Ancient Western Heroism
Ancient Heroism of Western and Eastern
Have you ever thought about the differences and similarities in the heroines in two far-away lands with two totally different cultural backgrounds in ancient time? The river of history is flowing slowly; every country and every era have its own heroine who is being recognized by their own ways. In the story of the Bible, a woman named Judith in ancient Israel who made the ignominious defeat of the Assyrians, an army bent on world domination. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a story was recorded in The Collection Yuefu Poems. Ancient and war-torn China, hundreds and hundreds of men were called upon to defend their homeland. Unknown to all, there stood one female among the soldiers. Disguised …show more content…
as her father, in order to take her father's place in the army, heroine Hua Mulan bravely defends her country with superior martial arts.
Comparing the stories of Judith and Hua Mulan, they reveal the different ideas of heroism contained in ancient Eastern and ancient Western cultures; while they are similar in their calls to adventure, they differ in the reasons they receive recognition from their communities and what their reaction …show more content…
were after accomplished their final tasks.
First of all, ancient Eastern and Western were both in the periods of chaos caused by wars and invasion by outsiders. Therefore, both Judith and Mulan shared similar reasons of starting their heroine’s journey. Both of them were born in the time some other colonies wanted to overrun their homeland. The city of Bethulia, where Judith was born and lived was attacked by Assyrian which was under controlled of Holofernes. Her village was blocked and there was no way they could escape from them. All the people, both young and old, or men and women were all in great desperate. The leader of the village claims they were going to surrender in five days since everyone was lack of food and water. When Judith heard the wicked words from him and she decided to make her own plan to save her people and defeat the invaders. Therefore, she called people together and announced:”I am about to do a thing which will go down through all generations of our descendants. Stand at the city gate tonight, and I will go out with my maid…” (“The Victory of Judith” 3). Judith started her journey simply because she wants to save her village and she wanted to protect her people from the invaders. Same thing happened in eastern of the world. During the North Wei Dynasty (386-557 A.D.), the Northern nomadic tribe was continually bothered by South tribe. Therefore, Khan, the leader of the Northern tribe required at least one man in each family should join in the army.
“Last night I saw the draft posters,
The Khan is calling many troops,
The army list is in twelve scrolls,
On every scroll there’s Father’s name.
Father has no grown‑up son,
Mulan has no elder brother.
I want to buy a saddle and horse,
And serve in the army in Father’s place.” (“The Balled of Mulan”)
However, Mulan’s father was very old and ill and she knew her father would never come back if he joined in the army. Meanwhile, her brother was only a small child that he was not qualified to join in the army. Whereas Mulan wanted her tribe to win the war and get rid of the disturbance of South tribe, she pretended her father and joined in the army. Looking through two heroines from different cultural background, it is obvious that both western and eastern suffered from successive battles. In brief, this similar trait brought up the similar Call of journey of Judith and Hua Mulan that both of them wanted to protect their family and people.
Secondly, it is inevitable that ancient western and eastern had different opinions toward the most important value they believed.
In ancient western, people valued those who had the spirit of adventure. Even though their extreme pursuit might cause them to achieve ‘by fair means or foul’, their spirit is still being recognized among their people. This is exactly Judith did to save her village. “All the people were greatly astonished, and bowed down and worshiped God…” (“The Victory of Judith” 6). After Judith succeeded in her assassination of Holofernes, everyone lived in the village was shocked since they cannot believe that a single young woman could risk her own life to deceive a lot of soldiers and get solo to Holofernes and eventually killed him. “Then all the women of Israel gathered to see her, and blessed her, and some of them performed a dance for her…”(“The Victory of Judith” 7) Everybody admired Judith’s spirit of adventure which brought them saved and quiet life again from the hand of the Assyrians. In sharpest contrast, Mulan was recognized by her community for different reasons. Although Mulan also joined in battle and killed a lot of enemies, the most important reason she was being recognized was her filial piety. There is a saying in ancient China, “Hundred good, filial first.” Every year, the emperor would give awards to those who behaved very well in filial piety. The Mulan was one of the examples of having filial piety. Later, Mulan was awarded by the Khan
for her filial piety when she returned from war and revealed her true identity. In a word, the different belief in values in eastern and western makes the reasons of heroine being recognized differ from each other.
