In our short time together we have really focused on the theme of Reason and more specifically how very complicated it can be to define what Reason is in any given context. We looked at Kant and Descartes who created a very specific philosophical vision of Universal Reason meant to fuel the Enlightenment. This gave us a lot of pros and cons to think about ( think about the double edged sword of Enlightenment). We also looked at those who have critiqued this reason (Moliere, Akinari)
One of the results of this kind of Universal Reason (or even of the Mind/Body split) is the creation of many binaries. Good/Evil; Feminine/Masculine; Strong/Weak; Naive/Experienced; Pessimism/Optimism; Religious beliefs/ Secular beliefs (there are many more). This week for your first blog post, I would like you to very informally discuss what you think happens when these binaries break down (as they do in the case of every text we have read thus far).
I want you to think of literature as an experimental space where we can think about the blurring of lines and the breakdown of two distinct types of thought that aim to dismiss anything that doesn’t categorically fit.
Please choose one of the texts and write 250 words or more (but don’t get too crazy!) about a binary- of your choosing- that is being questioned. Tell me how the binary is being questioned..and what this means for the meaning of the text as a whole. This is informal and meant to be a brainstorming activity for you. However, I expect you to write something thoughtful and engage with the texts.
Please post your response as a comment to this post. All responses are due Sunday February 12th by 5 p.m.
See you next week!
February 12, 2017 at 12:21 am
One binary that I first noticed is the strong and weak side of the main character, Toyo-o. Men in the past were often portrayed as people who were strong in terms of having wealth, power, strength, etc. At first, Ueda Akinari introduced Toyo-o as a weak man who could not compare to his brother, Taro. Therefore, Tayo-o did not show any characteristics of what a man should have been. This weak side of Toyo-o was further shown when he was questioned by his family of where he acquired the glittering sword. For example, Toyo-o’s mother responded, “Everything in this house – food, money, goods – belongs to Taro … But if you were to incur Taro’s displeasure, I am afraid that you have no place in the whole world to go and live” (pg. 637). Akinari portrayed a strong man in this story as someone who embraced the code of Bushido (samurais) and also those that were wealthy. Although Taro may not have been the wealthiest, but he was the wealthiest in his family and Toyo-o was neither of those. In addition, Toyo-o became very scared and started to cry when he saw Maroya at the Tanabe store because he assumed that Mango and Maroya were devils. These actions did not seem befitting of someone that was strong but it is understandable that when one sees the supernatural, that they are struck in fear. However, Akinari started giving Toyo-o characteristics of a strong person towards the end of the story such as leaving his sister’s home so that Toyo-o does not involve them in this situation. Toyo-o was even more so, when he was willing to sacrifice himself in order to not involve Tomiko and his family in the bewitching.
The binary of the strong and weak is thrown away when one faces something very unexpected or have never seen before. One example would be where the crowd was frightened when they heard there was a devil in the store. Because it was unexpected as well as something that was not often seen, the characteristics of being strong or being weak were not clearly shown throughout the whole text. In other words, there is no definite separation of strong or weak when facing together in the same type of situation because everyone would act in the same way as expected.
February 12, 2017 at 9:56 am
A binary discussed in “Tartuffe” seems to be the comparison between actions and motives shown by figures with religious zeal and people who are more secular. Of course, because humans are imperfect, this binary can never be seen in real life in perfect situations as with any other comparisons between two sides of a quality. But in general, people expect to see others who describe themselves as “religiously zealous” to show the learned virtues such as kindness, humility, and others as opposed to characteristics of vice such as lust, greed, etc. Tartuffe obviously is portrayed as the component of the story that breaks such “religious vs. secular” binary standards.
In the play, the character Tartuffe is meant to be a religiously devout man, free from secular desires. Of course, characters such as Dorine are able to see Tartuffe’s true nature and despise him. However, some characters cannot see through him such as Orgon or Madame Pernelle. When Dorine challenges Orgon on page 158, saying “Could it be your reasoning has a flaw – Choosing a beggar for a son-in-law”, Orgon angrily replies “The grandeur in his life comes from devotion To the eternal, thus his great emotion” when really, Tartuffe’s real “devotion” is to the materialistic possessions that the simple-minded Orgon is seemingly offering to him to take. When Tartuffe’s true nature is shown, matters become truly ugly as Tartuffe even attempts to take away all of Orgon’s possessions and tries to have him imprisoned. Tartuffe isn’t just imperfect as a human being, but he is deliberately malicious and hypocritical. Tartuffe shows no compassion to the person who gave him a new life or any sign of regret and repentance when his true self is discovered, leaving even Orgon with no doubt that Tartuffe is twisted.
