After reading Rabindranath Tagore’s “Punishment”, I immediately made a connection to Feng Menglong’s “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”. Both pieces of work show a similar issue of utilizing the protagonist’s wife as a mean of resolution of an obstacle. Not only are the wives willingly to aid their husbands in overcoming of the hardship, but they go further into choosing death with the feeling of betrayal from their husbands.
In “Punishment”, in trying to protect Chidam’s brother, Dukhiram’s incident of killing his wife out of rage, “Chidam asked Chandara to take the blame on herself. She was dumbfounded. He reassured her: “Don’t worry – if you do what I tell you, you’ll be quite safe” (895). On the other hand, in Feng’s piece, the young master named Li Jia listens to a stranger’s advice and asks his wife Du Tenth to go with another man. “He has it in mind to take you in for one thousand taels. With that thousand taels I will have a pretext on which to call on my parents, and you, my dear benefactress, will also have someone to rely on, but I cannot bear to give up the affection I feel for you” (514). Both Chidam and Li Jia chose to capitulate their wives in order to prevail over obstacles.
The wives of each work also show similarities. Although both the wives are being used as a mean to attain a goal, the wives did not complain and did what has been asked. As Du Tenth said to Li Jia, “The man who devised this plan for you is truly a great hero. The fortune of the thousand taels will enable you to restore your position in your family, and I will go to another man so as not to be a burden to you” (514). With the exceptions of them after helping their husbands out of the hardships, they choose to die as they feel betrayed by their husbands.
Angela, I agree with you that there are some striking parallels between “Du Tenth” and “Punishment.” You are right to observe that in both texts, the male protagonists show their willingness to use their wives/lovers as a means to an end. One area that I would challenge you to think more deeply about, however, is how the women respond to this treatment. You say that they go along with it, but then correctly point out that both women choose death. You need to integrate their deaths into your understanding of how they respond to the way they’ve been treated. What does the fact that both women would rather die than submit to the plan their husband/lover has laid out for them mean?