Filial Piety and Chastity in Nguyen Du's The Tale of Kieu - Manusya ...

Filial Piety and Chastity in Nguyen Du’s The Tale of Kieuunderstand a part of Buddhism. On theother hand, knowledge of Buddhism canhelp readers understand The Tale of Kieumore clearly (reprinted in Nguyen NgocThien 2002: 568). The following exampleshows how the idea of Karma is portrayedin the story. As revealed in the story, thebad characters like Ma Giam Sinh or TuBa are punished. Meanwhile, the goodpeople like Kieu are rewarded after theyhave paid off their sins. As shown at theend of the story, Kieu can enjoy thereward of her good deeds.....and her previous sins have beenwashed out.Sometimes, heaven is alsoindulgent to the human beings:Those who have paid off theirprevious debts,May expect compensation in theirsentimental future. (p. 367)After having heard about Vuong’smisfortunes and the sacrifice of Kieu, KimTrong responds to Kieu’s request bymarrying Thuy Van, Kieu’s younger sister.He never gives up searching for Kieu.Towards the end of the story, Kieu isrescued by a Buddhist nun and returned toher family and loved ones. Here, the ideaof love is conveyed interestingly as it isrevealed that the subsequent marriagebetween Kieu and Kim Trong is notconsummated. They decide to livetogether as friends instead of as husbandand wife. As shown in the story:Of love and friendship theyfulfilled both claims-They shared no bed but joys oflute and verse.Now they sipped wine, nowplayed a game of go,Admiring flowers, waiting for themoon.Their wishes all came true sincefate so willed,And of two loves marriage madetwo friends.(Huynh Sanh Thong 1996: 167)Thus, their love is not connected tosexuality, drawing a sharp contrast withthe sexuality of the prostitution in whichKieu engaged during 15 years of misery.In fact, this kind of platonic love was newto the social context of the early 19 thcentury Vietnam. Traditionally, inVietnamese society, marriage was notbased on love but on an agreementbetween two families. Thus, it wasdetermined by consideration of factorssuch as wealth, social status andreproduction, love not being taken intoaccount. Marriage was related toreproduction and economic imperatives,and women had to rely entirely on men.Traditionally, Vietnamese women werecontrolled by ‘tam tong’ or the threesubmissions, which divided a woman’slife into three stages: when she was young,she had to obey her father; when married,she depended on her husband; if herhusband died, she had to obey her eldestson (Marr 1984: 192). Similarly, therelationships in the society were mainlycategorised into the ‘tam cuong’, the threesocial bonds, which included therelationships of ruler-subordinate; fatherson;and husband-wife (Pham Van Khoai2003: 65). Thus, the platonic love betweenKieu and Kim Trong would not beimaginable at the time the poem wascomposed. Moreover, a friendshipbetween a man and a woman, asdemonstrated in the relationship of Kieuand Kim Trong, did not fit any of the typesof social bonds described by Confucius.71