The binary of religious devotion vs. secular greed actually existed back in Moliere’s day, and he attempted to show that there are people who break that binary through the character Tartuffe. Perhaps through Tartuffe, Moliere wanted to suggest to the general public of the time (who for the most part acted like Orgon in believing in the outer appearances of religious figures) that they should be careful of people who claim to be holy men and more importantly, what may happen if religious hypocrites are discovered.
February 12, 2017 at 1:33 pm
In Tartuffe, we get to see a very obvious binary being discussed with humor. Moliere wanted to bring more attention to the irony and hypocrisy that the Catholic Church conducts themselves with. The binary that we begin to break down is religion vs. human nature. As soon as Tartuffe starts demonstrating actions and thoughts that a common folk would have, he is seen as an absolute hypocrite. Since he is part of the Catholic Church, he is expected to conduct himself in a certain way. He thoughts should be limited to those of prayer, chastity, kindness and overall goodliness. In the play “Tartuffe,” being in between this binary is looked down upon. A prime example of human nature being describes here is the fact that Orgon is blind to the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. It is only human nature to believe in something that is considered to have an extraordinary amount of power over you. Being born into this environment left little space for reason in Orgon’s mind. He is so used to following Tartuffe blindly, that he becomes unable to see the lack of sincerity in Tartuffe. Both sides here are ridiculed greatly by Moliere. The stark difference between both of these people is outstanding. The mere fact that one can constantly fool the other is bewildering, as you get further into the play. Moliere does a great job at showing how lighthearted a regular commoner can be and how evil a religious man can be. You would expect a religious pastor to be tied to the church and have severe limitations for his action and then the person who has no affiliation to the church be free to act as he pleases, yet in this case it is the complete opposite.
February 12, 2017 at 2:05 pm
There are two binaries I noticed in the short story Bewitched, by Ueda Akinari. One plays with the idea of retribution and pardoning of the main characters as a result of their actions. The other is on gender roles and the idea of male superiority. Manago, portrayed as the opponent throughout the play for her “bewitching of Toyo-o,” is constantly referenced as evil. The old man that Toyo-o meets at the waterfall says “that devil is a really a huge old serpent—a lecherous monster…Its evil attachment to its victims is so tenacious that you must constantly be on your guard…” (page 644). Because Manago is seen as so perilous, she is faced with retribution in the end, with priests performing incantations to abolish her spirit. On the other hand, Toyo-o is seen as the victim, and his sister, “pitying him on one hand, and dreading thr evil tenacity of that devil on the other,” (page 644) let him stay with her. However, it is for Toyo-o’s vulnerability and lack of astuteness to see Manago’s ridiculous stories as plausible explanations. This lack of sense that Toyo-o possesses continues to bring more trouble to not only himself, but to the others around him, like his wife Tomiko. Tomiko, although exorcised in the end, dies of illness due to the horrific experience. While the female characters face unfortunate consequences in the end, Toyo-o is pardoned for his seemingly foolish decisions and actions. In fact, Toyo-o “suffered no ill effects but lived a long and healthy life” (page 648). Not only do fates of these characters reveal who was pardoned or placed in retribution, but it shows that the unfair line between these two fates can be a result of gender and male superiority.
February 12, 2017 at 3:04 pm
While reading and analyzing Tartuffe by Moliere, I noticed an obvious distance that Tartuffe has to rationality. In his mind, it appears that he conjures up his own morals to preach, lines to cross, and sins to commit (even when the majority of his ‘rational justification’ for these misconducts contradicts the Bible—a book that any priest should know well). Despite his preaching and outward persona both being laughable and contrived, Tartuffe manages to manipulate the most prosperous character in the play. Within this manipulation, Tartuffe manages to alter Orgon’s emotional side and rid him of any rationality. Orgon tends to respond emotionally to each situation; whether it is with anger, joy, frustration, or disbelief, Orgon overreacts throughout the play. His brother-in-law, Cleante, is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Moliere uses Cleante’s constant rationality and Orgon’s emotional nature to exemplify how one can think before acting and not suffer the same consequences as someone who responds before thinking.
Cleante consistently reacts rationally, and provides a rational analysis of the situations at hand. Orgon, however, continues to act emotionally. He places all of his emotions in Tartuffe’s hands when he follows the manipulative priest. In the scene where Elmire pretends to seduce Tartuffe as a mean to exploit him, Cleante and Orgon react quite differently. After Tartuffe’s true intentions are highlighted, Orgon immediately confronts Tartuffe’s behavior. By responding emotionally, Tartuffe is placed on the defensive and uses Orgon’s secrets to punish Orgon’s sudden turn on the priest. However, Cleante—the voice of reason and rationality—wants Orgon to stay calm, “It seems to me we should deliberate,/Meet, plan, and have some family talks” (5.1.3-4). In this binary of a rational versus emotional characteristics, Moliere breaks down the consequences. Cleante, the embodiment of rationality, is able to see through Tartuffe’s strategy. He thinks before he speaks, and analyzes the situation at hand to provide an effective and constructive response. Yet emotional Orgon fails to be rational and instead responds emotionally. In Tartuffe, and through this binary, I left with the idea that we should be hesitant to first think with our capricious emotions. Instead, we should have an element of rational thinking in our decisions so we are not subjects of those who are able to grab and influence our emotions.
