| Subject Areas |
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Foreign Language
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Japanese |
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Other |
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Literature and Language Arts
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British |
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Drama |
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World |
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| Time Required |
| | 8-10 Class Periods |
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| Skills |
| | reading literary texts
critical analysis
literary interpretation
drawing inferences and comparisons research skills internet skills |
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| Additional Data |
| | Date Created: 06/21/2002 |
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| Date Posted |
| | 6/21/2002 |
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Hamlet Meets Chushingura: Traditions of the Revenge Tragedy
IntroductionThis lesson sensitizes students
to the similarities and differences between cultures by comparing Shakespearean
and Bunraku/Kabuki dramas. The focus of this comparison is the complex nature
of revenge explored in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and Chushingura,
or the Treasury of the Loyal Retainers. Students will learn about the Elizabethan
revenge ethic as reflected in Hamlet and about the Tokugawa revenge ethic
as reflected in the Japanese Bunraku/Kabuki play Chushingura or the Treasury
of the Loyal Retainers. What similarities and differences are present in Hamlet's
situation as compared to the situations of the forty-seven ronin? What difficulties
do we face in making such a comparison between the revenge ethic in two different
cultures? How do cultural beliefs and expectations shape an audience's response
to a play? Note: This lesson may be
taught either as a stand-alone lesson or as a sequel to the complementary EDSITEment
lesson, Hamlet
and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film. Guiding
QuestionsTo what extent does a desire for justice
motivate the acts of revenge depicted in these plays? What are the consequences
of violent acts of revenge depicted in these plays? Learning ObjectivesAfter
completing this lesson, students will be able to: - Describe the
traditional theatres of Japan, including Bunraku and Kabuki
- Draw parallels
between Kabuki and Elizabethan theatre as public theatres rising from the middle
class
- Recognize the cultural implications and limitations of theatrical
conventions
- Explore the nature and implications of honor, loyalty, and
revenge in these cultures as presented in texts, plays, film, and video.
- Analyze
and compare the playwrights' uses of characters' language and actions as motivating
forces for revenge
- Compare interpretations of modern film and video with
the texts and events on which they are based
Preparing to Teach
this Lesson- This lesson builds on the complementary EDSITEment lesson,
Hamlet
and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film. Both lessons require student
texts of Hamlet to be available in the school, but also draw upon Hamlet: The
Cambridge School Shakespeare (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994)
for its resources on Elizabethan revenge tragedy and Elizabethan views of tragedy.
The Cambridge edition also contains excellent information on Hamlet as a character
and on the stage history of the play. Also required for the lesson is a class
set of Chushingura, or the Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Donald Keene, tr.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1971). The introductory material is quite
helpful, and the translation is easy to read and comfortably conversational.
- Providing
students with an introductory list of key characters in Chushingura and
their relationships will help students to keep the various groups of characters
clear in their minds as they begin their study:
- Ashikaga Shogun, Lord
Takauji, whose palace was in Kyoto
- Lord Ashikaga Tadayoshi, chief of
Board of War, Takauji's deputy
- Ko no Moronao, governor of Kamakura, chief
lieutenant of Ashikaga Takauji
- Wakasanosuke Yasuchika, younger brother
of Momonol, lord of Harima (Moronao's officers charged with entertaining)
- Wakasanosuke's
household:
- Kakogawa Honzo Yukikuni, chief retainer
- Tonase,
wife of Honzo
- Konami, their beloved daughter, betrothed to Oboshi Rikiya
- Hangan's household:
- Enya Hangan Takasada, lord
of castle of Hoki
- Lady Kaoyo, wife of Enya Hangan
- Oboshi Yuranosuke,
chief retainer of Enya Hangan
- Oboshi Rikiya, son of Yuranosuke, fiance
of Konami
- Hayano Kampei, retainer of Enya Hangan
- Okaru, young
girl of Hangan/s household, loves Kampei
As
more characters appear, students can add to this list and describe the characters'
relationships. An easy method of helping students with pronunciation is to let
them know that vowel pronunciations are the same as in Romance languages and a
long line over a letter does not change pronunciation but lengthens the amount
of time it is held. - Launching into the study of Hamlet
requires an historical context that students can gain after they have become familiar
with Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge and the popularity of revenge tragedies.
