Usage of Characterization In Ryonosuke Akutagawa’s Rashomon Essay

Usage of Characterization In Ryonosuke Akutagawas Rashomon disdain coming from a dissimilar background than most other authorsthat require so far been studied, Ryonosuke Akutagawa still wrote storiesthat included similar ideas like subjective and external conflict,sacrifice of whizzself for a higher cause, murder, human flaws and manyothers. In addition to that, Akutagawa also apply common literaryelements like motifs, symbols, token of view and irony. However, oneelement that is prevalent in almost only of his works ischaracterization. In two of his short stories, Rashomon and The Martyr,characterization is used to resurrect their respective themes inRashomon, characterization is as important in twist up thetheme as in The Martyr.In Rashomon, characterization is used to show the theme that thedesperate situations that a soul faces can result in the resortingto means that via media morals, and can make up lead to hypocrisy.Akutagawa does this by dint of narration and b ehavior of the character.At the beginning of the story, the protagonist is faced with the dilemma of either being honest and dying of starvation, or to be athief and steal from the corpses that were scattered around. Howevereven after often snips consideration, he was still unable to muster enoughcourage to rationalize the conclusion that he must suffer a thief(Akutagawa 34). by this, it is evident at this point, theprotagonist was still somewhat reluctant to compromise his morals evenfor survival, and if possible, he would definitely consider othermeans. With time though, the protagonist does eventually decide tocompromise his morals, and he did not even have to wonder whether heshould starve to death or become a thief. ... ...gh they may have shown approval initially.In the two different stories, characterization is used to prove thethemes, and in both cases, they are equally important. However, thereare similarities and differences as to how characterization is used.One simil arity that they look at is the fact that in both stories,characterization is mainly shown done narration. therefore in bothcases character traits can be extracted through speech, exclusively they aremore apparent in the narration. On the other hand, one difference isthat in Rashomon, there was only a single person that was beingcharacterized to prove the theme, and this character was less of aone-dimensional picture than the characters in The Martyr, whereas inthat story, a whole community was being characterized through theiractions, as well as through the introspection of one member of thecommunity.