Mongkut’s Modern Mission
“Getting to know you…” Many people might know this famous song from Rodger and Hammerstein’s Tony award winning Broadway musical The King and I. This musical follows Anna Leonowens, a Western school teacher, to Bangkok, Siam, modern day Thailand. She becomes the governess to King Rama IV of Bangkok’s, more commonly known as King Mongkut,children. She was hired to teach his multitude of children in the Western way and also advised the king on trades and other affairs with the West. But why was King Mongkut doing all these things with the West? The answer is simple: he was modernizing Siam so that it would be on the same level with the West and the rest of the world. Through the hiring of Anna Leonowens, introducing Western culture, the making of the Bowring treaty, and the continuation of modernization through his son, King Mongkut’s modernization of Siam had a positive effect on the country and its people.
The King and I looks like your typical Broadway musical. The fifth musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, it has been revived on Broadway three times. It has also been made into two …show more content…
According to Webster dictionary, modernization means “to make something modern and more suited to present styles or needs; to become modern: to begin using the newest information, methods, or technology.” There are many specific examples of King Mongkut’s modernization; hiring Anna Leonowens was just one of them. He made reforms to Siam with regards to its social systems, economy, government, and science. He was the first monarch to allow himself to be seen by commoners and photographed He got rid of many myths and rumors about magic and replaced them with the knowledge of science and mathematics. Many women were treated “as if she were a water buffalo” (Williams 35) but in 1868 King Mongkut made it so a husband did not have the right to sell his wife or
“Getting to know you…” Many people might know this famous song from Rodger and Hammerstein’s Tony award winning Broadway musical The King and I. This musical follows Anna Leonowens, a Western school teacher, to Bangkok, Siam, modern day Thailand. She becomes the governess to King Rama IV of Bangkok’s, more commonly known as King Mongkut,children. She was hired to teach his multitude of children in the Western way and also advised the king on trades and other affairs with the West. But why was King Mongkut doing all these things with the West? The answer is simple: he was modernizing Siam so that it would be on the same level with the West and the rest of the world. Through the hiring of Anna Leonowens, introducing Western culture, the making of the Bowring treaty, and the continuation of modernization through his son, King Mongkut’s modernization of Siam had a positive effect on the country and its people.
The King and I looks like your typical Broadway musical. The fifth musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, it has been revived on Broadway three times. It has also been made into two …show more content…
According to Webster dictionary, modernization means “to make something modern and more suited to present styles or needs; to become modern: to begin using the newest information, methods, or technology.” There are many specific examples of King Mongkut’s modernization; hiring Anna Leonowens was just one of them. He made reforms to Siam with regards to its social systems, economy, government, and science. He was the first monarch to allow himself to be seen by commoners and photographed He got rid of many myths and rumors about magic and replaced them with the knowledge of science and mathematics. Many women were treated “as if she were a water buffalo” (Williams 35) but in 1868 King Mongkut made it so a husband did not have the right to sell his wife or