KIEU -- Part III -- Lecture -- pp. 113-67
Tu Hai and Family
A second customer, a General, turns up to buy Kieu from the second brothel, with "A tiger's beard, a swallow's jaw, and brows as thick as silkworms" (113). Note Du's use of nature imagery (and go to the De Cillis Collection and view the lacquerware of Tu Hai on the wall opposite the clock. He is shown in mother of pearl shell with exactly these characteristics and arrows in his back, standing up, deceased--see upright death of Lord Tu, p. 131). Once again it is not clear whether Kieu and Tu Haiare formally married, though note 2212 implies that as does the celebration on pp.117-19. They clearly share a strong love and are happy together. Tu Hai is a very popular general, but not venerated in Vietnamese history because he does not repel foreign invaders as did Tran Hung Dao (the Mongols) or The Trung sisters (the Chinese in 40 AD).
We now come to the popular trial scene with the theme of justice, or is it retribution? Ma Kieu and Giac Duyen are invited as honored guests which leads us to believe that Giac was not being duplicitous in Part II when she referred Kieu to the Bac family (107 et. ff.). Kieu first rewards Thuc, though using the ant in the cup metaphor from Miss Hoan, her earlier chief tormentor. Miss Hoan apologizes, reminds Kieu that she had had a change of heart and let her tend the shrine and Kieu forgives her and sets her free!! (I am reminded of the actions of all of the coup plotters and successive governments in
But the mercy is short lived. Bac Hanh, Dame Bac, So Khanh, Dame Tu, and Scholar Ma are not only executed, but tortured as well. (Perhaps that is why Diem was dispatched in the M113 armored personnel carrier built at the FMC plant on
Giac Duyen takes her leave with a promise of a reunion within five years guaranteed by another seer, Tam Hop. And in that five years Tu Hai is victorious in many battles, accompanied by his first lady, Kieu. The partnership is taken advantage of by Lord Ho Ton Hien whose entreaties convince Kieu to convince Tu Hai that Ho will be an ally, not an enemy. Alas, the end of Tu Hai, because of Kieu's actions (I am reminded of The Moor of Venice & Desdemona, but in that case it was the Moor who was convinced of the wrong thing). We have already noted the powerful death of Tu Hai, and Kieu is once again in captivity, this time playing "Cruel Fate" on her lute for Lord Ho.
And it appears that Kieu marries again (135), forced into it by her captor! And then we start back to the beginning with Kieu communicating with Dam Tien, lamenting her fifteen years of suffering under the cruel "wheels of fate" (137). The next part starts with Giac Duyen and the seer Tam Hop weighing the balance of Kim's actions "When judged for her past sins, Kieu must be charged/ with reckless love, but not with wanton lust" (139). Tam Hop continues:
"She caused one death, but saved ten thousand lives./She knew right thoughts from wrong, fair deeds from foul./ Whose merits equal her good works in truth?"(139).
Let's go back for a minute back to the opening stanza of the poem:
A hundred years in this life span on earth/
talent and destiny are apt to feud./
You must go through a play of ebb and flow/
and watch such things as make you sick at heart/
Is it so strange that losses balance gains? /
There is both the conflict of talent & destiny (individual actions versus fate) and the notion, explained in note 5 that "losses balance gains" refers to a "Chinese adage, which makes the common observation that no one is perfect or enjoys complete happiness, [which] has a Vietnamese equivalent in a folk saying:
'[who] gets this loses that'" (169).
