Your thoughts on... Karn? - Page 2

I love him☺️

Criticize him all you want,  I don't mind but he was the least confused soul believe me. He is what he is, he never tries to be something else. 

 There are several reasons mentioned everywhere and addition to them I love him for following :

1. Controversy : 😈😈

2. Because he irritates everyone😆😆 I find that quite fascinating quality, he just manages to do that without being present in flesh 😲 Hate him or love him but nobody ignores him. He is dragged in every debate. 

He plotted to please Suyodhana (by his own admission), committing crimes to advance himself. He attempted murder on children, arranged a sexual assault, and was the ruler of a kingdom which ran on sex trafficking of women and children. As a character, he was, without doubt, evil.

For a writer, Karna is perhaps one of the most fascinating characters to dissect, below only Krishna and Yudhishtira. The most boring characters (for a writer) are likely Arjuna and Bheema. Bheema is so straightforward that there is nothing to dig into. Arjuna leaves something to imagination, but again, he was extremely predictable: family first until faced with incontrovertible proof they were a problem.

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

He plotted to please Suyodhana (by his own admission), committing crimes to advance himself. He attempted murder on children, arranged a sexual assault, and was the ruler of a kingdom which ran on sex trafficking of women and children. As a character, he was, without doubt, evil.

For a writer, Karna is perhaps one of the most fascinating characters to dissect, below only Krishna and Yudhishtira. The most boring characters (for a writer) are likely Arjuna and Bheema. Bheema is so straightforward that there is nothing to dig into. Arjuna leaves something to imagination, but again, he was extremely predictable: family first until faced with incontrovertible proof they were a problem.

@red - can you elaborate on this? Sources?

Overall Karna as a character is glorified because he's the underdog and most people root for them. People also identify with many of his crisis' such as casteism, unfair favouritism etc.

Originally posted by: Eloquent

@red - can you elaborate on this? Sources?

Overall Karna as a character is glorified because he's the underdog and most people root for them. People also identify with many of his crisis' such as casteism, unfair favouritism etc.

(CE, Vol 7, Chapter 1177) This is where Karna offers 100 virgins as well as his wives and sons to any soldier who could help him spot ARjuna and Krishna

(CE, Vol 7, Chapter 1180)  This is during the argument with Shalya where Shalya taunts Karna with the sex trafficking ring in Anga.

Check the corresponding chapters in KMG. Both bits are there.

There are also quotes of Karna's own casteism and sexism in the argument with Shalya. The whole convo is revelatory of the man's loathsome character. 

Originally posted by: Sanskruthi

I love him☺️

Criticize him all you want,  I don't mind but he was the least confused soul believe me. He is what he is, he never tries to be something else. 

 There are several reasons mentioned everywhere and addition to them I love him for following :

1. Controversy : 😈😈

2. Because he irritates everyone😆😆 I find that quite fascinating quality, he just manages to do that without being present in flesh 😲 Hate him or love him but nobody ignores him. He is dragged in every debate. 

On the contrary he was the most confused character he apparently sided with his best friend duryodhan in the war but also gave a promise to spare his four "brothers".so i don't understand what he was trying to do  . Loyal to nobody not even to his best friend. I would say he was just a pawn in a game of dice whom krishna manipulated well  somebody who was petty enough to go forest and mock others miseries .

Originally posted by: .Lonewalker.

😆 

That was pretty....savage! 😆

 I know! I have a deep dislike for him. Besides, I feel very passionately and strongly about characters of literature 😳

I do have my reasons tho! Wink! 

I have another Theory about karna and that is the character itself is later interpolation. Because i fail to understand how kunti was able to hide her 9 months pregnancy its practically impossible that she bore a child in her womb for 9 months and nobody knew ??

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

(CE, Vol 7, Chapter 1177) This is where Karna offers 100 virgins as well as his wives and sons to any soldier who could help him spot ARjuna and Krishna

(CE, Vol 7, Chapter 1180)  This is during the argument with Shalya where Shalya taunts Karna with the sex trafficking ring in Anga.

Check the corresponding chapters in KMG. Both bits are there.

There are also quotes of Karna's own casteism and sexism in the argument with Shalya. The whole convo is revelatory of the man's loathsome character. 

I think someone already said this but I am still adding, 

Karna is NOT a victim of casteism. Suta isn't a lower caste to begin with. He was Suta which is a mixture caste created by inter caste marriage of Brahmin and Kshatriya. 

Casteism is an important issue and men like Ambedkar have given their lives dedicated to it. What Karna faced was nothing close to casteism. He was simply denied the knowledge of Brahmastra because he wanted to acquire it to kill Arjun. As per MB, Brahmastra is a divine weapon and hence it cannot be given to someone for the sake of using it for personal revenge that too unprovoked. There was no reason for him to hate Arjun apart from personal competition. 

Besides, as the quoted post says- he was a misogynist and disrespected women. Not saying this ONLY because of Draupadi. @HearMeRoar already threw light on this. I was just adding to it. 

As a literature student, there is something I wish to share here. The reason why Karna's character is so loved and celebrated is because people always love the underdogs. This is an accepted theory for audience analysis. The mindset of readers/audience is manier times tilted towards the character who has suffered. (Though here he didn't suffer much) 

I don't see how suffering is a characteristic to like though. Besides, how a great deal of suffering gives you the right to do wrong to others is also a mystery to me. Karn openly supported humiliation of a woman, bore unnecessary jealousy towards Arjun for no reason, continued conspiring against Pandavas despite them doing no harm to them. I don't see much to like about him. 

However, popular literature feels otherwise. Even Tagore himself painted a grey, unfortunate picture of him. 

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

 I know! I have a deep dislike for him. Besides, I feel very passionately and strongly about characters of literature 😳

I do have my reasons tho! Wink! 

Dislike him too, more so because I get annoyed by all the adulation he receives..which is undeserved. 

All characters have flaws in MBH. But in most contemporary depictions, he's portrayed as if he's sarva guna sampanna 🤪