 |
| Sita Tested (Unfairly) blogspot.com |
- I think its interesting, and indicative of the author's views, that Hanuman places such emphasis on why he does not think Ravana's wife could be Sita. The idea that Sita was so perfect that she could never sleep sprawled out or snore is absurd.
- I appreciate the cleverness of Hanuman. Letting the opposition capture you in order to either gain information or give it is a clever strategy. It is a also a fairly common literary trope.
- I again think that it is interesting that even the villains in this story seem to be highly intelligent and capable of providing wise council. I think a lot of times villains are written as one dimensional evil idiots. Giving them depth actually makes the heroes triumphs more impressive since they were not inevitable.
- I don't particularly love the lack of stakes in the story. When Lakna is burned to the ground I feel it should have a larger impact on the story. Inside it seems only to show that the gods can destroy and rebuild very easily.
- Honestly Vibihishana is the best character in this whole story so far. He consistently gives good advice and Ravana is an idiot for not listening. (Potential story from Vibhishana's point of view would be really fun)
- Predictably, Ravana's lack of wisdom is going to come back to bite him. I was very glad that Rama chose to trust Vibihishana instead of listening to Sugriva and Jambavan. The story about his ancestor was also a nice touch of parallel storytelling similar to the experience of Sugriva.
- I love that Sita is once again shown to be very smart. She doesn't fall for Ravana's trick with Rama's decapitated head.
- The reading guide says "the gods were puzzled by Rama requiring Sita to prove her purity" - same, Indian Gods, same. That whole scene is just ridiculous.
Bibliography
Narayan's Ramayana, Link to Reading Guide D.
No comments:
Post a Comment