After reading Ueda Akinari’s Bewitched, I was furious at the fate of the two main characters, Toyo-o and Manago. It was unfair to have only Manago punished in the end, while Toyo-o was excused and lives a peaceful life. Although Manago, did deceive Toyo-o by concealing her true identity, she does not intend to harm Toyo-o in any way. She disguises herself as a “voluptuous” and beautiful women to attract men’s attention and find love. She did not cast a spell or bewitches Toyo-o into falling in love with her, because Toyo-o voluntarily falls in love with Manago for her beautiful appearance. However, the moment Toyo-o discovers Manago’s true identity, he chooses to betray Manago, and puts all the blame on her. I believe the only reason Toyo-o does this is not because of his fear for Manago, but because he is afraid of what society might think of him for falling in love with a demon. He blames Manago for “bewitching” him and turns himself into a helpless and innocent victim. Toyo-o is even the one who harms Manago in the end, leading to her death. The only fault Manago had was unconditionally loving an ignoble man.
Manago’s situation can be incorporated into the real world, where women are blamed for men’s wrongdoings. There have been many situations where rape victims (mostly women) are blamed for being raped, while the rapist is set free. These victims are blamed for dressing in a provocative manner, thus implicating that these victims “were asking to get raped.” While rape victims live their life in depression or fear, the rapist move on with their life and not caring about the negative impact that they have created on the victim’s life. In Akinari’s story, Toyo-o is excused from his mistake for blindly loving someone for their outer beauty, and for harming a women who only had love for him. In the end, Manago is punished and suffers because of Toyo-o wrongdoings.
– Amy Wang
This reminds me of traditional Chinese society where women are blamed for not being able to have children (sometimes it might be men’s fault but they totally neglect it). When a husband if not faithful, people blame the wife for not being able to hold his heart.
Coming back to the story “Bewitched”, I admit I didn’t feel sympathy towards Toyo-o because he only loved Manago for her looks not her personality. If she was to harm Toyo-o, she would’ve done it a long time ago, don’t have to wait till her cover is blown.