Talk:Murasaki Shikibu/@comment-25712820-20190206015214/@comment-33925214-20190206144716

Caramichael, you are right. It is important to consider the cultural and social context before reading something, or else your interpretation and analysis of the literary text will be extremely skewed. I agree that, back then, the legal age was something like 12-13 years of age; after all, people had far shorter lifespans without access to modern healthcare. We see this everywhere in ancient literature; for example, I think Mary, mother of Christ, was 16 at the time of Christ's conception. However, if you've actually read chapter 9, Genji literally rapes Murasaki no Ue (no, no, not the author). While the text is unclear and somewhat ambiguous, Genji attests that he could not control himself and Murasaki no Ue refuses to get out of bed. I'm fairly sure, given these two lines of evidence, that Genji raped Murasaki. And I'm fairly sure that rape is a no-no even in ancient cultures. We can all agree that rape is perhaps one of the most detestable crimes one can commit regardless of cultural differences if one wishes to remain human.