Student-oriented background information on these issues can be found through two
links on the EDSITEment-reviewed Mr.
Shakespeare and the Internet: 1) Francis
Bacon: On Revenge; and 2) Ian Johnston's "Introductory
Lecture on Shakespeare's Hamlet" (see especially the first and second
pages). This background prepares the way for students to compare Elizabethan attitudes
toward revenge with those of Tokugawa Japan. The Introduction to the Chushingura
text will also help students to understand the problem of censorship of such
a current and provocative story. Links indicated in the lesson plan will help
students understand the similarities and differences in cultural attitudes. Additional
background information on Elizabethan attitudes toward revenge can also be found
in the Cambridge version of the play.
- For the activities described in
Suggested Activity 2. Analyzing
Film Versions and Videotaped Performances of Chushingura and Hamlet,
below, a VCR and monitor will be needed in the classroom on days when students
will view and work with scenes from one or more film versions of the plays. Discussing
at least one film interpretation of Chushingura affords students the opportunity
to observe the kinds of choices modern directors must make as they seek to move
their vision from text to film. Legal permission to use the film or films in class
must be obtained. If only one film version of Chushingura can be shown,
Genroku Chushingura, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (IMA Productions/Shochiku
Films, 1941), offers students a chance to view scenes depicting the actual events
of the story, not the play. This version has been considered a 1941 propaganda
film calling for a return to nationalism and the values of earlier Japanese culture.
For an excellent overview of the film, refer to Darrell William Davis' book, Picturing
Japaneseness: Monumental Style, National Identity, Japanese Film (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1996). The quiet beauty and deliberately understated
violence of this film make it an excellent teaching tool for film study and present
a sharp contrast to the flamboyant style of the Bunraku/Kabuki play.
- Few
if any full length productions of the play are available on video, but a recent
tape made to explain Kabuki as an art form is available through NHK as part of
a three-part set entitled, Japanese Culture: Old and New. The specific
video is entitled, Kabuki: Tradition in Today's World and is produced by
the Mid-Atlantic Region Japan-in-the-Schools (MARJiS) Program at University of
Maryland, College Park, Maryland, and NHK Enterprises (1990. Color. 29 min.).
This tape includes numerous clips from actual Kabuki performances, including Enya
Hangan's seppuku scene in Chushingura, and explains many aspects of Kabuki
drama that students will find fascinating. Included with the video is an instructional
guide, lists of follow-up student and intercultural presentations, opportunities
for interdisciplinary study, a list of similarities and differences of Elizabethan
public theatre and Kabuki theatre, a teacher background glossary, and a bibliography.
All of these tools can be useful in the teaching of Chushingura. Because
many students have little exposure to drama in other languages and from other
cultures, they may need to be made aware that the art form they will be studying
will probably sound quite unfamiliar and unusual to them and will incorporate
stylized music and movement very different from what they know about Western theatre.
This art form has become popular throughout the world, and touring companies from
Japan regularly travel around the world presenting plays to packed audiences of
enthusiastic theatre goers. Kabuki as theatre is wonderfully flamboyant in its
acting, staging. and storytelling. Students may gain a better opportunity to appreciate
the tape if they can see photographs or hear some introductory information about
and viewing of Kabuki.
- Entry into a discussion of revenge as it relates
to today's films with which students are familiar can offer a segue into the treatment
of revenge in other cultures, specifically Japan. Alternative ways of integrating
this literature may include beginning the study of Chushingura at the end
of the Hamlet study by means of the revenge link or the comparison/contrast
of Elizabethan drama with Bunraku and Kabuki drama. Possible combinations of the
works may include in-class reading and close analysis of Hamlet with concurrent
outside reading of Chushingura, short concurrent outside readings of Hamlet
and Chushingura for immediate comparison, or a study of Hamlet followed
by Chushingura. Analysis of film clips may be integrated during or after
the study of the plays.
- For more resources related to this unit, see
Edo Art in Japan: 1615-1868
from the EDSITEment-reviewed National Gallery of
Art; at this site you will find a collection of art and artifacts from the
Edo period of Japan from the National Gallery of
Art's recent exhibition. (The original exhibition included Kabuki garments,
ukiyo-e, and an online Virtual Edo tour that is also available on disk.)
