story also praise for the King Dusyanta, but I think he is a more complex image, and I want to talk about my understanding of Dusyanta's personal qualities through his love to Sakuntala.

Dusyanta is a wise king who is a valiant fighter and a responsible man in this story. He has the courage to pursue his love and to bear his own mistakes. But as a king, he likes to have fun, and outrageous debauchery. At the beginning, Dusyanta pursues the beauty of Sakuntala to meet his own personal desires. From the first part of the play, we can see the unfaithful quality of Dusyanta from conversation with BUFFOON, "You are like the man who loses his taste for dates and prefers sour tamarind! How can you abandon the gorgeous gems of your palace?" "So she is the reason you reject other beauties!"(P1285) These conversations show the king Dusyanta is divided in mind. In addition, another purpose of Dusyanta to fall in love with Sakuntala is to give birth to a holy son to pass his thrown. Therefore, the love of Sakuntala and Dusyanta is superficial at this time.

At the same time, even though Dusyanta loves Sakuntala strongly, it is limited. He is the king who has power, but he did not challenge the caste system. So, he is so happy that Sakuntala has the same caste as him, and he will not pay any additional cost to get Sakuntala's love.

After I read this play, my understanding of Sakuntala and Dusyanta's love is that the love Dusyanta shows to Sakuntala is limited, and the love is not totally pure and true. The love of Dusyanta is mixed with the personal interests and secular norms.

The Love Between Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta

Sakuntala and the King Dusyanta are the main characters of the drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection. The story starts with an unintended meeting of Sakuntala and Dusyanta, and it expands with their relations, especially the love relationships. The basic theme of this drama is to praise for their sincere love and eulogize Sakuntala who is naive, brave, and beautiful. Also, it includs some praise for the King Dusyanta. Sakuntala is an idealized image of the writer, and she is a symbol of the drama of all virtues. However, the King Dusyanta is a more complex image. So, I want to talk about his personal qualities through his love to Sakuntala in the following paragraphs.

The writer wants to portray Dusyanta as a wise monarch who is both a valiant fighter and a handsome, passionate and responsible man. He has the courage to pursue his love, also has the courage to bear his own mistakes. But as a king, he likes to have fun, and outrageous debauchery. It's better to say he pursues the lovely appreance of Sakuntala than pursues of love (at least not at the first). At the first, Dusyanta pursues the beauty of Sakuntala to meet his own personal desires. From the beginning of  the play, we can see the unfaithful quality of Dusyanta from conversation with BUFFOON, “You are like the man who loses his taste for dates and prefers sour tamarind! How can you abandon the gorgeous gems of your palace?" "So she is the reason you reject other beauties!" (P1285) These conversations show the King Dusyanta is divided in mind. The main reason Dusyanta likes Sakuntala is the incredible beauty she has, and this is the king's primitive and most essential impulses-not because of Sakuntala's implication shown manifested in language or behavior. In addition, the purpose of Dusyanta to fall in love with Sakuntala is not for "the happiness of both parties", but simply to give birth to a holy son to pass his thrown. Therefore, the love of Sakuntala and Dusyanta did not show a higher level of moral issues.

Meanwhile, despite the love of Dusyanta is strong, but it is also limited. Even though he is the king, he still cannot challenge the caste system. So, from the beginning, when he knows that Sakuntala has the same caste as him, he performs overjoyed-he will not pay any additional cost to get Sakuntala's love. As the King says " I once made love to her. Now she reproaches me for loving Queen Vasumati. Friend Madhavya, tell Hamsapadika that her words rebuke me soundly." (P1303) However, to this complaint, the king is very dismissive.

At last, the king did not show as a responsible man. He is vaguely perfunctory and capricious. He defaults the duty to what he has done. The king says "even if I admit, I cheat on her, what will happen?" This is such a blatant and shameless confession. We can see the ugly heart of Dusyanta from what he is talking about.

From the above, I can draw such a conclution (of course this conclusion is not the writer to convey to us, but I try to figure out from the drama), the love that Dusyanta shows to Sakuntala is limited, and the love is not totally pure and true. The love of Dusyanta is mixed with the personal interests and secular norms. From the viewpoints about love of the King Dusyanta and his personal qualities, I know that this kind of love is not that strong, and it's not for the happiness of both parties.

Lysistrata

I have read several ancient literary works in this class. Among these stories, Lysistrata is my favourite. Unlike Gilgamesh and Bhagavad-Gita, Lysistrata describes the "battle" between women and men, which indicates the relationship between women and men. the Lysistrata is a story that talks about an Athenian woman who have taken control of the Acropolis in Athens. They are pretesting against the endless wars that men are fighting and refuse sex with their husbands unless they stop the battles.

The relation between men and women is always a topic people talk about. Compare to present day standards, Athenian women were only a little bit better than slaves. From birth a girl was not exprected to learn how to read or write, nor was she expected to earn an education. Their father controlled them before they were married, and their spouse controlled them once they were married. However, in the play, the women demand the end of war and they take action. Also, a contingency of elderly women take over the Acropolis and fight off the opposing force of elderly men. So, I think Aristophanes worte this story because he wants this happen that someday women can do something by themselves. In fact, in ancient Athens, the idea that women can stop a war or that they can organize themselves is just a humor. Women were seen as the property of men, so how can they protest against their "property owners".

It is hard to say this world is dominate by men, without women, history will stop quickly. In the end of the Lysistrata, the men are desperate for sex and they give up to fight the battles. A messager from the Spartan arrives and ask for peace talking. The Spartan and Athenian delegates arrive to talk terms for peace. Lysistrata was scolding for both parties' errers and the peace terms were confirmed quickly. The night was end up with celebration party and the men and women were dancing together. I think this ending is what Aristophanes wants. The story shows that without any men or women, this world will not work great. Only when men and women work together equally and harmony, everything will have a happy ending like Lysistrata.

The Tragedy of Antigone

Tragedy is the process that the valuable things to be ruined. Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written before 442 B.C. The main character Antigone is the play's tragic heroine. At the beginning, Antigone is opposed to her glowing sister Ismene. Unlike her docile sister, Antigone is recalcitrant. She has a boyish physique and curses her girlhood.

As I said, the valuable thing of this play is that Antigone appearing as the young girl who rise up alone against state power. Antigone has two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, and they killed each other in a battle. The king Creon banned a decree that nobody can bury Polynices. However, Antigone, ignore the decree and follow the god's rule to bury her brother. She was trying to persuade her sister Ismene to bury their brother, but Ismene refused.

In the end, Antigone's tragedy rests in her refused to cede on her desire. Against all prohibitions and without any just cause, she will bury her brother to the point of her own death. As we learn in her confrontation with Creon, this insistence on her desire locates her in a line of tragic heroes. In refusing to cede it, she moves outside the human community. She thought the death would be a glory. She said "I will lie with the one I love and loved by him-an outrage sacred to the gods! I have longer to please the dead than please the living here."

Antigone was killed by Creon because she against the rules. Creon not meant to kill Antigone, but he has his own rule, and he needs to use that rule to regulate his people. This is a tragedy, because the upper level god's rule and the lower level human rule exist at the same time. It is hard to find the balance how to obey both of them.