February 12, 2017 at 3:31 pm
Molière’s play Tartuffe centers around religion and uses satire to present the church’s power during the 17th century. The play is driven by the characters who question the ideals of femininity and masculinity. During the 17th century, women were thought of being incapable of reason and were to live in their private sphere. A private sphere that limited them to sensuous education. Molière has created a dynamic play that doesn’t limit characters to their molds. Each character has the ability to fit in both binaries, challenging the ideals of femininity and masculinity. The female characters of Dorine and Elmire challenge the ideas of reasoning and free thought. They challenge the ideals of feminity through their reasoning and ability to see through Tartuffe’s hypocrisy. While the main protagonist Orgon, a masculine figure is fooled by Tartuffe due to his lack of reason.
The main protagonist Orgon showcases his masculinity by forcing his daughter Marine to marry Tartuffe, “He is a perfect man in every way; In body and soul, I find him divine.” And then you say, “Please Father make him mine.” (156.) Orgon continuously challenges the female characters as he is the voice of “reason” and the man of the house. But as a masculine character, he foolishly neglects reason as he continues to be fooled by Tartuffe. The feminine characters of the play Dorine and Elmire, embody lust and are constrained to the private sphere. Throughout the play they challenge these feminist ideals; Dorine a loyal maid, continuously expresses her frustrations about Tartuffe to Orgon. She is not only challenging her female role she’s also challenging her role as a maid. Both women are capable of reasoning and are able to break away from binary constraints through their plot to expose Tartuffe. Elmire uses Tartuffe to expose Orgon of his naïve beliefs about Tartuffe. These characters are able to challenge the ideals of gender roles and allow us to questions the ideals that drive these expectations during the 17th century.
February 12, 2017 at 4:20 pm
While reading and thinking the one binary that stands out to me in Moliere’s Tartuffe is the idea of strong/weak. Orgon is the main male figure in this play, so I feel as though he is the protagonist where he faces periods of strong and weak. In society during the 17th century and even now, males are seen superior to females and basically make all the big decisions of their homes. In this case, Orgon chooses that Tartuffe will marry his daughter because of how great of a man he thinks of Tartuffe to be. Orgon feels that strong presence because he is making decisions for his family that he thinks is right. In my opinion, this binary is broken when Dorine exposes Tartuffe’s real character and Orgon comes to the realization that he was wrong. Orgon is seen as weak and mislead because his instinct was incorrect and wrong leaving him fooled and conned. It proved that the male superior did not have the right approach and strong decisions has he thought he had. Orgon grasps the fact that he is not rational about his decision and now he has to take down Tartuffe by fighting him for his actual property and belongings back. He is seen as weak because right before he he turned Tartuffe in with the court, he had the doubt in his mind that he could not win everything back because of his poor judgment and reasoning. He should have listened to Dorine from the start where she mentions how Tartuffe is not who he appears to be.
February 12, 2017 at 4:36 pm
Two binaries that I noticed are the Feminine/Masculine, Strong/Weak in Tartuffe. There are three major female characters in Tartuffe: Mariane, Elmire, and Dorine.
Mariane is weak and passive. She is not allowed to say no to her father in her belief. And she doesn’t ever think about saying no to her father directly or indirectly. In Act 2.3, her response to the arranged marriage to Tartuffe, when talking to Dorine, is “Against my father, what am I to do?”, and she also says, “You know that fathers have such sway over our lives that I’ve nothing to say. I’ve never had the strength.” She believes all daughters should have no power against fathers, and the only thing she can do is to obey and accept what she is told. In front of the masculine, she has no self-awareness of her feminine power.
Elmire is the female character that represents the growing awareness of feminine. She rejects Tartuffe’s flirt completely, and she expresses her opposition to Orgon’s arrangement, hoping Tartuffe can reject this marriage. Moreover, after Orgon makes a fool decision giving all his wealth to Tartuffe, Elmire takes active action to uncover Tartuffe’s deception. Comparing with Mariane, Elmire has opinions of her own and is willing and strong to fight for feminine, to protect female in the family under powerful masculine.
