Changes

The main character, Genji, was a prodigy and a prince who used his beauty and charm to seduce women and kidnap girls. He married a ten-year-old girl named Murasaki.<ref>Arnold, Mary, "[http://ezinearticles.com/?Female-Resistance-to-Male-Authority,-Part-One&id=147595 Female Resistance to Male Authority, Part One]</ref>

The main character, Genji, was a prodigy and a prince who used his beauty and charm to seduce women and kidnap girls. He married a ten-year-old girl named Murasaki.<ref>Arnold, Mary, "[http://ezinearticles.com/?Female-Resistance-to-Male-Authority,-Part-One&id=147595 Female Resistance to Male Authority, Part One]</ref>

The character Murasaki is not to be confused with the author of the novel, who was not a child bride. Even though her life story is not the same as the author's, the character does represent the author in terms of personality and self-image. Some critics argue that Murasaki is tiresomely perfect, and that several of the novel's other female characters are more complex and interesting.<ref name=between>Tyler, Royall, ''The Disaster of the Third Princess: Essays on the Tale of Genji'', "[http://press.anu.edu.au/third_princess/mobile_devices/ch01.html Genji and Murasaki: Between Love and Pride]", ANU</ref> But for most readers, Murasaki — both the author and the character — is the central figure of the novel. Genji's many love affairs are less about infidelity, jealously, or romantic conquest than a device that allows Murasaki to describe and comment upon women of various status and situations.

The character Murasaki is not to be confused with the author of the novel, who was not a child bride. Even though her life story is not the same as the author's, the character does represent the author in terms of personality and self-image. Some critics argue that Murasaki is tiresomely perfect, and that several of the novel's other female characters are more complex and interesting.<ref name=between>Tyler, Royall, ''The Disaster of the Third Princess: Essays on the Tale of Genji'', "[http://press.anu.edu.au/third_princess/mobile_devices/ch01.html Genji and Murasaki: Between Love and Pride]", ANU</ref> But for most readers, Murasaki — both the author and the character — is the central figure of the novel. Genji's many love affairs are not just about infidelity, jealously, and romantic conquest, but also a device that allows Murasaki to describe and comment upon women of various status and situations.

Dealing with straying husbands is a recurring theme. In the “rainy night conversation," Murasaki advises a woman whose husband has strayed to let him know tactfully that she knows and cares, and so to win back his affection. This advise is intended for women of the middle and lower classes. For the upper class, marriage and infidelity are bound up with status at court. But this logic, Murasaki may feel that she is entitled to jealousy.

Dealing with straying husbands is a recurring theme. In the “rainy night conversation," Murasaki advises a woman whose husband has strayed to let him know tactfully that she knows and cares, and so to win back his affection. This advise is intended for women of the middle and lower classes. For the upper class, marriage and infidelity are bound up with status at court. But this logic, Murasaki may feel that she is entitled to jealousy.