Rashomon

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1915

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Summary

Background

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

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Discussion Questions

Literary Devices

Setting

The entire story is set at the gate of Rashōmon in the city of Kyoto, Japan. Akutagawa uses this setting, and the various features of it, to convey subtle commentary about the characters, the city, and Japanese society as a whole. The former servant is confined to the gate both literally and figuratively. He is trapped by the rain, which is heavy and relentless, lending a sense of gloom and sorrow to the scene. He is also trapped metaphorically, as, at the beginning of the story, he has nowhere to go. He has no household to return to, but he is unwilling to dive straight into thievery, so he is stuck at the Rashōmon gate. The gate itself is in a state of disrepair, home to bandits and wild animals and surrounded by abandoned corpses. The dilapidated gate connotes poverty and degradation, mirroring the servant’s circumstances as well as the overall decaying state of Kyoto. The servant only escapes the gate when he escapes his own moral dilemma and decides to rob the old woman; the fact that he escapes into the darkness of night symbolizes his descent into metaphorical darkness and corruption.

Irony

Irony is a literary device that is used when something contradictory or subversive occurs, usually as a product of a situation and intended to evoke humor, sympathy, or sorrow. Akutagawa uses irony in several ways. The most notable is the servant stealing from the old woman only moments after condemning her for stealing hair from a corpse. Until that moment, the servant had been in the midst of a moral crisis, torn between survival and honor. His actions are contradictory to his previous words and behavior. This occurrence is also ironic because the old woman’s survival logic is the very reason the servant robs her. The old woman tells the servant that, not only did the dead woman deserve to be stolen from due to her past immoral actions, but that the dead woman would not have been upset to know that someone else stole from her for the sake of survival. The old woman tells the servant this with the expectation that he will have sympathy and show her mercy, which makes his reaction—robbing her—shocking. Lastly, the dead woman is a tragically ironic presence, since she committed herself to a morally corrupt method of survival only to end up dead anyway.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary device that authors use to hint at upcoming events within a narrative. At the beginning of “Rashōmon,” the servant contemplates turning to thievery, as he has no other means of surviving. This foreshadows his decision to rob the old woman at the end of the story. The fact that he was dismissed from a samurai household is also a form of foreshadowing; it implies that he came from a place that upheld a code of honor, which means that the decision to abandon morality for survival is a difficult one. This reflects the way the servant swings back and forth in his convictions, going from a morally righteous man intent on defeating “evil” to a remorseless thief.

Foil Characters

Foils are two characters who reflect each other, but are also contradictory or opposed in some way. It is common for heroes and villains to be foils of each other; the characters may share similarities, but their paths and choices diverge. In “Rashōmon,” the former servant and the old woman are foils of each other. Both characters have ended up in their situations unwillingly; they are products of the overall decaying state of Kyoto. Like the servant, the old woman feels she must justify her immoral actions, which she does for the sake of survival. The old woman is also the catalyst for the servant’s change of heart; he follows in her footsteps, using her own logic as reason to rob her. Thus, both characters represent the themes of Morality and Moral Corruption and Means of Survival.