Manago, the Temptress or the Bewitched?
Before the story begins we are given a basic background of the author, Ueda Akinari, and some information about Japanese culture. We are also told that the reason this story is so thrilling is because of the melding of reality and illusion, however this “illusion” is referring to the monster known as Manago and her otherworldly quality. I don’t like this reasoning because in Shinto beliefs these monsters aren’t illusions but another part of reality; so I want to throw this idea out the window and, instead, question who is the one who is actually bewitched in this story.
It seems obvious, at first, that it is the mythical monster that is the one bewitching others, but what does the word bewitched mean or insinuate? To bewitch someone is to gain control over that person with magic. It’s true that Manago uses something akin to magic by transforming a run down manor into a beautiful an inviting mansion, but besides this one incident, she doesn’t use any magic to actually change Toyo-o’s feelings and views of her. In fact, what she does to win his favor is quite normal for a Japanese girl. She ingratiates herself to win the acceptance and favor of his family through her actions and words. The only other “magic” she uses is the transformation into a giant snake and the possession of Toyo-o’s human wife, Tomiko. She never once casts a spell or use her powers to directly influence Toyo-o. On the other hand Toyo-o is constantly hiring others to cast spells on her; the humans end up enacting more magic than Manago.
Another case could be made that her beauty is bewitching. It’s true that she is a “voluptuous” and beautiful woman, but the same can be said about Toyo-o; he is called a “handsome youth” – equally bewitching characteristics. Also, the last I checked, someone who is bewitched doesn’t usually run, let alone realize they are bewitched; yet Toyo-o is constantly running in fear and trying to kill Manago. That doesn’t make sense to me. If he were truly bewitched he’d be chasing after her the same way she is chasing after him. He’d want her all to himself, the same way she tries to keep him her’s. Rather than saying bewitched, I’d rather use the term cursed to describe Toyo-o’s situation, while it is Manago who has been bewitched by Toyo-o and has fallen madly in love with him.
In the end I couldn’t really call this a scary story. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Manago in the end. Toyo-o was the one to initiate the relationship between the two and is ready to love her, but the instant he finds out she’s not human he does a one-eighty. Manago on the other hand has always known that they were two different beings but is still willing to love him, and we know she means it from her overly attached actions and her constant wish to be his wife. She even says it near the very beginning of the story in Toyo-o’s dream (very frequently dreams are used as a means to communicate between spirit world and the human world in Japanese culture). Besides the very start and end of the story, Manago acts like a normal girl. I also don’t understand how a scary story just let’s the main character get away so cleanly; usually they die or are so traumatized their life is ruined.
Sorry for the length of this response, and if it’s hard to understand. There’s a lot I wanted to say but I just can’t seem to articulate it all very clearly.
Also really quickly:
She is a white snake. White snakes are symbols of luck and longevity in Japan so it’s a bit strange for a white snake to be viewed as something so ominous and unwanted.
8 responses so far
Hello, well I think your insight on Japanese culture is very interesting however, I do think this story could have been a bit frightening to the readers of the day. In this day and age we are very desensitized to scary stories- being that we are constantly exposed to such things. However, during this time and in a society where it was believed something like this could happen, the whole concept of the story would have been frightening.
What I found particularly scary was the relentlessness of the demon. Manago not only sought out Toyo-o, but refused to let him go. She fed into to his desires, and created an image for herself that no one can resist. In addition, every time Toyo-o tried to move on with his life, Manago was there to stop him.
I do understand that Toyo-o was the one to formally initiate the relationship- but didn’t Manago coerce him into doing so. She transformed into a beautiful woman, created a heart wrenched sob story, and also used her “powers” of illusions to enhance this performance. So I find the idea of Manago frightening, being that someone (even a demon) would go through those lengths just in order to ruin someones life.
I completely agree that it would have been scary at the time. The wrath and vengeance of a woman was already considered very scary during the time, add the fact that she’s not human to that and its even worse. I was just saying that I personally couldn’t find it very scary.
Although I disagree with your point that she is trying to ruin his life. At the start I think she sincerely just wanted to live with the man she loved. I think that she only started to try to ruin his life after his attempts at running and exorcising her pushed her off the edge.
