Feminism

Oseki’s dilemma in The Thirteenth Night is owing to a shift in feminine values. Her narrative states that Isamu’s sudden conversion was triggered by the birth of her son Taro. His violence is driven by the fact that she is “an uneducated woman.” This is even though she was raised in a time when girls were not required to attend school and that Isamu was aware of her background when he embraced her. It’s saying that he ridicules Oseki for being “too stupid to confide in” and that “he keeps [her] in his house only as a nursing mother for Taro” – Because of her poor education, Oseki is thought to be completely incapable of performing the roles of “wife” and “mother” as defined by Meiji tradition. Oseki’s step in changing the dehumanizing and commodification of women within male-dominated structures of demands and beliefs, as well as the constructed nature of feminine ideals and gender stereotypes.