The Irony of the Servant’s Hatred - “Rashomon”
Akutagawa writes, “As the hair came out, fear faded from his heart, and his hatred toward the old woman mounted. It grew beyond hatred, becoming a consuming antipathy against all evil.” The servant hates the old woman before making out the impetus for her act of uprooting a corpse’s hair. The hatred is credited to Moral comparison, whereby the servant postulates that being a thief is a minor foulness relative to pulling hair off a corpse. Eventually, the servant steals from the same woman who he had ostracized initially. Through the woman’s clothes, the servant gets something that could warrant his short term sustenance.
Goi’s Apprehension - “Yam Gruel”
Upon arriving at Tsuruga, Goi finds that “there was a curious uneasiness in his (Goi's) mind. Above all, he was impatient for time to pass. Yet, on the other hand, somehow he felt that dawn, that is, the eating of yam gruel, must not come too soon.” Goi’s apprehension is ironic considering that he has been craving for yam gruel for six years. Typically, he would have been over anxious about commencing the yam gruel banquet. Goi wants his climax, of eating the yam gruel unrestrictedly, to be procrastinated which is something that he would not have done if he were “at a banquet held in the palace of Fujiwara Mototsune” where the serving of yam gruel is reduced due to the numerous attenders.