When it comes to Dorine, she is the Lady’s maid, of the lowest social status in the family. However, she is the one that has Reason, using Kant’s words, breaking her self-incurred tutelage, exposing Tartuffe’s hypocrisy all the time. There is a strong contrast between Dorine and Mariane in Act 2.3. Dorine says, “Tell me, have you lost the power of speech? I’m forced to play your role and it’s a reach. How can you sit there with nothing to say watching him tossing your whole life away?” Dorine is brave and strong to fight against Orgon, who represents masculine and power, face to face. She talks very frankly about how ridiculous the marriage of Tartuffe and Mariane will be, and satirizes Orgon’s blind trust to Tartuffe. She is not afraid of Tartuffe’s and Orgon’s power. What Dorine says and does is intolerant as a lady’s maid, or as a female in that society. But it is the contrast of her social status and her behavior that shows the complete awareness of women empowerment and the strong feminine.
February 12, 2017 at 5:38 pm
One binary shown in Ueda Akinari “Bewitched” is how women and men are seen in Japan during the time. Japanese society had social expectation on how a female and male should behave. Women were expected to be passive and submissive to men. Some example would be Toyo-o’s mother and his sister. One character that challenged these social norms was Manago. Manago was an enormous snake with supernatural powers. Manago represents the opposite of all of the behaviors and traits that are expected for women during the time. At first when she first met Toyo-o, she pretends to be reserved, which is acceptable behavior. In her future meetings she would become more up front, forceful, and forward. She even threaten Toyo-o’s life.
Men in the Japanese were expected to be honest, masculine, hard workers, and the head of their families. Taro, the eldest son, was an example of how a man should behave while Toyo-o was the opposite. Toyo-o lacked interest in the family business and preferred spending his time studying. However, by the end of the story, Toyo-o finally conforms to societal expectations. Towards the end of the book he realizes in order to kill Manago he was forced to step up instead of running away. By killing her, he showed the masculine qualities that society wanted from him.
The moral of the story is that you must conform to their societal standards to live happily. Manago was the opposite of the social norms for women and this eventually lead to her death. She was opposite to the coy standard for women during the time and was very forceful towards Toyo-o. Toyo-o was also the opposite of social norm in society in Japan. Once he decided to be brave a step up to his challenged instead of running away he was able to kill the demon and live his life peacefully, happily, and live a long, healthy life.
February 12, 2017 at 5:39 pm
The binary that I found in “Bewitched” is naive and experienced. In this short story, Toyo-o plays a role as a son of the wealthy man, Oya no Takesuke. However, Toyo-o was quite different from his elder brother, Taro, who carried on the family business. Toyo-o himself was not interested in the family business and he rather devoted his time to learning. Manago is an experienced devil in “Bewitched”. As Tagima said to Manago, “Again you are bewitching and deceiving human beings….” (page 643). This sentence shows us that it was not the first time that Manago bewitched human beings. As a huge old serpent, Manago knew exactly what human beings desire for. Therefore, she used an attractive appearance to attract human beings, including Toyo-o. Toyo-o was naive compared to Manago, he never had the similar experience before, just like his sister-in-law said, “I have always felt sorry that a fine young man like you should remain single so long…” (page 637). Thus, when Toyo-o found out that Manago might be a devil and tried to get rid of her, Manago listed out a series of plausible excuses to convince him. For example, Toyo-o went to his married sister’s house and lived there for a while after he was released from jail. Manago was appeared at Tanabe’s store and tried to convince Toyo-o by giving him a series of excuses, “… If I were really a devil, would I be walking around carelessly in broad daylight, in dense crowds…” (page 641). Then, Manago regained the trust from Toyo-o and made Toyo-o falling into her trap. I think that the reason that Manago was able to make people trust her easily is she had a lot of experiences and she knew how to handle the situation properly. In contrast, Toyo-o was naive to draw a clear distinction between truth and fake so he was deceived by Manago once and again. In my opinion, the binary of naive and experienced in “Bewitched” is trying to show that one might wear a mask in front of people to conceal his/her true self in order to gain some benefits from others. Those people are usually experienced and able to give plausible excuses to cover the truth.
February 12, 2017 at 5:44 pm
While reading a literary work, I personally like to identify the antagonists/protagonists of the writing and more importantly, their motives and their roles. In Tartuffe, most characters aren’t really on Tartuffe’s side, besides of course, Orgon and his wife, who are very much convinced that Tartuffe is a “good” human being. In the beginning of the story, people try to convince them how “evil” Tartuffe is, and I guess for me, I usually like to give my characters a benefit of the doubt that somewhere inside, they are purely good. I think that’s one of the conflicts that the Reason might bring into reading these stories. When Dorine is describing Tartuffe as this evil, manipulative and hypocritical human being, I didn’t want to believe it at first without looking at the picture as a whole. Every character has its own motive, its own idea and purpose, its own Reason why they are the way they are, why they act the way they act. I always come up with the question, “Are people born good or bad?” This question, I believe, is vital when it comes to distinguishing the fundamentals of Reason. These characters are made so that we, the readers, can fully absorb the meaning of these characters and what their purpose are in the writings. However, we tend to overlook using the voice of Reason over emotions to make specific decisions. I believe that the world would be a better place if every human being exercised this.