This really does raise a good question, as you said Derick, who is actually bewitched? On the one hand we have a young man falling for a beautiful woman, yet we also have a young woman falling for a handsome man.
The only difference being that Toyo-o was initially under the impression that Manago was in fact a woman but Manago knew all along that she was not a human like Toyo-o. So I think one could argue that there was some deception going on from Manago’s side. Whereas at the beginning Toyo-o was really innocent (I mean going back to pick up his umbrella that he lent her – what a nice guy!). Manago also knew that he got in trouble for being accused of stealing the valuable gifts from the shrine (which she gave him) and when he confronted her about this she came up with some long-winded explanation. It’s as if you can’t even trust someone’s motive to give you a gift! Another example of deception in my opinion.
As the story unfolded, I really began to feel sorry for Toyo-o, who was constantly being followed by Manago. I remember when she appeared as Tomiko and said “..it is easy for me to spatter your blood from the highest peak to the valley below”. Now some may argue that this is love but to me this is not the kind of love I would want or wish upon anyone else. I think it was fitting when the author called Maroya “the devil’s maid” because I really do think that Manago was a devil.
Derick I think you’ve got some really great points! I found it intriguing how you said “someone who is bewitched doesn’t usually run, let alone realize they are bewitched.” While reading this, that thought had not even crossed my mind, but I couldn’t agree more! Someone who is truly under a spell, would not know it. Maybe it is after all, its Toyo-o that is bewitching Manago. She clearly is infatuated by him and goes great lengths to be with him.
However, I do think this story is scary! As I was reading this alone in my room tonight, the part where the priest gets killed by the snake gave me the chills. Reading abut demons and spirits from another world could easily frighten a lot of people.
I want to point out the closing lines of the story. It seemed so blunt and abrupt. She became ill and died, and he lived a long and healthy life. This makes me think of the sexist connotations that we’ve been discussing, that women are associated with lust and evil. This innocent woman dies when she did no wrong. Its as if the author pities men for being tortured by women’s beauty and lust, that in this story, he overcomes it, defeats it, and triumphs as he remains fully alive and well.
I feel an urge to respond to this story. Actually this story is a re-write version of chinese story ” White Snake”. It is considered a very successful re-write work. The story fully absorbs the essence of the original work. but at the same time, the author greatly combines its local customs and culture into this new works, and makes it a great works.
I do not feel this story scary partially because of the original work ” White snake”. I was preoccupied by the notion that white snake represents truth, beauty, and kindness as she was portrayed. and in ” bewitched”, the white snake obvious does not represent those characteristics. rather, she is devil, a vicious woman.
Given the main difference that how they portray this white snake. Actually, i feel sorry about the snake in bewitched because after Toyo-o finds out Manago is a snake and he stop liking her and even want to kill her. I believe Manago follows Toyo-o constantly not simply because Toyo-o is handsome, but because she loves him.
However, the sad part is that after Toyo-o finds out Manago is a snake and he stops loving her, and even want to kill her. i am thinking what if Toyo-o still loves her after he finds out she is a white snake? what if Toyo-o did not go after Manago after this meet? would any of these change the ending?
Ah Derick, the story did the same to me! At some point, I felt like my sympathy for Toyo-o did a one-eighty and went to Manago–mostly likely after the old man’s (Tagima no Kibito’s) appearance. Toyo-o’s doubts of Manago, which after a year is said to have been erased, suddenly re-surfaced with even greater intensity, as if “Now nothing could separate them even for a day, for such was the intensity of their tender love for each other” (642) is fictitious. In response to your question, by the end of the tale, I really felt that Manago is the one who is bewitched.
