Throughout the film Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa, as the story of witnessing an incident unfolds, the audience begins to see more and more the complete picture. However, as the film progresses, the truth becomes even more vague as the audience learns that the characters' accounts are not entirely trustworthy. In the end, viewers must ultimately decipher the truth for themselves. Although vague at first glance, upon closer inspection and analysis it becomes clear that each character involved in the incident, both past and present, is acting for personal reasons. Among these characters acting for hidden purposes is Masako, the wife of the now deceased samurai and rape victim of the famous bandit Tajōmaru. As the character who seemingly lost the most due to this whole incident, it is easy to write her off as only a victim as she presents herself in court, but seeing the event through the eyes of Tajōmaru, of the husband through the medium and of the woodcutter, his most sinister motivations come to light. Masako's initial intention was to end her relationship with her husband by any means that would eventually lead to her attempting to assuage her guilt by having her point of view validated by the court. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Masako was in a clearly unhappy relationship with her husband before their encounter with the infamous bandit Tajōmaru. Referring to their marriage, in the Lumberjack's second version of events, she states: “I was tired of this boring daily farce. » Although little is said directly about the couple before the incident, when her reactions to her husband in alternate versions of the event are reenacted, her true feelings are revealed. From the bandit's story, we can see that when faced with a bound husband and an armed bandit, her first action was to attack the bandit to try to protect herself, and not to untie her husband who could have pushed Tajōmaru away when she could. t. This action alludes to her goal at that time which could have been to escape alone. In The Husband's Testimony, Tajōmaru intends to convince her to be his wife, at which point she decides to accompany him, saying "Anywhere." Take me wherever you want. before asking the bandit to kill her husband. In the final version narrated by the woodcutter, she breaks down after her husband insults her for being with two men and she incites them to fight with their swords like real men for her. She even mentioned that she hoped Tajōmaru would save her from her relationship with her husband, but she eventually grew tired of both men's pettiness. Although it can be argued that in the priest's brief testimony the couple seemed happy, with the samurai even smiling at Masako, even the priest's account is tainted by his motivations. Throughout the film, he tries to continue to believe in the good side of humanity. As someone who tries to see the good in others, it's possible that portraying the couple as somewhat happy is part of his own mentality, even masking the truth from himself. Masako desperately wanted to get rid of her husband and was ready to break off their relationship by any means. Masako simply decided to take advantage of this unforeseen circumstance to achieve her goal. In the bandit story, she is seduced by Tajōmaru and tells him "One of you must die... ...I will go with the survivor." Here she shows no preference for her husband over the bandit.”