February 12, 2017 at 5:57 pm
In the play Tartuffe by Moliere, the first thing I’ve noticed was the difference between reason and ignorance. In the story, Cleante and Dorine were portrayed as the reasonable members of the household while Orgon was portrayed as an ignorant. The inability for Orgon to reason resulted to his blindly worship of Tartuffe (who represents the hypocrisy of the church during 1600s). Also, Orgon represents to the majority of people during 1600s, those who blindly followed the orders and rules of the church; allowed the church to dominate their lives and take advantage from the common people. With lack of ability to reason, Orgon fell into the conspiracy of Tartuffe. In the other hand, the ability of reasoning helped Cleante and Dorine to expose the hypocrisy of the Tartuffe.
The other thing I’ve noticed was strong and weakness. During 1600s, women were not given the same rights as men were given, they were often portrayed as weak-minded and vulnerable. However, Dorine broke the traditional impression of women. In the story, she was a lady’s maid to Mariane and a strong individual, she was one of few who stood up and confronted Orgon and Tartuffe; she also played as the mediator of the argument between Mariane and Valere. In the other hand, Mariane, daughter of Orgon and who is from a wealthy family. Her weakness allowed her father to dominate and control her life. Which Orgon demanded a marriage between Mariane and Tartuffe.
February 12, 2017 at 8:36 pm
in Tartuffe, there is one binary in the writing method of Moliere. He combined both tradition and creation writing method in his play Tartuffe. On one hand, he followed the “classical unities” in his drama, the plot revolves around the main character Tartuffe’s hypocrisy, place is Orgon’s home, time is no more than a day. Also, the description for Tartuffe is single hypocritical, and Organ is single blind, so on the whole, Moliere insisted on the drama’s classical unities. However, on the other hand, the Tartuffe also went beyond western classical. Based on the real life, Moliere adhered to that the play should have a certain significance, and a strong spirit of criticizing social reality. Therefore, the language style of writing contains a sense of spicy. A feeling seems an antireligious consciousness, so a lot of religious forces combat. The dialogue between characters is intense and shows the confliction between hypocrisy and integrity, which expresses the central idea to unveil Tartuffe’s fakeness, and how he uses the religious power to obtain his personal interest. All of those shows Moliere’s gifts and talents for language. Language is the most concrete manifestation of thought. By using the most simple words, Moliere conveys his ideas in his language, reveals the essence of human nature. That’s why Tartuffe had been restricted once and then in the end, it still becomes the masterpiece in the history.
February 12, 2017 at 11:02 pm
in Molliere’s play Tartuffe there is an unconventional way in which he plays on the binary of the church, and the notion that the establishment was not as fufillling or as holy as it was presumed to be. In the opening acts of Tartuffe Molliere presents two characters, Orgon and madam Pernelle that are blinded by the thought of a man of faith and piety staying in their home. This idea that the church is not what is it perceived to be carries on throughout the play as the serpentine nature of Tartuffe’s real intentions surface. It is known to the rest of characters in the play that Tartuffe is not living a honest and holy life, it is in fact the polar opposite; Tartuffe is hypocritical, controversial in his faith, and a liar. As the rest of the characters try to prove to Organ that Tartuffe is fraudulent in every way, Orgon refuses and continues to think and act as if Tartuffe can do know wrong as his life is allies with god. Dorrine arranges for Orgon’s wife Elmire to lure Tartuffe into revealing his conniving ways of trying to have an affair with the wife of the man who had so kindly accepted him into his home. Th plan to expose Tartuffe was successful as he arose from hiding and demanded that Tartuffe leave his house, Orgon is now fully aware that he was taken for a fool by a man of faith. Molliere was challenging the sanctity of the church as an establishment as Tartuffe is not living in accordance in any way with the god that he is suggesting he speaks for.
February 13, 2017 at 12:33 am
In Wollstonecraft’s essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she boldly speaks against a patriarchal dominated era in order to argue for women rights. Wollstonecraft’s essay challenges the gender binary and criticizes the traditional divide between the sexes. She centralizes her argument around education and strongly believes that it can bridge the gap between woman and man, of course in an environment where women are not forced in a subordinate position. In this argument, Wollstonecraft criticizes the education system for doing exactly that. However her words have an underlying meaning, which is to galvanize her female readers to seek masculine qualities instead of degrading themselves to simple satisfaction. She claims that dignity is not limited to men, despite the fact that is often attached to being masculine.
