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Analyzing the nostalgic passage in the excerpt of 'Trao Duyên'
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I. Outline Analyzing the nostalgic passage in the excerpt of 'Trao Duyên'
1. Introduction
- Introduction to the author Nguyễn Du
- Introduction to the excerpt 'Trao Duyên'
2. Main Part:
a. Summary:
- After sacrificing herself to save her father and brother, Kiều waits for the day to depart with Mã Giám Sinh.
- The night before departure, she reminisces about her painful love affair and seeks to repay the kindness to Kim Trọng. Taking advantage of Thúy Vân's awakening, Kiều relies on her sister to reciprocate for Kim Trọng.
- Kiều has passed on the commitment to Thúy Vân with intense pain. She expressed her entire heart to her sister with a respectful attitude, explaining the reason for the commitment.
=> Kiều's emotional development is extremely complex, revealing her suffering, difficulties, as well as her intelligence, cleverness, and sophistication.
b. Analysis:
- First six sentences: Kiều hands over memorabilia to her sister (including the hoop, the cloud-shaped paper, and the fragrant piece of silk).
+ Kiều's memorabilia are all simple, humble objects that evoke happy memories in their short love affair.
+ 'This fate ...common': Although Kiều hands over memorabilia to Vân, she turns them into shared items, but she does not forget her own love and destiny.
- The next eight sentences: Kiều's instructions to Thúy Vân.
+ Kiều consistently uses words and images evoking death, 'the wind wails sadly,' 'soul,' 'shattered willow body,' 'altar of the soul,' 'innocent victim.'
=> Her ominous premonitions about her uncertain future, the pain, despair, Kiều felt as if she had already died unjustly.
=> Through this, we see a heart full of pain and despair in Kiều before departing, revealing her loyal and steadfast heart for Kim Trọng's love.
+ Kiều instructs Vân: Repay the debt to Kim Trọng on my behalf, and at the same time, help me clear the injustice 'Rảy pleads ... injustice.'
=> The incessant torment and endless remorse within Kiều, along with the forebodings of an uncertain future. She remembers and cherishes Kim Trọng more than ever. She departs due to inevitability, out of filial duty, not wanting to forget her oath to Kim.
- General conclusion:
+ Fourteen lines are a major conflict, a significant contradiction in Kiều's heart. She gives her sister a token of love, hoping she fulfills the promise to Kim Trọng, but within her, there's so much bitterness and pain when she has to leave, parting from her first love full of happiness.
+ Artistry: The imagery in the poem is rich in expressive content, and the outstanding portrayal of internal monologue artistry highlights the extreme anguish in Kiều's heart.
3. Closing
- Reaffirming the issue:
II. Sample essay Analyzing the nostalgic passage in the excerpt of 'Trao Duyên'
When it comes to the artistic portrayal of character's inner thoughts through monologue in literature, perhaps no one surpasses Nguyễn Du. He successfully constructed remarkable internal monologues in 'The Tale of Kiều,' such as the passage where Kiều is at Ngưng Bích Tower or the excerpt Trao Duyên. While in Ngưng Bích Tower, Kiều describes her ceaseless pain when deceived into the green tower, homesickness, and lonely sorrow. In the Trao Duyên excerpt, she depicts the tragic breakdown of her love with Kim Trọng. After opening lines seeking her sister's help to reconnect her fate with Kim Trọng, Thúy Kiều painfully hands over to her sister the tokens of a love filled with happiness.
Thúy Kiều is an exceptionally talented and beautiful young woman. After a fateful meeting with Kim Trọng during a spring outing, they instantly fell in love, pledging their love under the moon, exchanging tokens of affection. However, unexpected hardships befell Kiều's family, forcing her to sell herself to Mã Giám Sinh to save her father and brother. On the night before her departure, she nostalgically recalls her passionate love with Kim Trọng. Taking advantage of Thúy Vân's awakening, she entrusts her sister to fulfill the oath to Kim Trọng on her behalf.
In the opening plea, Thúy Kiều revealed her innermost feelings of pain, torment, heaviness, and inexpressible difficulty. She addressed her younger sister with the same reverence as one would to a superior:
Trust, dear sister, in humility I speak,
Upon you, my plea, I respectfully lay at your feet.
She laid bare her pain and expressed the depth of her heart to her sister, revealing the reasons for entrusting her destiny. It is evident that Kiều's emotions are incredibly complex, as she unveils her suffering and torment, while also displaying her remarkable intelligence and cleverness.
When Thúy Vân finally understood and empathized, Kiều brought out each sentimental item to hand over to her sister:
The hoop with the cloud-shaped paper,
This fate, keep it, this item is now shared.
Though you may become a wife or husband,
Pity the unfortunate, surely, you won't forget.
Lost but still a bit of belief remains,
The piano keys and the fragrant piece of the past.
Each item, each item personally handed over by Kiều to her younger sister, from the 'hoop,' the 'cloud-shaped paper,' then the 'piano keys,' the 'fragrant piece.' All these mementos are closely tied to the happiest memories of Kiều's love, simple and humble, yet filled with so much joy and happiness. Looking at them, Kiều recalls the past, the moments of oath and promise under the moon in her short-lived fate with Kim Trọng. She hands them to her sister but gazes at each item with endless regret. Kiều hands over memorabilia, entrusting her fate to her sister, for Vân to help repay the kindness to Kim Trọng. Each of these memory items may seem trivial to Vân, but to Kiều, they represent the sky of memories, love, happiness, and the most beautiful oath in her life. That's why she earnestly advises her sister:
'This fate, keep it, this item is now shared.'