See also Kabuki
for Everyone, which contains a history of kabuki and links to related sites
(especially helpful is the Genroku Period section). For a wealth of knowledge
in early periods of Japanese art, see the pmjs
Interdisciplinary Forum.
Suggested Activities
1. Comparing Hamlet and Chushingura
2. Analyzing Film Versions
and Videotaped Performances of Chushingura and Hamlet 1.
Comparing Hamlet and Chushingura - Read and discuss Act I
of Hamlet (for activities and discussion questions, see the complementary
EDSITEment lesson, Hamlet
and the Elizabethan Revenge Ethic in Text and Film. Discuss with your students
the nature of revenge tragedy in Elizabethan times, sharing with them the student-oriented
materials Francis Bacon:
On Revenge and Ian Johnston's Introductory
Lecture on Shakespeare's Hamlet; for further information, refer also
to the Cambridge edition of Hamlet. These sources will help students to
understand prevailing attitudes toward revenge in Elizabethan England and the
context of revenge in Hamlet.
- Once students are sensitized to
the nature of revenge in Elizabethan society and in Hamlet, they are ready
to explore the nature of revenge in Chushingura. Students will find the EDSITEment
website Bushido:
The Way of the Warrior helpful to acquaint them with the ethic of the
samurai and the nature of revenge as it relates to the true story of the 47 ronin.
This site includes information from the Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
and summaries of the actual events of Chushingura and of Chushingura, or the
Treasury of Loyal Retainers, the Bunraku/Kabuki play.
- Once students
have traced the actual events of the revenge, ask them to read pages1-7 of Donald
Keene's Introduction to the text or go online to find summaries of the
historical events of the revenge of the 47 ronin compared to the events in the
Bunraku/Kabuki play Chushingura
or the Treasury of the Loyal Retainers. Ask them to write parallel outlines
of the events and corresponding characters so that they can observe the changes
that helped the play pass the censors of the period. These parallel outlines will
also help them when viewing the video of Genroku Chushingura, which reenacts
the original events on which the play is based. Then discuss with them the similarities
and differences of the stories, noting the similarities of characters' names and
some of the key events. Donald Keene writes about some of the changes made to
the Bunraku play as it was adapted for the Kabuki theatre. (pages 22-25). Have
students speculate which additions to the actual events seem related to the flamboyant
nature of the Kabuki theatre and the possibility of spectacle onstage. EDSITEment's
website Teaching and
Learning About Japan provides students with basic information about the Bunraku
puppet theatre and Kabuki theatre to help them with understanding the art
forms from which Chushingura, or the Treasury of Loyal Retainers comes
.
- Discussion of the nature and treatment of revenge in Chushingura includes
the establishment of Moronao as critical and disrespectful in his treatment of
both Wakasanosuke and Hangan; Wakasanosuke's determination to kill Moronao because
of his mistreatment; Mononao's attempted seduction of Lady Kaoyo, Hangan's wife;
and Lady Kaoyo's rebuffs. Discuss with the students the juxtaposed plots of Wakasanosuke's
and Hangan's desire for revenge. Then compare these plots to the juxtaposed plots
of Hamlet's and Laertes' quest for revenge. After Moronao's taunts and Hangan's
outburst of violence, the juxtaposition of Yakushiji's contemptuous remarks to
Hangan with Hangan's respectful submission to the shogun's command to commit seppuku
and his concern for his guests' comfort create a striking contrast, much like
the contrast between King Hamlet and Claudius that Hamlet and the Ghost describe.
What Hamlet and the Ghost can only allude to because of the past events of King
Hamlet's recent death, Moronao and Hangan can depict visually because of the immediate
unfolding of the events onstage. Hangan's final words to Yuranosuke, "Avenge me!"
echo the Ghost's final words to Hamlet as he departs at dawn. However, in Act
IV of Chushingura, Hangan's "dagger as a memento" makes concrete the pain and
injustice Hangan has suffered for his understandable yet intolerable offense.
The narrator's description of Yuranosuke's response to the dying words could well
be the description of Hamlet upon hearing the Ghost's final words. A key word
to describe these men and their purposes is the word "noble"; yet this word will
give Yuranosuke "a name for loyalty and rectitude to resound through all the ages"
but will drive Hamlet to bring about the destruction of Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern, as well as Laertes and Claudius.