Another example of Wollstonecraft’s direct attack on education is her attack on society’s rigidness. She claims that long term subordination is hindering the development of women, which implies that if women were trained in science or mathematics instead of mannerism, women would also have the potential to enter the male dominated world. In this example, Wollstonecraft associates mannerism with weakness, a direct opposite of masculinity, in order to prove one of the many obstacles that prevent woman from achieving greatness during her time period. In Wollstonecraft’s last argument, she directly blurs the distinction between men and women by showing how the masculine and gallant army is in reality “blind submission”. This highlights the contradiction behind the distinction between man and woman and brings a darker element in play, that men are inherently superior to woman.
February 13, 2017 at 12:25 pm
While reading tartuffe the binary that stood out for me was the strong/week, in the book we see how people’s role in society provides them with some kind of power over the others. Tartuffe is a priest and at the time people from the church were seen as enlightenment, this gave tartuffe the power to control and used orgon as he pleased. Orgon thought of tartuffe as a kind and well fitted man to marry his daughter Dorine. This shows how in countless cases the one with power takes advantage of those who are on “lower levels” and that are determine to follow your commands and so on. We also see the strong and weak binary in the fact that males were seen as stronger than females and so the females had to obey the male. Females were seen as homekeepers rather than human beings with the capacity to embrace new things and to even do better than a male. Males were the pillars of the family, they were the ones making the decisions for the families and the wellbeing of it. Females were not exposed to either an education nor the opportunity to grow all on their owns, this made them in some ways less than a male whom were provided with the opportunities to learn and become a professional so the power at any given situation. Tartuffe is a reading in which we can witness the unfairness of society and how beliefs can affect an individual and not only an individual but the whole world.
February 14, 2017 at 3:02 pm
In Bewitched, the binary of truth and falsehood is frequently mentioned. Toyo-o, as an inexperienced and fragile individual, is often deceived by the devil. For instance, when he first met Manago, he was almost instantly attracted by her outer appearance without giving any thoughts to the dangers behind her seemingly beautiful look. He failed to think rationally and critically. He was deluded by the devil from seeing the truth until he was sent to prison. After he was released, he once again trusted Manago when she pleaded to him. He even agreed to marry Manago despite the fact that he had already suffered both physically and mentally after trusting her. Toyo-o is an unstable, dependent, and gullible person. He cannot make clear and good decisions. Manago, on the other hand, repeatedly tricked Toyo-o by tricking him into believing that her words and actions are true without any falsehood. But in reality, everything that Manago does is out of her evil-minded intentions. Throughout Bewitched, the concept of truth and falsehood is broken down as portrayed in Toyo-o and Manago’s behaviors. Toyo-o has been deceived until he sees Manago’s true nature. His lack of knowledge about the truth symbolizes how he misses the truth. Manago has been deceiving Toyo-o the whole time thus disguises herself as the good person when she really is nothing but the exact opposite.
February 14, 2017 at 4:55 pm
In Tartuffe, we are shown by the author Moliere, the binary of religious belief and secularism through the use of humor that makes the play a social commentary of it’s time that still holds true today. The play Tartuffe aimed to showcase the hypocrisy and corruption of the Catholic Churches officials not practicing what they preach. Moliere accomplishes this by personifying the two binaries with the character of Tartuffe representing religious belief and Cleante representing secularism. The breakdown of these two binaries is seen in how the two character, who personify them, are described and received by characters in the play. Tartuffe by most, except for Orgon, is characterized as a hypocrite who takes advantage of his status as a religious figure to get his way. Doing so by manipulating the patriarch of the family Orgon, who believes that just blindly believing in God should lead him to heaven and a good life, but misplaces his trust in God in Tartuffe being that he is a religious figure. Cleante, on the other hand, is seen has the voice of reason throughout the majority of the play because he analyzes situations and thinks for himself before he speaks, unlike Orgon who believes that free thinking is blasphemy and requests the advice of Tartuffe for everything. After Tartuffe’s corruption is exposed to Orgon acting has the voice of reason Cleante advises Orgon to stay calm, “It seems to me we should deliberate,/Meet, plan, and have some family talks” (5.1.3-4). Breaking down the binary of religious belief and secularism when analyzing the play Tartuffe one could argue that one’s faith and connection to God is stronger in secularism. Unlike in Catholicism religious belief where there is a hierarchy one follows to receive the word of God that can easily be corrupted through the vices of men like Tartuffe.
