Question

In the tale of Genji,do the women portrayed in the novel have any agency? in other words, do we see them act independently or only in relation to Genji?

Answer 1

In the tale of Genji,do the women portrayed in the novel have any agency? in other words, do we see them act independently or only in relation to Genji.

The Tale of Genji illustrates how women are disadvantaged and disempowered by the laws and customs of the world they live in, while also suggesting that by either subverting those customs or very carefully cultivating the affections of powerful men, women can find a modicum of control over their own lives.

Throughout most of the first half of the novel, women are shown in most cases to be at the mercy of the whims and desires of the men around them. This is especially true when it comes to sex and sexual relationships—and in particular, the ways in which it's considered appropriate for men and women to interact with each other. All of the women in Genji are expected to keep themselves hidden from men other than their fathers and husbands. They do this by conducting their lives from behind screens or curtains and communicating with men primarily via written poetry passed back and forth with the help of messengers.

Despite the existence of the screens, however, women were actually not afforded much privacy and the screens did little to protect them from men's gazes. Men, especially Genji, consistently peek behind screens to catch glimpses of women they're attracted to, and the screens provide hidden places in which men can begin sexual relationships with women, often initiated through rape. Further, because the women are supposed to be hidden and often bear the blame for men’s actions, the women that Genji forces to have sex with him often feel unable to call for help doing so would damage Genji's reputation as well as their own, making giving into Genji's demands the lesser of the two evils. This overwhelmingly suggests that women live their lives constantly vulnerable to the often-unwanted advances of the men around them and are equally unable to escape the ensuing sexual relationships for fear of retaliation.

As distasteful and forceful as many of these relationships' beginnings are, the novel does suggest that having sexual relationships with the right men is actually a very effective way for women to become extremely powerful. This holds true in particular for Kokiden, the Emperor's wife. Through their sexual relationship, Kokiden is able to navigate herself into a position of immense power when her son with the Emperor, Suzaku, becomes emperor himself. So influential is Kokiden that she becomes largely for sending Genji into exile. The same thing plays out later in the case of Fujitsubo and her son, Reizei. Though Reizei is actually Genji's biological child, Fujitsubo and Genji keep this information secret from the Emperor. Because of this, Fujitsubo is able to maintain her powerful position and catapult her son to the emperorship at a very early age. This illustrates how a woman's sexual past can actually protect her from what would otherwise have the power to irreparably damage her reputation, assuming she can keep specific damning information out of the rumor mill.

In the case of the Akashi Lady, a young woman of humble that is, country birth, her sexual relationship with Genji is similarly implied to have the power to elevate her to the status of a court lady. After she gives birth to Genji's only daughter, who was foretold to one day be empress, Genji promises to bring her and the baby to court. This is a previously unheard-of promise and one that would solidify the Akashi Lady's standing as someone important and reasonably powerful, despite the disadvantage of being born and raised outside the city.

Genji never follows through with his promise in the novel, underscoring that even as women obtain power, they're still dependent on their relationships with men to gain and then hold onto that power. This suggests that even as women do ascend to these powerful places in Heian society, they're only able to do by working within a system inherently stacked against them and by using the abuses they suffer to their advantages whenever possible.

However tenuous this power may have been at the time, it's also worth noting that in the long run, the Heian women ultimately came out on top: Murasaki Shikibu herself worked within the system she describes, and her work and that of other female writers has far outlasted and been significantly more influential than any literary works by their male contemporaries.