17 thoughts on “Blog Post #3: Brainstorming for Comparative Analysis”

1. Tartuffe and Life of a Sensuous Woman

   One theme that these two texts deal with is the indulging of pleasure. However, since these stories have different contexts, the characters have different uses, intentions and reactions to this concept. For instance, in Tartuffe. indulging in pleasure is seen as sinful and out of line. The main character himself, Tartuffe, seeks pleasure in a discrete manner because of how shamed upon it is in that society. He pretends to be a man of faith in order to hide his real intentions. That also goes to show how one is using the exact reason, religion, he cannot engage in these lustful desires as a cover up. In Life of a Sensuous Woman, sexual desires are placed onto woman since it is the norm and it is impossible for them to break away from this norm. The main character has many experiences where she engages in intimate moments with other men. However, what these two stories have in come in regard to the theme is the outcome of indulging in too much pleasure. In Tartuffe, he ends up getting arrested and is frowned upon. In Life of a Sensuous Woman, all the men that had sexual relations with the main character end up dying. Perhaps both of these stories are trying to tell us that overindulging can end badly.

2. Two texts that I think have themes that relate are “The Discourse on Method” by Rene Descartes and “Life of a Sensuous Woman” by Ihara Saikaku. The Cartesian turn refers to the separation of the mind and the body. Genji sleeps with more than 500,000 men in “Life of a Sensuous Woman.” This would generally be considered immoral behavior. However, if you consider it in terms of the mind-body split what she does with her body has nothing to do with her mind. Rene Descartes says that you must discover your own truth. The method for this is to: never accept anything as true; divide difficulties; organize ideas by simple to difficult; double check order. Genji challenged the idea that a woman being sensuous is immoral. Genji does not accept as true the idea that indulgence in sexual pleasure is immoral. She divides the difficulties because although she does not like to sleep with all these men, she does it to satisfy her needs of power, companionship and money. I think she organizes the ideas from simple to difficult because she knows that she does not like to do what she does, but she needs to fulfil her needs. I think she decided that it was best for her to sleep with the men to keep her companionship, power, and money. I think in the case of Genji, the mind and the body are truly separate. The case can be made that she is not immoral. She has reason. She rejects the ideas presented to her by society and she analyzes her facts and situation. Genji acts according to her own reality.

3. There are two significant themes that bind these two stories together. Tartuffe written by Moliere and The Sufferings of Young Werther written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe both share distinct themes of love and social class. Each story depicts the protagonist or a main character having a feeling of intimacy for another character. In both cases the feelings don’t only display love but specifically a forbidden love. In the case of Tartuffe the title character Tartuffe is secretly in love with his friend Orgon’s wife. This is similar to Werther’s love for Lotte in The Sufferings of Young Werther. Another theme shared by both stories is the theme of social class. Social class is displayed in Tartuffe when the maid Dorine is talked down on by Madame Pernelle. This same concept of social class is even shown in The Sufferings of Young Werther. However it’s more subtle. Werther observes and writes his thoughts on the peasant people and children who live in Wahlheim.

4. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Tartuffe”. Brought forth extremely thought to provoke concepts with very compelling arguments. Both works of fiction bring out an extremely dark side of the human mind that primarily deals with “sticking to what one believes regardless of how self-destructive that belief may prove”. The texts present a sharp dilemma that we as “common man” face every day. People are hesitant to know the truth and strive very hard to stay in denial. Furthermore, they continue to connect the story to real world scenarios. Even though both stories occur in different location and time, they both address a few overlapping themes and yet differ in some aspects too.
   “Choices are difficult but the right choices are impossible”. Bartleby in the “the scrivener” by Herman Melville had the choice to make. An existence created out of emptiness is no existence at all. Yet Barterlby could not change himself according to the job requirements. he chose to live exactly like the blank dry wall that he stared outside his office every day. His only sentence that he keeps saying” I prefer not to “makes him inside a circle that he doesn’t like out of it. Organ similarly had a choice to make the righteous decision. He was given many chances to change his prospective about Tartuffe. That appears clearly when his son tries to tell him about what he herds Tartuffe making verbal love to organ’s wife, but organ doesn’t believe him and even kicks him out” Be quit…. I’ll slap you if you say another word….out of my house and don’t ever come back “ . Yet he knowingly kept himself in the dark.

