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The Love Suicides At Amijima Summary

Decent Essays

Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s play, The Love Suicides at Amijima explores the disgrace of Jihei and Koharu’s misbegotten romance, the underlying conflict of the hidden innuendos aimed at the Japanese social class and the sense of duty formed between two women from unseemmingly different backgrounds. In order to fully understand these themes, on must take into account the societal structure of Osaka, Japan in the 1720s. Within this culture, every individual was instilled the notion of familial obligation and had to adhere to the rules placed upon them by society. Chikamatsu Monzaemon does an ideal job of capturing these concepts within the play.
Jihei and Koharu’s misbegotten romance
When we look at the main characters, Jihei, Koharu and Osan, we can see they each have a different concept of the meaning of love. For instance, Jihei’s misbegotten romance with Koharu ultimately leads to the demise of his relationship with his wife Osan. He lacks the ability to love her completely. However, does he truly love Koharu and does she in turn truly love him? It appears that these two …show more content…

She knew that if Koharu committed suicide then Jihei would too. To save him she did all she could to help her husband and bring him his happiness. This proves to be a very interesting component of the play. A powerful bond had developed between Koharu and Osan. These two women from different worlds were bound to each other by a sense of honor. Likewise, this created a conflict with Osan and her family. She undoubtly loves her husband and values his honor. Therefore, she is very protective of him. She is very duty bound to protect his honor. Interestingly, out of all the characters within the play, Osan appears to be the only character with the most honor. She upholds her family honor and will do anything to prevent shame from spreading. In addition, she saves Koharu’s

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