- Act III, scene iv
of Hamlet, often considered the turning point of the drama, compares interestingly
with Act VII of Chushingura, considered the "high point" of the play (page
14). Each involves the hero's "antic disposition" being questioned and challenged,
his unseeing stabbing of one of the villain's henchmen, his anger over the villainy
itself and his mistreatment, and the tears and anguish of the woman present. Ask
students to point out the similarities and the differences of these key scenes
and the effects of the scenes, citing points from their study of Elizabethan and
Tokugawa attitudes toward revenge.
- In Act IV, scene v of Hamlet,
Claudius's coercion of Laertes to murder Hamlet provides a direct comparison with
the Ghost's commands to Hamlet. Both father figures play on the son's love of
and loyalty to his father, but the Ghost motivates Hamlet with the description
of King Hamlet's death and Gertrude's seduction yet provides no guidance to Hamlet's
revenge other than to avoid tainting his mind and hurting his mother. Claudius,
however, does not dwell on the father's death as he did in Act IV, scene v, when
he first "juggles" with Laertes, but focuses instead on what Laertes can do to
prove he is a loyal son by punishing Hamlet. Thus Claudius generates a dishonorable
plan of revenge for which Laertes can "be the instrument" of Hamlet's destruction.
Discuss with students the differences in Claudius' motivating techniques when
compared with the techniques of King Hamlet and with the few words and actions
of Enya Hangan, that stand as a motivating force for the vengeance of his loyal
samurai.
- Act V, scene ii provides students an opportunity to assess and
compare Laertes's corrupt revenge with Hamlet's and Yuranosuke's revenge and to
evaluate and compare Hamlet's destruction of others' lives with Laertes's illegal
and lethal use of his rapier. Yuranosuke's methods, as depicted in the play, reflect
his honor and determination in orchestrating the plot that brings about the death
of Moronao but also Hangan's loyal retainers. Of further interest at this time
particularly are the basic similarities and differences of Elizabethan and Kabuki
theatrical conventions, as well as the similarities and differences in Hamlet's
and Yuranosuke's uses of "an antic disposition," their evaluations of self and
commitment, and their physicality in taking revenge. Discuss with students the
functions of the soliloquy as an Elizabethan dramatic convention for characters
to share their innermost thoughts with the audience and ponder key questions about
their lives and situations and how it becomes a vehicle for Hamlet's assessment
of self, situation, and philosophy. Then ask students how the lack of this convention
in Japanese traditional drama impacts on Chushingura and the implications
for characterization and for plot. Also discuss the use of the narrator in the
Bunraku and Kabuki tradition and how the narrator impacts on the play itself.
Then ask how the lack of narrator impacts on Hamlet as a drama. A comparison
of Claudius and Moronao and their deaths also provides opportunities for discussion
of what constitutes villainous behavior in their cultures and justice versus revenge.
Finally, the deaths associated with each plot and the attitudes toward death,
especially suicide, provide students with different cultural orientations to life
and its value in relation to honor and loyalty. From Hamlet's first soliloquy
and Hangan's mandated seppuku to the announcement of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's
deaths and the seppuku foreshadowed for the ronin at the close of Chushingura,
the loss of life in these plays, whether pitiful or valiant, cowardly or ironic,
reflects a world in which good as well as evil must suffer but concepts such as
honor and loyalty provide the context for life's meaning.
2.
Analyzing Film Versions and Videotaped Performances of Chushingura and
Hamlet Discussing clips from several
film interpretations of these two plays offers students the opportunity to identify
the choices directors made as they moved their visions from page to film. It also
allows students a chance to compare a film clip from a stage performance of the
Kabuki play to a film depiction of the original events that inspired the Kabuki.
The traditional Kabuki art form, costuming, stylized movement, and vocal patterns
contrast vividly to the Mizoguchi film, set in the time period of the real events,
with costumes and sets of that period. - Chushingura (from
Japanese Culture: Old and New/Kabuki: Tradition in Today's World). Enya
Hangan (Lord Asano character) commits seppuku. His ceremonial suicide leads to
his whispers of revenge and giving of a weapon to Yuranosuke (Kuranosuke Oishi
character). This weapon becomes important again at the end of the play. Compare
his language and stylized Kabuki movement and delivery to the Ghost's command
to Hamlet in text and on screen. Have students note Hangan's white kimono and
surroundings as traditional color symbolizing death and Yuranosuke's response.