Last but not least, the reactions of the heroines after achieving goals are also differ from Eastern and Western. In western, people believe God, since it is said that God create everything on the earth in the Bible. Most people believe God can decide what your future will be. Therefore, when western people start doing anything very important, they would pray God for his help and pray for God’s boon if they achieve their goal. “Praise God, O praise him! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night!” Judith prayed for God after she successfully killed Holoferne that her village was saved by her. What Judith did was very common during that time in western. In sharp contrast, Mulan did very different things after.
“The Khan asks her what she desires. Mulan has no use for a minister’s post. I wish to ride a swift mount
To take me back to my home.” (“The Balled of Mulan”)
Mulan asked for nothing for her greatest accomplishment in the war and her filial piety to her father from Khan. This was also very common happened during that time. In ancient China, to learn to be frugal and pride in whom you were and not in what you wear or possess was a very important virtue. People were taught by their teachers and parents in school of this thought very often and everyone who was plain and frugal were highly respected by their community. Therefore, with the influence of the culture, Mulan asked for nothing after she accomplished her goal and the only thing she cared was to come back home. In light of these facts regarding the differences in cultural background from Eastern and Western, the heroine’s reaction after they came back from their journey was very different.
To put it in a nutshell, the heroism from ancient western and eastern are similar in some way, but also very different due to the culture differences. Both Judith from The Bible and Mulan from The Collection of Yuefu Poems, their Call on Adventures are similar to each other because of their similar historical background that they were born in the periods of chaos of invasion of their homeland. Nevertheless, they differed in the reasons they were recognized by their community due to the different perspective towards their belief in values. Hence, Judith was recognized by her spirit of adventure and Mulan was recognized by her filial piety. Furthermore, the different behavior after Judith and Mulan also reflected the cultural differences from Western and Eastern. Judith prayed for God’s boon for her that she reached her goal, but Mulan asked for nothing for her award because plain and frugal were very important virtues as people believed at that time. However, are the heroism from Eastern and Western now still like what it was in ancient time?
Have you ever thought about the differences and similarities in the heroines in two far-away lands with two totally different cultural backgrounds in ancient time? The river of history is flowing slowly; every country and every era have its own heroine who is being recognized by their own ways. In the story of the Bible, a woman named Judith in ancient Israel who made the ignominious defeat of the Assyrians, an army bent on world domination. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a story was recorded in The Collection Yuefu Poems. Ancient and war-torn China, hundreds and hundreds of men were called upon to defend their homeland. Unknown to all, there stood one female among the soldiers. Disguised …show more content…
as her father, in order to take her father's place in the army, heroine Hua Mulan bravely defends her country with superior martial arts.
Comparing the stories of Judith and Hua Mulan, they reveal the different ideas of heroism contained in ancient Eastern and ancient Western cultures; while they are similar in their calls to adventure, they differ in the reasons they receive recognition from their communities and what their reaction …show more content…
were after accomplished their final tasks.
First of all, ancient Eastern and Western were both in the periods of chaos caused by wars and invasion by outsiders. Therefore, both Judith and Mulan shared similar reasons of starting their heroine’s journey. Both of them were born in the time some other colonies wanted to overrun their homeland. The city of Bethulia, where Judith was born and lived was attacked by Assyrian which was under controlled of Holofernes. Her village was blocked and there was no way they could escape from them. All the people, both young and old, or men and women were all in great desperate. The leader of the village claims they were going to surrender in five days since everyone was lack of food and water. When Judith heard the wicked words from him and she decided to make her own plan to save her people and defeat the invaders. Therefore, she called people together and announced:”I am about to do a thing which will go down through all generations of our descendants. Stand at the city gate tonight, and I will go out with my maid…” (“The Victory of Judith” 3). Judith started her journey simply because she wants to save her village and she wanted to protect her people from the invaders. Same thing happened in eastern of the world. During the North Wei Dynasty (386-557 A.D.), the Northern nomadic tribe was continually bothered by South tribe. Therefore, Khan, the leader of the Northern tribe required at least one man in each family should join in the army.
