Tale Of Genji

Concept of Love In the Fictional Tale “The Tale of Genji” by Murasaki Shikibu is a story that provides a direct insight into socio political life of the Heian period in Japan. In this tale we are able to identify the standards of life that were expected of the aristocrats during the Heian period. The social nature is heavily depicted in this story as are many relationships of the characters in this story. Many of the relationships presented are romantic relationships that surround the prince Genji. Other relationships presented are Parents and children, masters and servants, and relationships between social contemporaries. The romantic relationships in this tale indirectly describe the ideal qualities of man or women in terms of the Heian court. From the text we can understand what social standards may have been during this time period, and what determined the ideal court man or women. The Heian period was a peaceful period noted in Japan's history. During this time Japan was starting to break away from the chinese control, thus the culture of Japan began to form into its own independence creating something unique. One of the changes that occured was the development of the writing system,.The change allowed writers to elaborate how they felt in more of a Japanese way. Genji often works quite hard to maintain his courtly image while he …show more content…
For instance the Men are always searching for a women with sincere characteristics. This works the other way as well, women are always chasing Genji because he is a paragon to sincerity. Genji is constantly letting things come and go, especially women. An example of this would be when he lost his wife to child birth. She became very sick and fragile after the birth. Genji took this death to his heart and suffered from it. Genji was witnessing the imperancance of life, which is a recurring theme to