· Character arc – what does
the character look like at beginning and at the end
· what are the changes,
what had made the changes,
· how had the changes
affected the characters and those around him.
· What is the thematic
relevance of the change the character undergoes
· How do the interactions
between the two characters highlight the themes of the play
In
this answer, I will be dealing with
two character arcs: the character arc of Tsu and that of Yohyo. In the course
of the answer I will be
dealing with how the two characters looked at the beginning and the end; what
are the changes the two characters have undergone; what caused those changes in
them; what are the thematic relevance of the changes and how the interactions
between the characters highlight the themes of the play.
Let us look at the character arc of Tsu first.
Initially, the audience come across Tsu as Yohyo’s wife. She is a stranger to
the village. According to Unzu, after her arrival, Yohyo spends all his life
just relaxing by the fire doing nothing. Sodo wonders how Yohyo managed to make
such a pretty woman his wife. Towards the middle of the play we learn that Tsu
was a crane that had metamorphed into a woman out of gratitude to Yohyo for
saving her life. According to Yohyo she comes to his door one night and offers
to be his wife. At this point, thematically
speaking, Tsu represents natural forces and positive traits such as
kindness, love and self-sacrifice.
As a wife, Tsu loved her husband very much,
wanted to make him happy even at the expense her own life and health. She
overlooks Yohyo’s laziness and the fact that he was a very bad provider, his
fascination with hoarding money and his inability to value the gifts of senba ori. She single mindedly focuses
on his only good quality: his kindness towards her at a time she was injured
and his occasional displays of concern for comfort. For Tsu, one’s word was
important; ultimately, she leaves Yohyo because he breaks his promise to her
not to look at her while she was weaving. In contrast to her relationship with
Yohyo which is primarily based on gratitude, Tsu’s relationship with the
children is based on their shared desire to live a life close to nature and
enjoy the moment. Tsu’s character stands for the theme of positive aspects of
nature. Her interactions and the final outcome of the interactions stand for
the interactions between nature and capitalism.
Tsu as a character of nature, likes to lead an
uncomplicated life. She urges Yohyo to give up his desire to visit Kyoto and
live happily with her in the rural area where they lived forever. Yohyo makes
references to Tsu having seen Kyoto several times. What Tsu may have seen in
Kyoto makes her reluctant to go there even to keep her husband by her side.
Kyoto frightens her. To her, Kyoto
represented everything complicated and corrupt. She is frightened by Yohyo’s
fascination with the capital city and believes once he gets there he would not
return to her. What happens to Tsu in the end is a warning to the audience as
to what could be the final outcome of a conflict between the benevolent aspects
of nature and capitalism. After all the upheaval, even at the end of the play she
remains true to her character; she does not change much in the course of the
play. Tsu’s character arc is almost linear. Tsu is aware of the human potential
for evil: she had seen corruption in Kyoto and she had been the victim of human
cruelty – she had been shot at with an arrow. But, she is willing to believe
that human beings are capable of finer feelings such as generosity, love,
kindness and appreciation of beauty. Also, Tsu as a wife, represent values such
as self-sacrifice and honour promoted by feudal Japan.
Secondly, let us
look at the character of Yohyo. According to the script, Yohyo is one of the
protagonists in the drama. He is young farmer from rural area. He is
unsophisticated: both Unzu and Sodo consider Yohyo to be foolish and they
easily manipulate him to do their bidding. Yohyo lacks a strong willpower.
Therefore, anyone with a strong personality can change the way he thought and
behaved. If we were to consider Tsu as a representation of nature and Unzu and
Sodo as personifications of capitalism, Yohyo is the weak man caught between
two powerful forces.
Before meeting
Tsu, Yohyo must have supported himself through his farming activities, but
after meeting Tsu he does not seem to be doing any work: the house is a tumbled
down hut. It has not been made ready to meet the brutal Japanese winters. The
farm lays fallow and there are no references to granaries or stored food.
Instead of supporting his wife, he becomes a lazy man who lay sleeping by the
fireside who is supported by the efforts of his wife. Tsu tries to convey her love and gratitude by
weaving a Senba Ori for him. Yohyo is incapable of understanding the
significance of the cloth; therefore, instead of treasuring it he sells it and
hoards money in sacks. Tsu wants be happy with Yohyo, but Yohyo wants to earn a
lot of money. Yohyo is depend on Tsu’s weaving. It is his shortsightedness that
exposes their relationship to Unzu and Sodo who callously exploits Yohyo’s
weaknesses to their advantage. In summary, when we look at the development arc
of Yohyo’s character, the Yohyo we see until the very end is predominantly
driven by his fascination with money and the desire to please his senses.
Still, he is not a complete monochromatic character: there is both good and bad
in him. He is a weak and lazy man who puts his desires above that of his wife.
However, he is also capable of acts of kindness towards both Tsu and the
children who come to play with them. .
In conclusion, let
us summarize how the two
characters looked at the beginning and the end; what are the changes the two
characters have undergone; what caused those changes in them; what are the
thematic relevance of the changes and how the interactions between the
characters highlight the themes of the play.
Out of the two main
characters, we meet Tsu and Yohyo as mature people who are more or less set in
their way. The character arc of the male is almost nonexistent. The male
protagonist we see at the beginning is more or less the same person we would
see at the end. Tsu’s character, on the other hand, …
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