February 14, 2017 at 6:59 pm
I think the story of Bewitched contained many obvious binaries; strong/weak, feminine/masculine, naive/experienced etc. The story relies heavily on the idea that women are to be submissive and demure, and when a women doesn’t fit that specific mold, it leads to chaos and destruction, but this comes into contrast with Toyo-o’s surprisingly naive and weak persona. Toyo-o is enamored with Manago when he first meets her. She’s a sweet image of a poised, attractive, youthful woman. It isn’t until he stops by her house to retrieve his umbrella that we get the first glimpse of her aggressive side. She asks her maid to persuade him to stay and insists they should marry to cement their bond. Toyo-o is eager to spend his life with her, but is reluctant because of his dependency on his father and brother.
This is an interesting twist on traditional gender roles. Typically, we see the daughter figure requesting the permission of the male authority figures in her life. It’s fascinating to see how Toyo-o balances between not quite reaching the masculine authority of his brother or father, but still having more prestige and autonomy than his mother and sister. Throughout the story, Toyo-o’s poor decisions and lack of intelligence brings about pain, but the pain he experiences is mostly finite. He spent time in jail after being framed, but is able to go home and begin rebuilding his life. Even in the end, it’s noted that after the destruction of the devil, he goes on to life a long and happy life while Tomiko dies due to the trauma. It’s a common tale of women suffering the consequences that result because of the men around them.
February 14, 2017 at 9:52 pm
When reading Tartuffe, one binary being questioned that stood out most to me was strong/weak. Tartuffe, a religious hypocrite, had a strong presence and personality which allowed himself to con and weasel his way in gaining the trust of people such as Orgon. Through his confident and strong demeanor, he received Orgon’s praise and ultimately pushed Orgon to make the decision to force his daughter, Mariane into marrying Orgon despite her being involved with another man, Valere. However, there is word going on around the household that Tartuffe is a hypocrite but Orgon is blind to it even though his own son is the one who presented him with evidence that Tartuffe professed his love for Orgon’s wife, Elmire. Instead, Orgon makes plans to make Tartuffe his heir and his son in law. The binary comes into play, when Tartuffe is around Elmire. He is no longer the strong, charming man he is when around the others because of his love for Elmire. He is weak and vulnerable. Elmire conducts a plan to reveal Tartuffe’s true colors to Orgon by speaking to him alone with Orgon hidden in a place where he could still hear. It is at this point where Tartuffe’s downfall begins as he once again, expresses his love for Elmire. Orgon hears and is introduced to this new, weak side of Tartuffe ultimately resulting in the imprisonment of Tartuffe by the king. The binary is meaningful to the text because it is the basis of the downfall of Tartuffe, and how one character could present both strong and weak attributes depending on who he is around and his feelings towards one person.
February 15, 2017 at 12:44 am
As soon as a read the third paragraph of Bewitched, I noticed the secular belief of Toyo-o in comparison with his family’s. Toyo-o was the youngest child on his family with a different inclination of what he wanted in life. Taking in consideration Takesuke’s (father of Toyo-o) family business which was fishing, Toyo-o started his own path to become a priest under the tutoring of Abe no Yuminaro, the chief priest of the kumano Shrine.
Another binary that caught my attention was the weak to strong transformation in term of emotions of Toyo-o. In page 634, the narrative shows how because of his inexperience in relationships, Toyo- o failed into Manago’s exotic hostess, kind of accepting her unexpected, rushing love and a precious gift (sword);Without realizing that all of that might be a lie.
After he realized the truth of Amago and spending a hundred days on jail, he encountered her two more times until the young man step into Tagima no Kibito, a server at the Yamato Shrine; A old man who unmasked the real identity of Manago; A devil old serpent fascinated for Toyo-o’s good looks. The old man encouraged Toyo-o to develop a more manly and determined spirit which the young man didn’t have at the time. Toyo-o put it in practice at the ending of the story to try to safe Tomiko, Toyo-o’s future wife who was possessed by the devil of Manago. In addition, I realized that in the culture of this story, woman didn’t have authority over their actions, leaving a sad trail of male superiority.
February 15, 2017 at 7:55 am
In his play “Tartuffe”, the author demonstrates many binaries, but I would like to focus only on two of them; naïve/experenced and young/old . Moliere castigated deception personified by the main character Tartuffe, as well as moral stupidity and ignorance, represented in the person of Orgon and Madame Pernelle. Orgon – naive old man, allowing the hypocrite Tartuffe to fool himself. He expected to have at home his own saint, who will protect the house from adversity. However, Orgon was mistaken: he didn’t get Tartuffe, but on the contrary, he himself had become a toy in Tartuffe’s hands. As Tartuffe insists “I’ve fooled him so, he’d see all, and deny it.”. That’s the trouble of the older generation – they brought in submission to authority, which made their minds stagnant, unable to critically evaluate the actions of people. In contrast to Orgon and Madame Pernelle (Orgon’s mother) there were young people (Elmire, Dorine, Mariane and Damis) whose views weren’t dependent on dogma. They recognized the hypocrisy of Tartuffe immediately. Dorine is the most implacable enemy of Tartuffe; she boldly, in a mocking tone, attacks not only the hypocrite but also everyone who indulges him. The maid rallied young people in the play. Due to her common sense and wisdom she found the most correct way to fight against the insidious hypocrite who intended to destroy the whole family. Moreover, Dorine was not accidentally become the mediator of the conflict between Tartuffe and Orgon’s family. Unfourtanetly, nature reserve and upbringing did not allow other characters to express aloud certain things as freely and directly, as does the maid.
