Week 9 Analysis: Literary Analysis of The Tale of Kieu

In The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du, fate and destiny play huge thematic roles throughout the story. Early on, Kieu is told of her grim fate: that despite her talent and beauty, she will face a life of hardship. This fate comes true, as her family is disgraced, she must sell herself into prostitution, she is raped, she fails to escape multiple times, she contemplates suicide and even attempts it once. However, Kieu also seems destined to be with the man she loves, Kim Trong, after they make a promise to marry each other. The theme of destiny comes through in both the dialouge between Kieu and Kim and in the description of their meeting. Du describes this meeting as, "Beautiful girl and talented young man -  what stirred their hearts their eyes still dared not say. They hovered, rapture-bound, 'tween wake and dream;" (Du, 553). Even at first sight, without saying a word to each other, they immediately feel bound together by the feelings in their hearts. When they finally do meet, they waste no time making this promise to each other known, with Kieu saying "'Although our frienship's still quite new, how can my heart resist your heart's behest? [...] I'll etch your word, our troth, in stone and bronze.'" (Du, 557) and Kim replying "'Henceforth I'm bound to you for life." (Du, 557) This description makes their relationship feel powerful, as though it could weather anything, which eventually proves true as Kim and Kieu are reunited at the end of the story, despite Kieu's terrible misfortunes. The tale ends with a reminder of the fates we are all bound to, with Du writing "This we have learned: with Heaven rest all things. Heaven appoints each human to a place. If doomed to roll in dust, we'll roll in dust; we'll sit on high when destined for high seats." (Du, 586) Du reminds us that ultimately, Kim and Kieu were only able to be together because of the will of heaven. Though Kieu was destined to suffer, her bond to Kim was her ultimate fate.

The bond between Kieu and Kim, which endures despite the hardships of Kieu's life, is best understood with the context of the author's life. Nguyen Du has born to a noble family in the Le Dynasty, however that dynasty was overthrown by a peasant uprising, and he was forced to pledge loyalty to the new ruler Gia Long. However, his family remained loyal to the Le Dynasty and hoped for its return one day, and spent a lot of time struggling in poverty because of this. Eventually, Du became an ambassador to the new dynasty, however the position had little power over anything. This was, in a way, selling himself in the same way that his character Kieu does, forced to submit to a new pimp but always remaining loyal to her true love Kim Trong, in the same way Du remained loyal to the Le Dynasty. Because fate is such a strong theme in The Tale of Kieu, it is likely that Du felt he had been fated to suffer under his new ruler, and wrote himself a happy ending to see a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and remain optimistic about the future.

Works Cited: Nguyen Du, "The Tale of Kieu" p. (546 - 586)

Comments

  1. Significant-Grab-488April 5, 2018 at 5:51 AM

    Hi Veronica! I found it interesting on how you explored the theme on fate in Du's literary novel. I think you did a good job of proving how that theme exists as you mentioned that Kieu suffered as her family was financially in debt and as a result of that, her life went through a downward spiral. I also liked your analysis as you helped me gain some form of positivity as you mentioned that it was also fate that reunited Kim and Kieu. I liked how you made the point that it was basically God's will that they be reunited and it was also through God's will that Kieu would be allowed to suffer. What I took away from this is that at the end of our sufferings, we will have a wonderful ending. The same idea was conveyed in "Song of Ch'un-Hyang" as she was tortured and imprisoned but in the end she was reunited with her husband Yi. Overall, I enjoyed your analysis and I am looking forward to your future assignment submissions.

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  2. Bobby MedinaApril 6, 2018 at 1:51 PM

    Hello Veronica!
    Great Analysis and I like that you connected the story with the context of the author's life, as it provides great insight as to where the author gets the inspiration for the events in the story and how they write the story. I didn't think about the themes of fate and destiny in this story, as I was mostly focused on connecting it to Ch'un-Hyang's story so it's nice to see another perspective on this story. Whereas Kieu already had her fate spelled out for her, Ch'un-Hyang was uncertain of her future but acted accordingly to her morals. Great work on your analysis and hope to see more great submissions!

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