5. The Sufferings of a Young Werther and Bewitched

   I believe Bewitched and The Sufferings of a Young Wherther can be connected through the use of certain themes prevalent in both texts. The idea of not only love, but temptation, drives the main characters to act irrational, which leads them to undesirable situations. Not only do the character’s act unusual based on their circumstances, but they are viewed differently in comparison to the other characters in the texts, almost as outsiders. Werther decides to leave his home, mother and dear friend for the pastoral lifestyle in the countryside. His true purpose was to be by himself and paint, but instead, he falls in love with a woman in a nearby village, Charlotte. She is engaged at the time, but the two share strong feelings for one another. Eventually Werther realized that he and Lotte couldn’t be together. The pain was so agonizing, Wherther decided to take his own life. The irrationality of his behavior can be directly linked to his love for Lotte, and Werther states in the text that she is the reason he’s committing suicide. Similarly, Toyo-o in Bewitched also finds himself in a predicament because of love and temptation. Toyo-o is looked down upon by his family and others for not having the ideal attributes men in their society typically have. Toyo-o meets a beautiful woman who eventually reveals herself as a devil. Toyo-o is blinded by the love he has for her to realize the evil being she truly is. Through both texts, we can see that love can have an effect on a character that can make them act irrational.

6. Tartuffe and bewitched brings in light the manner in which deception is used in order to fulfill the pleasure complex. The moral from these stories seem to be “not everything is as it seems”. Tartuffe and devil both take on appearances of highly desirable members of society, of course in the higher caste. The way they speak and are able to convince their audience is a powerful attribute both stories share. Both stories also have a divide between the physical world and the spirit world. Tartuffe uses religion (spiritual) in order to convey and deceive those around him; similarly, the devil uses the spirit world as it jumps bodies of attractive female to seduce To-yo. This art of deception is the art of seduction. Tartuffe and the devil are seducing forces that feed of the weak. I believe these stories portray who are the weak. The weak are those who are young and innocent. Innocence is bliss, but at the same time makes us weak, such a To-yo and those who are religious followers. Religion in itself is a form of control and manipulation to give the head of the religious organization the power he needs to have full control of the people. Who decides what is right or wrong…religion…and who decides what is right or wrong in religion…God… or in other words, Tartuffe!

7. Bewitched VS Bartleby, the Scrivener

   Work in progress thesis: both in Ueda Akinari’s short story, Bewitched and in Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener, the protagonists face the challenge of following the norms in society and have authority figures, someone of a higher power, to try and guide them back with the rest of the crowd. However, Bartleby was not successful while Toyo-o was. This is seen through various power struggles between authoritative figures and the protagonists.

   The challenge for Toyo-o was his inability to become the masculine figure everyone wanted him to be while for Bartleby, it was his rebellion of following the rules from his boss and from living what was considered a normal life, he wasn’t really living the “correct” way.

   The authority figures (not sure if authority is the word I’m looking for but it’s generally people with power) that I had in mind in Bewitched were Toyo-o’s parents and their attitude towards their son, they weren’t happy with him primarily because he wasn’t behaving as though he was a man of the house like his older brother. Manago and the priest would also be the ones who push Toyo-o to become the man society wants him to be because it is the only way to get rid of Manago.

   For Bartleby, the person in power would have to be his boss, the narrator, as well as society in general since he was later put into jail for not listening. I believe that Bartleby’s emotions got the best of him after spending some time at the dead letters place. His soul was crushed and he no longer continue on with life. He started off following the rules and ended up not trying at all. In Bewitched, Toyo-o also lets his emotions get the best of him in the beginning when he falls in love with Manago. Can emotions be considered an authority figure or something along the lines since it’s powerful??

8. Tartuffe written by Moliere
   Sufferings of Young Werther written by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

   Both texts, Tartuffe by Moliere and Sufferings of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe are both share a dominate theme of love. In both texts, the author supplies the main character with a feeling of hidden love for another character or role-player in the play. In Tartuffe, we find Tartuffe to be in love with the wife of Orgon. In the same way, Werther in The Sufferings of Young Werther finds love for Charlotte. Werther finds himself in the place where he prefers to be alone but shortly falls in love with Charlotte. Werther is told how Werther is engaged meanwhile Werther and Charlotte have feelings for one another. Later on in the text, Werther mentions Charlotte is his main reason for committing suicide as he is not able to have Charlotte to himself.

9. The two texts that I have selected is Tartuffe by Moliere and Bewitched by Ueda Akinari. I believe that the two texts are similar in that both texts are based on using others to pleasure themselves and showing the readers what happens when you try to use others for their own good. In Tartuffe, Orgon believes that Tartuffe is the greatest man ever to live and thinks that whatever he does and says is the right thing. Tartuffe knows that Orgon is willing to do anything for him so he uses this in order to “satisfy” his needs. However, Moliere shows that you need to pay the price when you use someone for your pleasure as Tartuffe is arrested at the end of the story for what he has done to Orgon and his family. Something similar is shown in Bewitched as Manago uses Toyo-o to gain what she wants. Manago is able to take advantage of Toyo-o because he deeply falls in love with her and is blinded by love to not notice the evil in Manago, when in fact, she is actually a demon and later on torments Toyo-o’s wife as well. Akinari also shows what eventually happens at the end as Manago pays the price for what she has done as it leads to her death. Another thing I’ve found that is similar in both texts is the use of religion. In Tartuffe, Tartuffe uses religion to control Orgon saying that what he does is the right thing and will bring forgiveness, as the same is done in Bewitched because demons are a form of religious figures and Akinari uses that to show how it manipulates the mind of others