February 15, 2017 at 9:55 am
In Bewitched, Ueda Akinari critiques reason in his use of the antagonist Manago. She is an evil spirit taking the form of a beautiful woman, so that she is able to make the protagonist Toyo-o fall in love with her. His reasoning is compromised, as he is blind to the suspicious nature of her situation. Toyo-o’s family expects him to be fooled, thinking him to be naive and easily tricked, but they too believe that Manago is telling the truth when she begs his forgiveness and gives explanation for the strange occurances. Manago appears to be good, proclaiming that her love for Toyo-o keeps her devoted, even when she admits to being an evil spirit. The ideas of good and evil, which are meant to be easily distinguished, are confused by the form of a spirit who appears beautiful and gives reasonable explanations for her “evil” actions. Akinari’s use of the supernatural also has the reader questioning what is real, further questioning the use of reason. With reason, good and evil are meant to be clear, separate entities, but Bewitched illustrates the supernatural way in which these ideas are overturned.
February 15, 2017 at 6:24 pm
Religious vs. Secular beliefs is one of the main breakdowns of binary, that is depicted in Moliere’s; when Tartuffe is “supposedly” to be a man of humility and faith who others can respect and look up to for advice. Instead, he is the opposite; he’s an imposter, a manipulative liar, and a religious hypocrite, who doesn’t condemn religion, but uses it to get what he wants.
In the play, we saw how Orgon admired Tartuffe because of the way he presented himself as a spiritual and God fearing priest. Tartuffe would go to church everyday and pray, Orgon was drawn to his commitment spirituality. In addition this led Orgon to put all his trust in him, because Tartuffe in Orgon’s eyes was sent from the heavens. That was a reflection of the person Orgon wanted to be. He also thought by believing in Tartuffe, he could fast track himself into heaven. Tartuffe was pretending all pious and holy when really he was just doing all things impure; such as helping himself to Orgon’s wife, money, and food. However, Orgon’s naivety prevents him from the realization that Tartuffe was only taking advantage of him to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Not knowing that Tartuffe was playing him , Orgon brings Tartuffe into his home believing he would be a good influence on his household. He also signed over his property to Tartuffe, and confided in him; things that could send him to prison. This was only because of his desire to learn and become more faithful. Although, Tartuffe preaches and enforces morality; his hypocrisy soon revealed when Elmire, Orgon’s wife, shows his husband how hypocritical Tarfuffe has been to him by trying to seduce her. This binary of religious vs.secular beliefs shows that anyone can say they are a priest or pastor while just using the church as a mask to cover their r, in order to fulfill their own personal greed and desires.
Religious vs. Secular beliefs is one of the main breakdown of binary that is depicted in moliere’s, when Tartuffe is “supposedly” to be a man of humility and faith who others can respect and look up to for advice. Instead he is the opposite; he’s an imposter, a manipulative liar, and a religious hypocrite who doesn’t condemn religion but uses it to get what he wants.
In the play we saw how orgon admired Tartuffe because of the way he presents himself as a spiritual and God fearing priest. Tartuffe would go to church everyday and pray, and so Organ was drawn his committed spirituality. In addition this led Orgon to put all his trust in him, because Tartuffe in Orgon’s eyes was sent from the heavens and that’s a reflection of the person that orgon wanted to be. He also thought by believing in Tartuffe he could fast track himself into heaven. Tartuffe and his manipulative aspects was pretending all pious and holy when really he was just doing all things impure. Helping himself to Orgon’s wife, money and food. However, Orgon’s naivety prevents him from the realization that Tartuffe was only taking advantage of him to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Not knowing that Tartuffe was playing him , Orgons brings Tartuffe into his home believing he would be good influence on his household. He also signs over his property to Tartuffe and confide in him things that could send him to prison ; only because of his desire to learn and become more faithful. Although, Tartuffe preaches and enforces morality; his hypocrisy soon revealed when Elmire, Orgon’s wife shows his husband how hypocritical Tarfuffe has been to him in trying to seduce her. This binary of religious vs.secular beliefs shows that anyone can say they are priest or pastor and use the church as a mask to deceive others and fulfill their own personal greed and desires.