The part about a curse or a evil spirit ceaselessly lurking (in this case, the white snake) after one target is indeed scary. But, I thought (and really felt it on P.645 when I realized Tomiko is Manago) what’s really frightening in this tale is the possessive love that you can’t shake off, be it of a person or spirit. Toyo-o and the readers know how dangerous Manago can be, the inclusion that she could (is) also a spirit only increases the anxiety and tension. It is then natural to want to run away… But that moment when we realized that it is impossible to do so, we begin to feel true despair. The effect is even more prominent because Manago can be viewed as a real woman. As I recalled in the introduction, “If jealousy can transform a woman into a serpent, he says, the love can turn a serpent into a woman” (630), this tale was Akinari’s way of transforming a serpent into a woman through love. I thought he did especially well in doing so as Derick, you had pointed out that Manago’s actions are akin to that of a real woman, aside from the illusions she has performed. Therefore, I thought of Manago ever more as a girl than a spirit as I read.
It’s interesting that Manago’s true form is a white snake. After some thoughts, I feel like it is appropriate and coincides with what Akinari is trying to do. As Steven and Derek mentioned, a white snake represents something positive and good in nature, such as, taking Steven’s words, “truth, beauty and kindness.” I never read or thought of Manago’s actions and words as vicious or cruel but as pure in nature. Strictly from her perspective, whatever she has done, she did it as an attempt to win Toyo-o’s love–in other words, simply a maiden in love. Specifically, I thought of it when she handed Toyo-o the glittering sword. I read it as her wanting to make an impression to Toyo-o to take a greater interest in her, without the intention of putting him in jail. Consequently, I thought that her tears when she reunited with Toyo-o after a year is what she really felt. It is as she has said after she possessed Tomiko, that if she wanted, she could have easily killed Toyo-o whenever, but has not done so at all in their year living together.
I was saddened when her hopes to be with Toyo-o was extinguished by her lover’s hands.
You make a delightfully interesting insight into the story by bringing up the potential connotations behind “bewitched,” which is important because its meaning can easily get muddled behind the more supernatural or horrific elements in play here. Like you said, Manago’s only uses of magic were in the transformation of the house, the transformation into the snake, and the possession of Tomiko’s body. (It’s strange that her magic is only shown to have powers of manipulation and shapeshifting, no?) If we are to take the title into account – “Bewitched” – then you’re right, it’s a lot harder to suggest that Toyo-o was bewitched by Manago. After all, the only “magic” she used to make him fall in love with her was… nothing.
Nothing that is, other than a certain type of magic that Akinari may be warning against: outright physical attraction with nothing else to show for it. The first things we learn about Toyo-o are that he’s attractive and kind of a dunce. Manago is described first by her physical beauty, and it’s noted that “Toyo-o felt instantly attracted to her,” (633). At least on Toyo-o part, this is a relationship built on lust more than anything else, and the fact that Toyo-o takes Manago back after the first ghostly incident is a testament to his lustful behavior – her only explanation for her disappearance is that she ran away after quickly destroying a huge house, and then having her maid simulate a thunderstorm; and he somehow believes her?
I feel like Toyo-o is indeed the one who’s truly “bewitched,” but he’s bewitched by the magic of beauty.
When I started reading the story, I thought it was very similar to a Chinese tale of two snakes, one white and the other green, that turned into beautiful maidens to seduce men. There were different versions of the tale. In some stories, the White snake falls in love with a certain man and the love for the man turns her to the good side. In other stories, she is evil and she takes the life energy of the man that she seduces.
I have to disagree with you, Derek, on the point that you believe Manago was bewitched by Toyo-o because Manago can choose any type of human form and she chose to be a beautiful maiden. I believe there was an attraction on both sides. But the word “bewitched” has a sense of magic and Manago has magic on her side. Through her use of magic, Manago did bewitch Toyo-o. I might think this way because I grew up with this story that always has the white snake with the magical power to transform into a beautiful woman to seduce men.
I felt sorry for Toyo-o through out the whole story. Toyo-o went to prison for a few years because of the gift from Manago and in the process he also brought shame to his family. All he wanted was to get away from all the madness and have a normal life. But Manago kept on chasing after him. Manago even took over Toyo-o’s new wife’s body to be with Toyo-o; Manago harmed an innocent woman to be with Toyo-o. Toyo-o’s lack of magical power puts him at a disadvantage as he tries to get away from Manago. I thought it was unfair for Tomiko to died when she had no active role in this story and Toyo-o went on to live a normal life.