10. Two texts that I am utilizing for comparison is Candide by Voltaire and Bartleby, the Scrivener by Henry Melville. Both of these stories deal with human nature. Candide meets a scholar he befriends who states, I have scarcely seen one town which did not wish to destroy its neighboring town, no family which did not wish to exterminate some other family. Everywhere the weak loathe the powerful, before whom they cringe, and the powerful treat them like brute cattle, to be sold for their meat and fleece. In a city which seem to enjoy peace and where the arts are flourishing, men are devoured by more envy, cares, and anxieties than a whole town experiences under siege (Voltaire, p. 389). This statement explains how human nature is not tolerant of differences and how jealousy can destroy people.
    Bartleby is a thin, quiet man that works on Wall Street as a scribe. He is quiet, does not eat, works diligently and often can be found simply staring at a brick wall outside of his window. His employer is a hardworking man, tolerant, and understanding of his staff. Bartleby is not easy to understand. When asked to do a task other than copying, he states “I would prefer not to”. He does not speak to the others and is basically a hermit. This leaves his boss curious and angry at the same time. Bartleby’s boss is angered by the same response over and over and the lack of participation for other aspects of the job, yet he also recognizes that he is self-assured in refusing to do what he does not want to do. Bartleby does not cave in to societal norms. In the end Bartleby is sent to the Tombs. He refuses to eat. His boss pays a man to prepare meals for Bartleby. In the end his boss finds him dead in the yard of the Tombs. Bartleby did not change in his manner for society. – Andrew Valladares

11. Life of a Sensuous Woman by Ihara Saikaku and Tartuffe by Jean- Baptiste Poquelin.

    Both text have similarities that people have flaws, make mistakes and do everything for their advantage. Organ is almost destroying his family by believing everything the clergyman Tartuffe tells him even though the rest of his family is telling him that Tartuffe is an evil man. Organ’s flaws is his weakness to believe that Tartuffe is a bad person who is trying to destroy his life and sleep with his wife. He takes it so far that he abandons his own son. Also, Tartuffe is pretending to be someone who he is not. Tartuffe is trying to take everything away what Organ has even his family. In Life of a Sensuous Woman she is having affairs at an early age and she lost her virginity without even being married which is against the norm in that time. She is sleeping with a lot of men and destroying families therefore. She also is pretending to be a monk because she wants learn how to do an abortion. Her flaws are seen through the whole story by pretending to be someone else in order to stay alive. In both text we can see similarities how these characters are trying to be someone else to get what they want. They are so determined that they don’t care if others will suffer because of their actions.

12. Tartuffe by Moliere and Bewitched by Ueda Akinari

    The two text I will focus on, and compare and contrast are Tartuffe by Moliere and Bewitched by Ueda Akinari. I will be focused on Manipulation and how it was a common theme on both of them but used in different aspects and to accomplish different things. In Tartuffe, tartuffe manipulated Orgon into thinking he is a very religious man that will do no harm and everything he does is right because he follows God’s act. While in Bewitched Manago uses Toyo-o through love and manipulate him into falling in love with her at all cost. However, the fact that both Tartuffe and Manago used manipulation to accomplish their goal, their intention were different, and a way they used manipulation were different. Manago manipulated Toyo-o with her lovely beauty, while Tartuffe manipulated his master, Orgon, with his knowledge of religion.

13. The two texts I’ve chosen for my comparative analysis are Bartleby, the Scrivener by Melville and Confessions by Rousseau.
    In Bartleby, we have a character that doesn’t say much and whenever he does is to decline to do what he’s told by answering, “I would prefer not to”, while in Confessions, the narrator is someone who isn’t afraid of sharing his thoughts despite the fact that some of them might be inappropriate. In Bartleby however the narrator is the employer of this scrivener who is describing everything happening from an outside perspective because we don’t know exactly what’s going on in Bartleby’s head. However both main characters in each story are very much affected by previous life experiences, which can explain the reason for their being or their actions. Bartleby’s depression; one of the themes in the story, comes from him having previously worked in the Dead Letter Offices, while in Confessions, Rousseau expresses his actions which are often morally wrong in order to make us understand that by nature he is essentially a good person; we can see this in the part where he placed the blame on Marion about the stolen ribbon in which he argues that the reason for this is because he is afraid of shame. If perhaps in Bartleby the lawyer and the reader could have known from the beginning that the reason for him being depressed and unable to perform as a regular employee was from him working in the Dead Letter Office then the lawyer could’ve understood that what Bartleby was going through was something bigger than him just not wanting to work and then he wouldn’t have abandoned him and who knows, maybe Bartleby wouldn’t have died.

