In the short story “Han’s crime” by Shiga Naoya, a Chinese juggler and a knife -thrower named Han kills his wife during a performance in front of a large audience by driving a knife through her neck. The question of his guilt or innocence rests on nuances of psychological interpretation of Han's true motives. Han has killed his wife by severing her carotid artery during a knife throwing performance. The young woman dies immediately on the stage, and Han is taken into custody. The managers and other performers in the troupe are uncertain whether Han deliberately killed his wife or whether it was a horrible accident.
The owner-manager tells the judge that Han’s act is very difficult and requires steady nerves and complete concentration as well as intuition. He does not know whether the killing was intentional or accidental. The Chinese stagehand testifies that Han and his wife were kind and gentle people who treated friends and acquaintances well and never argued with others. Han …show more content…
As the story progresses, however, what at first seems clear becomes more difficult to pin down. In his confession, Han reveals that he himself does not know whether he committed murder or was simply involved in a tragic accident. If Han does not know his own motivations, he suggests, they must remain unknown to those who would judge him. The judge asks him if he had ever thought of killing his wife, and Han admits that he had often thought “that it would be good if she were dead.” The night prior to the incident, he again thought of killing her, but never quite reached the point of conscious decision. He and his wife had argued about supper; that night he could not sleep because he was overcome with nightmares. The idea of killing his wife gradually faded, and Han was overcome by “a feeling of loneliness,” realizing that he was too weak to take action of any kind to change his
The owner-manager tells the judge that Han’s act is very difficult and requires steady nerves and complete concentration as well as intuition. He does not know whether the killing was intentional or accidental. The Chinese stagehand testifies that Han and his wife were kind and gentle people who treated friends and acquaintances well and never argued with others. Han …show more content…
As the story progresses, however, what at first seems clear becomes more difficult to pin down. In his confession, Han reveals that he himself does not know whether he committed murder or was simply involved in a tragic accident. If Han does not know his own motivations, he suggests, they must remain unknown to those who would judge him. The judge asks him if he had ever thought of killing his wife, and Han admits that he had often thought “that it would be good if she were dead.” The night prior to the incident, he again thought of killing her, but never quite reached the point of conscious decision. He and his wife had argued about supper; that night he could not sleep because he was overcome with nightmares. The idea of killing his wife gradually faded, and Han was overcome by “a feeling of loneliness,” realizing that he was too weak to take action of any kind to change his