Gender Metaphors in Traditional Chinese Stories
Within the traditional Chinese stories about filial women, gender metaphors create a connection between how a wife must stay loyal to her marriage and how a devoted official must stay obedient towards his ruler. These gender metaphors are seen in the stories of Wang Zhaojun, Goiter Su, and Yurang. These stories connect female beauty and love to male virtue and loyalty to one’s king. Although these stories reveal the importance of diligence in serving one’s master in a marital and government relationship, they also show the significance of a ruler being able to identify those with filial traits that make individuals virtuous.
The story of Wang Zhaojun creates a gender metaphor between physical beauty of females and virtue of male officials. In the story, Zhaojun …show more content…
This decision is unlike other ladies in the palace who wanted to “enjoy the emperor’s favor” and “bribed the painter so that he would make them appear as beautiful as possible” (CP2, p. 119). Zhaojun’s decision to not alter her court painting relates to men hiding their ability and the theme of recognizing men with hidden virtue. Women should not attempt to look more beautiful as a true emperor should be able to select the concubine with the most natural beauty. While men should not adorn themselves with fake virtue because a true emperor should also be able to recognize a man disguised as a lowly servant to be one full with talent. For example, in the story of Jiang Tai-gong, King Wen was able to recognize Tai-gong as a military mastermind even though he dressed as a poor fisherman (CP1, p.17). This story also creates a metaphor between Zhaojun’s love for the emperor to the loyalty of a government official. Zhaojun “wrote
Within the traditional Chinese stories about filial women, gender metaphors create a connection between how a wife must stay loyal to her marriage and how a devoted official must stay obedient towards his ruler. These gender metaphors are seen in the stories of Wang Zhaojun, Goiter Su, and Yurang. These stories connect female beauty and love to male virtue and loyalty to one’s king. Although these stories reveal the importance of diligence in serving one’s master in a marital and government relationship, they also show the significance of a ruler being able to identify those with filial traits that make individuals virtuous.
The story of Wang Zhaojun creates a gender metaphor between physical beauty of females and virtue of male officials. In the story, Zhaojun …show more content…
This decision is unlike other ladies in the palace who wanted to “enjoy the emperor’s favor” and “bribed the painter so that he would make them appear as beautiful as possible” (CP2, p. 119). Zhaojun’s decision to not alter her court painting relates to men hiding their ability and the theme of recognizing men with hidden virtue. Women should not attempt to look more beautiful as a true emperor should be able to select the concubine with the most natural beauty. While men should not adorn themselves with fake virtue because a true emperor should also be able to recognize a man disguised as a lowly servant to be one full with talent. For example, in the story of Jiang Tai-gong, King Wen was able to recognize Tai-gong as a military mastermind even though he dressed as a poor fisherman (CP1, p.17). This story also creates a metaphor between Zhaojun’s love for the emperor to the loyalty of a government official. Zhaojun “wrote