14. The Discourse on Method by Rene Descartes and What is Enlightenment by Immanuel Kant. These two readings go hand in hand, Descartes mentioned never to accept anything as true and to conduct one’s thoughts in order. “I think, therefore I am” was one of his initial ways of breaking the thinking of the world and he started to develop his own conscious opinion. Armed with the thoughts and passion of self-improvement. In The Discourse of Method, Descartes methods were to attain truth. He was discouraged with the knowledge he sought. In his quest, he developed methods to acquire wisdom. He rid himself of the opinions of others and learned through his experiences in life, which changed his thought patterns and redeveloped his individual free thinking mind. Immanuel Kant’s What is Enlightenment immediately breaks into man’s inability to think for himself. I found this read to be quite intriguing. Sapere Aude “Have Courage to use your own reason”, as powerful as it may be, many of us find ourselves following the norms of society and instead of our free will thinking. As Kant has stated, we have found ourselves slavishly following the opinion of others rather than having the courage to seek truth for self. From birth we have been taught to think, how to live or respond in a situation without questioning why. Having been dependent on everyone else, We were taught what is considered right or wrong. We have been programmed and misled for decades without questioning anything that crosses our path. Kant was big on using critical thinking ability to find truth in order to hold ourselves accountable. Free thought, equals free thinking, which leads to Enlightenment.

15. The stories of Tartuffe and Bewitched share an overarching idea of deception for gain. The way Manago bewitches Toyo-o is very similar to Tartuffe’s manipulation of Orgon. Both, Manago and Toyo-o, leave a facade of sorts up for display for society to witness. But it is merely a façade, rather, there is a very apparent dichotomy between their portrayed character and who they are actually. Tartuffe is supposed to be a man of God, more holy than the common man, but he is nothing more than an impostor or hypocrite. Manago plays the role of an irresistible woman in order to lure and seduce men. Its seduction of Toyo-o is very much like Tartuffe’s deceit. Later into the story of Tartuffe, Orgon seemed to be entranced and seduced by Tartufee, unable to see any sin he could possibly commit against him, his family, or commit sin at all. His family even went to go as far as to say that he was in essence in love with Tartuffe. There is also a comparison to be made for the spiritual world of Bewitched and religion of Tartuffe. As they are where the characters derived their powers from.

16. Bewitched vs. Tartuffe

    ‘Bewitched’ by Ueda Akinari and ‘Tartuffe’ by Moliere differ in many ways, by author and message, yet have a very similar theme; the one of deceiving charm in genders. Tartuffe focuses on a poor character that manipulates and charms his way to owning a house and almost stripping an entire family of their wealth. Bewitched, although very different, is also based on a character using wit to get what she wants. The two pieces have one stimulating thing in common: gender roles. The character’s sex is one of the most important parts of both stories, because both plots are based on how that character should be limited, but is not. In Tartuffe, tartuffe is a poor man with no status, no wealth and seemingly, no future. Yet, he gets “rescued” and welcomed into a home where he is idealized by a woman of high status. This makes no sense, so clearly, it is all a result of his snake-like charm. In a world where men have money, he is supposed to be limited because he is poor, but is not. In Bewitched, the main character is a woman-demon. She is rejected by her love, and is supposed to stay single and powerless as a woman, but because of her supernatural abilities and manipulation, she does not. She in fact marries the man of her dreams under a disguise and even though the truth is later revealed she still walks away with the ending she wanted. Both stories are irrational.

17. The two texts I will be using for my comparative analysis are, The Life of a Sensuous Women, and, The Sufferings of Young Werther. A theme that is prevalent in both texts is the destruction of beauty, or pleasure. Both of these characters live in what can be seen as a false reality. Both characters, Werther, and the Women, find pleasure in something that brings them pain. In the Life of a Sensuous, the women finds pleasure through her sexuality and her physical attributes. Therefore she is control of the pleasures she indulges in. However, she finds pleasure in sleeping around with countless men because doing so brings her power. She is a promiscuous women but does not truly like engaging in sexual activity. She does so because of what she can get out of it. Unlike Werther she does not commit suicide but she is still ashamed of her past when she sees all the men she slept with. In The Sufferings of Young Werther, he finds pleasure in spending time Lotte. Werther finds pleasure in spending time with Lotte because it gives him a false sense of hope. Werther, does not have the control. He is in love with Lotte but she is engaged. They both found pleasure in something that actually brought them pain. Werther ends his life for Lotte because he finally faces what he already knew since the beginning; he can’t be with Lotte. What he did was irrational because he knew from the start that they could not be together. Although both of them have a different ending, neither of them were truly content with the pleasures they encountered in their life.