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Trao duyên is a remarkable excerpt in The Tale of Kieu, yet it is also emotionally profound and uses symbolic imagery, making it challenging for many students to analyze. To have the most engaging and insightful analysis, let's refer to the outline for analyzing the poem 'Trao duyên', sample 3 below!
Outline: Analyzing Thuy Kieu's Emotions in the poem 'Trao duyên'
1. Introduction
- Introduction to Nguyen Du and the work 'The Tale of Kieu'
- Introduction to the excerpt 'Trao duyên'.
2.Body
Position of the excerpt: From line 723 to 756.
Main content: Thuy Kieu gives back the love token to Thuy Van to help her connect with Kim Trong. At the same time, the excerpt also portrays the painful and tormenting feelings of Thuy Kieu when her love for Kim does not succeed.
a. Thuy Kieu's love token (first 12 lines of poetry)
- First 2 lines of poetry: Thuy Kieu uses words ('trust,' 'obey') and dignified actions ('begging,' 'respectfully') to express her plea, relying on Thuy Van.
+ “Trust”: Believing Thuy Van will help her.
+ “Obey”: Unable to refuse Thuy Kieu's plea.
+ “Begging,” “respectfully”: Dignified actions of lower-ranking individuals towards higher-ranking ones, also an act of gratitude towards the benefactor.
- The following 6 lines of poetry: She shares, explains her love story with Kim Trong to Thuy Van so she can understand the situation she is facing.
+ “Burden of love”: Thuy Kieu's love for Kim Trong. Due to a family crisis, Kieu sacrificed the word 'love' to complete the word 'filial piety.' The verb 'break' describes a sudden, unexpected breakup.
+ “Leave it to you”: Entrusting you with the burden of her fate, but actually a plea for you to accept her request for help.
+ “Fan of vows,” “cup of oath”: Images reminiscent of the vow of the two.
- Thúy Kiều uses references to “springtime” and “passionate love” to persuade Thúy Vân. Even if Thúy Vân agrees to this destined relationship, she will “smile in death” and be grateful to Thúy Vân.
-> The poem combines formal language (“ethereal spirit”) with colloquial expressions (“passionate love”, “homeland love”, “flesh and bone”, “smile in death”) in a harmonious way.
b. Thúy Kiều gives her love tokens to Thúy Vân (the next 14 lines of poetry)
- “The headband”, “the cloud painting”, “the piano keys”, “the scent of sorrow”: These sacred love tokens of Thúy Kiều and Kim Trọng represent their deep, inseparable love.
- Kiều contemplates her own death and misfortune:
+ Kiều imagines a future where Thúy Vân and Kim Trọng live happily together and she accepts her fate as a “doomed person”.
+ “The night pavilion”, “the broken willow body”,”soul”, “the cascade of resentment”: Words referring to death.
+ She only teaches Vân how to recognize her own soul returning => Making Vân unable to refuse her request for help.
+ While the tokens of love have been given, the bond of fate wants to be kept. Kiều is in agony, feeling sorry for her own fate.
c. Monologue with oneself and farewell to Kim Trọng.
- She is aware of reality (“broken branch, shattered vase”, “fate as fragile as lime”, “flower drifting astray”): Love shattered, she falls into tragedy, despair.
- She admits her fault, she is the one who betrayed love, who broke her promise.
- Farewell words to the lover, farewell to her love echo painfully.
-> The poetic voice carries deep anguish, reflecting the inner turmoil of the character Thúy Kiều.
-> She is someone who knows how to sacrifice for others, cherishing love and loyalty.
* Nguyễn Du was very successful in describing the character's psychology. The dialogues and monologues are combined in a reasonable way to demonstrate the psychological developments of Thúy Kiều.
* The traditional lục bát verse form and its unique characteristics have facilitated the poet in describing Thúy Kiều's fateful encounter.
3. Conclusion
- Reaffirm the value of the excerpt in the entire masterpiece “The Tale of Kiều”.
See sample: Analyzing Kiều's emotional changes through her dialogues in the excerpt of the Fateful Encounter.