“Last night I saw the draft posters,
The Khan is calling many troops,
The army list is in twelve scrolls,
On every scroll there’s Father’s name.
Father has no grown‑up son,
Mulan has no elder brother.
I want to buy a saddle and horse,
And serve in the army in Father’s place.” (“The Balled of Mulan”)
However, Mulan’s father was very old and ill and she knew her father would never come back if he joined in the army. Meanwhile, her brother was only a small child that he was not qualified to join in the army. Whereas Mulan wanted her tribe to win the war and get rid of the disturbance of South tribe, she pretended her father and joined in the army. Looking through two heroines from different cultural background, it is obvious that both western and eastern suffered from successive battles. In brief, this similar trait brought up the similar Call of journey of Judith and Hua Mulan that both of them wanted to protect their family and people.
Secondly, it is inevitable that ancient western and eastern had different opinions toward the most important value they believed.
In ancient western, people valued those who had the spirit of adventure. Even though their extreme pursuit might cause them to achieve ‘by fair means or foul’, their spirit is still being recognized among their people. This is exactly Judith did to save her village. “All the people were greatly astonished, and bowed down and worshiped God…” (“The Victory of Judith” 6). After Judith succeeded in her assassination of Holofernes, everyone lived in the village was shocked since they cannot believe that a single young woman could risk her own life to deceive a lot of soldiers and get solo to Holofernes and eventually killed him. “Then all the women of Israel gathered to see her, and blessed her, and some of them performed a dance for her…”(“The Victory of Judith” 7) Everybody admired Judith’s spirit of adventure which brought them saved and quiet life again from the hand of the Assyrians. In sharpest contrast, Mulan was recognized by her community for different reasons. Although Mulan also joined in battle and killed a lot of enemies, the most important reason she was being recognized was her filial piety. There is a saying in ancient China, “Hundred good, filial first.” Every year, the emperor would give awards to those who behaved very well in filial piety. The Mulan was one of the examples of having filial piety. Later, Mulan was awarded by the Khan
for her filial piety when she returned from war and revealed her true identity. In a word, the different belief in values in eastern and western makes the reasons of heroine being recognized differ from each other.
Last but not least, the reactions of the heroines after achieving goals are also differ from Eastern and Western. In western, people believe God, since it is said that God create everything on the earth in the Bible. Most people believe God can decide what your future will be. Therefore, when western people start doing anything very important, they would pray God for his help and pray for God’s boon if they achieve their goal. “Praise God, O praise him! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night!” Judith prayed for God after she successfully killed Holoferne that her village was saved by her. What Judith did was very common during that time in western. In sharp contrast, Mulan did very different things after.
“The Khan asks her what she desires. Mulan has no use for a minister’s post. I wish to ride a swift mount
To take me back to my home.” (“The Balled of Mulan”)
Mulan asked for nothing for her greatest accomplishment in the war and her filial piety to her father from Khan. This was also very common happened during that time. In ancient China, to learn to be frugal and pride in whom you were and not in what you wear or possess was a very important virtue. People were taught by their teachers and parents in school of this thought very often and everyone who was plain and frugal were highly respected by their community. Therefore, with the influence of the culture, Mulan asked for nothing after she accomplished her goal and the only thing she cared was to come back home. In light of these facts regarding the differences in cultural background from Eastern and Western, the heroine’s reaction after they came back from their journey was very different.
To put it in a nutshell, the heroism from ancient western and eastern are similar in some way, but also very different due to the culture differences. Both Judith from The Bible and Mulan from The Collection of Yuefu Poems, their Call on Adventures are similar to each other because of their similar historical background that they were born in the periods of chaos of invasion of their homeland. Nevertheless, they differed in the reasons they were recognized by their community due to the different perspective towards their belief in values. Hence, Judith was recognized by her spirit of adventure and Mulan was recognized by her filial piety. Furthermore, the different behavior after Judith and Mulan also reflected the cultural differences from Western and Eastern. Judith prayed for God’s boon for her that she reached her goal, but Mulan asked for nothing for her award because plain and frugal were very important virtues as people believed at that time. However, are the heroism from Eastern and Western now still like what it was in ancient time?