Monthly Archives: September 2014

Upon first reading La Belle Dame sans Merci or The Beautiful Lady without Mercy, it is easy to interpret the story as simply that of a poor knight who falls gravely ill after falling in love with a beautiful, yet mystical woman. However, upon further examination, one might come to a vastly different conclusion: is this a story of a knight falling gravely in love with a femme fatale or is there double meaning to almost everything being said?

Much is discussed about the dualistic nature of life and existence. There is no hot without cold; there is no good without evil; there is no life without death. John Keats truly explores this idea, in both subtle ways and some not so subtle ways. In setting, the knight and the narrator are in a barren, cool autumn while the beautiful lady exists in a fertile summer haze. In health, with the narrator, the knight is ill and dying while with the la belle dame, the knight is lively and well. More abstractly, Keats uses lilies and roses, two beautiful flowers, to describe the physical appearance of the dying knight. The double entendres also, in a way, represent this duality. Is the “fragrant zone” referring simply to the flowers or rather is it a reference to la belle dame’s genital region? Is the pacing steed a horse or rather is it a crude reference to the knight’s erection?

Overall, the marriage of two opposites is necessary in order for both to exist. The knight would not know the pleasure of la belle dame without the pain he suffered through after.

Questions:
1. Does the repetition of the lines “ The sedge has withered from the lake, And no birds sing” at the start and end of the ballad further represent duality?
2. Is la belle dame a mystical woman or rather a metaphor for something else?

The theme of sexual desire is persistent throughout “The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”. Manipulation is another theme present throughout the story. As talked about in class, modernity results in a rise of manipulators and the focus of individuals and their desires.

“The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love” touches on both those prevalent themes. When Osen, old Nanny, Kyushichi, and the cooper go on their journey the men’s sexual intrigues get the best of them. “Thereafter the four of them slept in the same inn each night. Kyushichi, watching carefully for any opportunity to satisfy his secret desires…” (Saikaku 598). Throughout the night Kyushichi tries his hardest to make a pass at Osen. Of course, the cooper prevents this from happening but, “Thus the two men stood in each other’s way the whole night through” (Saikaku 598), suggests that both men tried to fulfill their sexual desires. Osen herself gave into her sexual desires when she went upstairs to join the cooper, “Upstairs she found her lover, and together they drank the cup of betrothal, pledging themselves to each other forever” (Saikaku 599).

The Nanny is the greatest manipulator in this story. She manipulates the family into thinking Osen must get married because there is a man who is supposedly “… desperately in love, so tortured by his fatal passion… He swore that within a week after his death his ghost would come to kill every member of this household” (Saikaku 594). The story Nanny told Osen, Osen believed it in its entirety. “Without further persuasion and before she had even seen him, Osen was consumed with love for this man” (Saikaku 595).

As I read “The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”, a recent and familiar story was inserted into my thought, “The Wise Neighbor” by Pu Song-Ling. In “The Wise Neighbor” Mrs.Chu was the first wife of Mr.Hung and he wedded another woman, Pao-tai. Poa-tai was an obstacle in the way of Mrs.Chu from salvaging Mr.Hung’s affection and desires towards Mrs.Chu. She wanted to fight for her primary position as Mr.Hung’s first wife.The same conflict can be detected in “The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”. In this story there are two men competing for the love of Osen, the cooper and Kyushichi. The cooper can be seen as the first “husband” because he’s the one that makes the advances towards Osen through the Old Nanny. Kysushichi can be comparable to Pao-tai because he becomes the obstacle that gets in between Osen and the cooper.
In each story there is a predictable outcome and that is easily established by the way the stories are structured. Pu Song-Ling’s story “The Wise Neighbor” structuring device comes into play chronologically (p777-779). After every one month Mrs.Chu goes back to the Mrs.Heng for the next step in winning her husband back. On the other hand in “The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”, the structuring device comes from the events from the cooper and Kyushichi (p598). While Mrs.Chu follows every order from her neighbor and gets her more of her husband’s attention, the cooper thwarts each effort of Hyushichi.
Each story has a protagonist who plays as the manipulator. The neighbor is the manipulator in “The Wise Neighbor” and the Old Nanny is the manipulator in “The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”. The neighbor uses actions to manipulate Mr.Hung’s desires and the Old Nanny uses her wise tongue to manipulate Osen’s feelings. Although the manipulation techniques are different, the result is the same.
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On another note, I found an ironies in “The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”. On page 592 the seventh paragraph from the top, the cooper states he sent Osen “…hundreds of letters…” and on page 595 the seventh paragraph from the top, Osen asks the Old Nanny “Can he write letters himself…”. It’s either Osen never got the letters or is asking if the cooper is literate.
Moreover, there are probably other ironies as well but there’s many clear cut foreshadowing. On page 592 the Old Nanny tells the cooper “…terrible things…happen to people who did wrong in this world…” and that foreshadows the event in which Osen commits adultery with Chozaemon and they both end up dieing. They become a symbol of punishment for sinning. In addition to the first instance of foreshadowing, the last paragraph of page 600 continuing on to the second paragraph on page 601 lead to the climax of Osen and Chozaemon committing adultery. The last foreshadowing comes from page 593 the last sentence right before the title. This line also can be juxtaposed to the title on page 601 “Life Is Shorter Than a Toothpick Made from Woodshavings” and this is where Osen takes her own life.