The Love Suicides

The Love Suicides

Question 1

The world of The Love Suicides depicts a strange world where people have a certain belief about love and what it means to be in love. More importantly, the beliefs that guide the conduct and behaviors of each community member are well displayed by the characters in the play. For instance, the Japanese culture in which the play is based practices ‘giri.’ This is where one is born of a certain rigid and inevitable class. This phenomenon is what shapes the life of Jihei and Koharo who are so despairingly in love. For them, they do not care the burden their society put on them, but rather find love no matter the shame. The character’s situation is life in a part of the world and the past years of our country. The relationship between people of color and white was not taken lightly but defined the struggle for individual liberty.

The characters are driven to act in ways that end their lives only in pursuit of happiness. The nature of their world is driven, and one may feel that it is a little misunderstood. However, these characters act in such ways because they believe that death does not signify the end of their lives and that they will be reunited after death. This world of The Love Suicides presents the idea that lovers who died together will ultimately be reunited and reborn in the same lotus calyx.

The motivations of Jihei and his mistress Koharu are familiar to the modern world. Some people get entangled in love that the world opposes, and thus they seek to move to make it work. However, their decision to commit suicide to be together through death is misguided. Jihei is already married to Osan and Koharu is his mistress. Therefore, their actions mean that he will desert his family. One can judge the decision by Jihei to fight for a prostitute when he has a family to take care of. Withholding judgment will mean that people lack conviction and will support cruel acts in the name of love

Jihei chooses to fight for love by pursuing Koharu, a prostitute. This action is out of touch with reality as prostitution is a taboo. Women or men that practice the vice are regarded as out of touch with the expectation of their community. In extreme cases in some part of the world people with promiscuous behaviors are jailed or executed. This is not the case in the world of The Love Suicides. The play unfolds with a varied twist which ranges from poignancy to humor. For instance, it is lovable that after the lovers commit suicide, they live happily ever whereas we know nothing of life after death. This was necessitated by the society believes that one can find cherish by being reborn after death. Therefore, Jihei and Koharu succeed in living an honorable life on earth and in heaven.