'This fate' refers to her relationship with Kim Trọng; she only keeps the memories, while the tangible items are handed over to Thúy Vân. From now on, these items will be 'shared,' previously belonging to Kiều and Kim Trọng, now adding Thúy Vân. Since the beginning of the conversation with Vân, Kiều has maintained an extremely calm and composed attitude, understanding that the destiny between her and Kim has come to an end. However, now, when handing over these tokens of love, she can no longer contain the emotions, the pain, the sorrow, and the regret surging within her. She hands over destiny not because she has stopped loving, not because she forgets the oath or the beautiful love story, but because of an unavoidable circumstance.
After bestowing the 'fate,' Kiều's heart grew heavier, filled with conflicts, tugs, and profound regret. Reason demanded she abandon her love for Kim Trọng, but Kiều's heart and emotions wouldn't allow it. A verse reads:
'Though you may become a wife or husband,
Pity the unfortunate, surely, you won't forget.'
Isn't this Kiều's self-pity? She pities herself, sees herself as the 'unfortunate one,' evoking sympathy. Kiều gives away tokens, but within, she cannot give away the entirety of her emotional connection: 'lost but still a bit of belief remains.' This will forever be her century-long promise with Kim Trọng. Kiều persuades Thúy Vân to send her love to her sister, and when Vân agrees, Kiều realizes her own internal conflict. She can't bear to let go of her love, as here, Kiều doesn't use the words 'give' or 'present' but rather 'keep'; she doesn't give everything to Vân but makes it 'shared.' It shows that Kiều isn't willing to give everything to her sister; she only does it out of necessity. This also demonstrates Thúy Kiều's incredibly loyal and profound love for Kim Trọng. She has to leave, so she hands her fate to her sister, for Vân to repay Kim Trọng. Each memory item might seem trivial to Vân, but to Kiều, they are a sky of memories, love, happiness, and the most beautiful oath in her life. Hence, she earnestly advises her sister:
'This fate, keep it, this item is now shared.'
Giving away the thread of fate, Kiều seemed to sense, in a dreamlike manner, her uncertain future. Hence, she left instructions for Thúy Vân, saying:
In the future, no matter when,
Burning that incense, compare it to this string of keys.
Looking out at the grass and leaves,
Feeling the wind rustling, hope you return.
The soul still bears the weight of the oath,
Shattered, like the willow body in the Nghi Trúc shrine.'
The verses depict signs of misfortune, conveying a sense of foreboding about death. Kiều employed a series of words and images related to death, such as 'rustling wind,' 'soul,' 'shattered willow body,' 'altar of injustice.' Would any elder sister confide such ominous words to her younger sibling? Perhaps this was her premonition of her own future, full of pain and despair. The verses now resonate with sadness, deeper and more profound, like Kiều's heartfelt confessions. The poetic tone becomes distant, hinting at vague premonitions and unease. Kiều thought she would die, become an 'altar of injustice,' and her soul burdened by the oath with Kim Trọng. Did she envision the tragedy of her life, a lonely and painful destiny? She imagined herself as a spirit, 'rustling' with the wind, returning to witness the reunion of Kim Trọng, Thúy Vân, returning to meet the beloved. The fate is over, the tokens sent, yet in her heart, she cannot forget the beautiful first love. Her struggles, pain, and despair reveal the intensity and depth of her feelings for Kim Trọng.
In the end, Kiều instructs her sister:
'The palace of ghosts, veiled in silence,
Rảy begs for a cup of water for the accused soul.'
'The palace of ghosts,' a place shrouded in darkness, situated between the realms of Yin and Yang, she only seeks a small sympathy, the remembrance of her loved ones, to 'beg for a cup of water' for her unfortunate soul. Kiều worries, arranges for her beloved, only to realize the misfortune of her destiny. That beseeched cup of water is her plea for someone to stay and cleanse the injustice for her. It indicates that, though she dies, she still desires and yearns to return, to be back with her lover, with her intense love.
On one hand, she instructs her sister to repay Kim's kindness, on the other hand, she pleads for her injustice to be cleansed to return. It is the profound conflict in Kiều's soul, a constant struggle and torment when her departure is involuntary. She doesn't forget her oath, hence, even in death, she can't escape. Could it be that within, Kiều is also foreseeing and worrying about her vague and dark future?
The fourteen verses conveying the exchange of love tokens in the Trao Duyên passage illustrate the deep internal struggles and conflicts within Kiều. She gives away tokens, hoping Thúy Vân will help fulfill her vow to Kim Trọng, yet she is torn, in pain, and bitterly nostalgic about leaving her first love with so many beautiful memories. Through Nguyễn Du's masterful portrayal of the inner world, we see a Thúy Kiều not only rich in compassion but also incredibly sensitive, brimming with love. The pain of a shattered love and Kiều's emotions are depicted with exquisite detail, evoking profound emotions in the reader.