In fulfillment of her dream, Kieu escapes from Lord Ho by jumping into the river- her second suicide attempt? - and after floating downstream is rescued by two fishermen who were there for the purpose of saving her and fulfilling Tam Hop's prediction of Kieu's and Giac Duyen's reunion within five years. And Dam Tien also appears again with a prediction, finally some good news:
with many days ahead, you shall fulfill/
your great past love, reap future happiness./ (141)
But what happened to Kim Trong, Kieu's great past love whom we last saw in Part I? (Their leave-taking is captured in another piece of lacquerware in the DeCillis Collection, which depicts Kieu and Van, Kim and young Vuong, Kim's horse and the mountains he will journey beyond. The next piece shows Kieu lamenting the absence of Kim. The third piece shows Kieu playing her pear shaped lute form Thuc, and the fourth Tu Hai, noted above)
Kim had come back to the awful news of Kieu's departure and the plot summary in lines 2775 et. ff. is worth noting, but I will not summarize nor quote it here. Kim takes care of the family and sends emissaries looking for Kieu, and to assuage his grief, the family arranges for him to marry Van, which you will recall Kieu had asked Van to do. On page 149 Van dreams that she will be reunited with Kieu, and Old Do, a clerk whom we have not met before, summarizes Kieu's life. This summary leads Kim to find Thuc to get the rest of the story, which continues to the top of p. 153 at which Kim's supposed death by drowning in the river is reported.
So the family makes an altar to Kieu, it is discovered by Giac Duyen, and we have arrived at the final resolution of the plot for the next 14 pages (remember that half are in one language, half in another-- effectively 7 pages of resolution.) There is little merit in my summarizing this portion. It should be read carefully to be appreciated. Note, though, the solution of Kieu's marrying Kim, but not sleeping with him-- she lives as a nun, because she has lost her chastity. He continues to live and have children with Van. Note also that the family thanks Buddha for the reunion.
Of Kim and Kieu:
"Of love and friendship they fulfilled both claims--/
they shared no bed but joys of lute and verse/ . . .
Their wishes all came true since fate so willed,/
and of two lovers marriage made two friends./ (165)
[ and I hope you the EWRT 2 students have enjoyed these pages of verse.]
Of the story:
"This we have learned: with Heaven rests 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./. . .
In talent take no overweening pride,/
for talent and disaster form a pair./
Our karma we must carry as our lot--/
let's stop decrying Heaven's whims and quirks./
Inside ourselves there lies the root of good:/
the heart outweighs all talents on this earth./ (167)
and finally the concluding lines
May these crude words, culled one by one and strung,
beguile an hour or two of your long night./ (167)
My wish for you is the same as the author's. I hope you enjoy your study of this great work. Like all great works of literature it returns to you what you invest in it, and you should return to it ten years from now to measure your own change. Its words will still be the same.
Musashi-bo Benkei and Tu Hai:
Japanese and Vietnamese Heroes, Dying Standing Up
Thoughts From Kayoko Sato
Have you ever heard of Musashi-bo Benkei? Tu Hai, in THE TALE OF KIEU, reminded me of this famous character in Japanese history. Benkei became avery faithful follower of the aristocratic warrior Yoshitsune. As a retainer, Benkei sacrificed his life to protect his master from the attacks ofYoshitsune's brother, Yoritomo. Even after being strapped with so many arrows and he was mortally wounded, he stood still, did not let the enemies go by and reach his master. Benkei's strong will to guard Yoshitsune kept his body "firm as rock and hard as bronze" (Du 131)--just like Tu Hai in the story--and this shows how devoted and committed he was. I feel that Benkei and Tu Hai were somewhat similar. I think not only was Benkei loyal to his master, but was proud of himself being a retainer of the great warrior who--Benkei thought he was-- worth sacrificing his own life. And Tu Hai, who was very faithful to his wife Kieu, and who agreed with her to stop expanding his niche and to have a truce, was killed by the government-- his foe. Like Benkei, he stood still even after he was dead Both Benkei and Tu Hai died after all, but one thing that I caught a glimpse in their death was that both of them were loyal to the people who they loved, and they died proudly. My interpretation of Tu Hai may be wrong, but are they not they similar? I think it is very interesting. Regards, Kayo Sato
PS I really enjoyed reading THE TALE OF KIEU (although it was pretty tough to understand!)