Discuss with students the nature of respect and honor shown by Hangan and the
retainers.
- Genroku Chushingura (Mizoguchi). Death of Lord Asano
is not on screen. Officials conduct inventory of his possessions as he nears his
death. As his death occurs, viewers watch instead the ritual actions of his wife
and the cropping of her hair. The severing of her hair parallels the severing
of his life. Compare the staging of the death and Lord Asano's command with the
Kabuki staging and with the command in Branagh's Hamlet. Also compare to
Branagh's deliberate flashback of King Hamlet's death rather than focusing on
the Ghost and Hamlet as Shakespeare does. Ask students to speculate why Shakespeare
did not include the death and possible reasons for its exclusion. Further exploration
by students can lead toward a better understanding of censorship during the Elizabethan
period compared to censorship during the Tokugawa period.
- Genroku
Chushingura (Mizoguchi). The presentation scene of Kira's head at Lord Asano's
gravesite portrays the original Chushingura story set in the Tokugawa period
in which the actual events took place. Although commissioned as a "propaganda"
film, it shows no attack by the ronin on Kira's home, no death of Kira, and no
viewing of their actual seppuku. The film is often characterized as thwarting
or subverting the government's intention because of these omissions. However,
it quietly presents the honor, integrity, and dignity of the ronin in a film era
quite opposite (Davis, 131-180).
- Genroku Chushingura (Mizoguchi).
Compare the final scene of seppuku of ronin, especially Kuranosuke Oishi, to triumphant
onstage battle and foreshadowing of seppuku in Bunraku/Kabuki play. Discuss what
is gained and what is lost by such choices. In this film all of the ronin's seppuku
is off screen, but names of the ronin being called can be heard in the midst of
daily activities. Compare to the final scene in Branagh's Hamlett.
- Hamlet
Act V, scene ii (Ninagawa Yukio, 1988. Professional video of a live performance.
Japanese, no subtitles). This Japanese video records a theatrical performance
of the Ninagawa Yukio company and features a fusion of Japanese traditional costuming,
stage design, and some stylized vocalization and movement with Western equivalents.
Although no subtitles are provided, the plot and dialogue follow the text so closely
and are so clearly rendered that subtitles are unnecessary. Nonverbal cues include
Laertes' wearing of Western black for mourning and Hamlet's wearing Japanese white
for death in the last scene. Earlier, the play within the play is staged in Elizabethan
clothing; in the "closet" scene, the Ghost enters in traditional costuming of
the Noh drama from the Kabuki hanamichi. Fortinbras' attitude, final posture,
and modern military clothing, as well as his seated image on the throne in the
final tableau of the play, are quite chilling, especially with only Horatio's
weeping over the dead Hamlet while the rest of the characters crawl and then cling
submissively to Fortinbras. Compare to final court scene in Branagh's later film.
- After viewing one or more of these clips, discuss with your students
one or more of the following questions:
- What overall similarities do we
see in these plays from different cultures?
- What have we learned about
revenge in each culture?
- What has made these plays and stories live on?
- What are some ways modern films have changed these plays?
- What
do these film changes imply about directors' expectations of their audiences?
Extending the Lesson
Selected
EDSITEment Websites- Mr.
Shakespeare and the Internet [http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/]:
- Hamlet Criticism
[http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/playcriticism.htm]
Features numerous critical essays on Hamlet, including T.S. Eliot's famous "Hamlet
and His Problems" and Ian Johnston's "An Introduction to Hamlet."
- Hamlet
"Teacher's Guide and Student Activities," by Joel Sommer Littauer [http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/Hamlet/hamletwebguide.html]
Includes web sources, essay types and topics, as well as guide and student activities.
- Shakespeare Magazine
[http://www.shakespearemag.com/]
Includes issues focused on the teaching of Hamlet, including the magazine's first
issue, Spring 2002. Excellent articles to help with understanding Hamlet, teaching
Hamlet, and using the Internet to provide activities for students.
- "Teacher
CyberGuide: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," [http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/ham/hamtg.html]
by Kathryn Bayne. Includes links to text, plot, characters, study questions, activities,
and Internet discussions of Hamlet.
- Teaching
and Learning About Japan [http://www.csuohio.edu/history/japan/index.html]
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