Who is the Main Character in the Temple of the Golden Pavilion?

The main character in Yukio Mishima's novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is **Mizoguchi Aokiji**. He is a young acolyte at the historic Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan, whose complex inner turmoil and obsessive fascination with the temple's titular Golden Pavilion ultimately drive the narrative towards its devastating conclusion. Mizoguchi's journey is one of profound alienation, aesthetic obsession, and a desperate search for identity, culminating in his act of arson.

Key takeaways regarding Mizoguchi as the main character:

Mizoguchi Aokiji is the central protagonist.
His perspective and internal struggles form the core of the novel.
His obsession with the Golden Pavilion is the primary driving force of the plot.
The novel explores his psychological disintegration.
His actions, particularly the burning of the temple, are the climax.

Mizoguchi Aokiji: A Portrait of Obsession and Alienation

Yukio Mishima's seminal novel, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, is a profound exploration of beauty, destruction, and the tormented psyche of its protagonist, Mizoguchi Aokiji. While the titular Golden Pavilion itself is a powerful symbol and a focal point of the narrative, it is Mizoguchi, a young acolyte grappling with a profound sense of inadequacy and an overwhelming fascination with the temple's resplendent beauty, who undeniably holds the position of main character. The novel is intricately woven around his internal landscape, his perceptions, and his destructive trajectory.

Mizoguchi's existence is defined by a profound sense of alienation, both from the world and from himself. Born with a severe stutter, he finds communication a constant struggle, reinforcing his feelings of isolation. This physical impediment becomes a potent metaphor for his inability to fully connect with others or articulate his innermost thoughts and desires. He is a character perpetually on the outside looking in, observing the world and its inhabitants with a detached, often envious, gaze.

His life takes a pivotal turn when he is sent to serve at Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, a Zen Buddhist temple renowned for its breathtaking beauty. The temple, with its shimmering gold leaf exterior reflecting majestically in the surrounding pond, becomes an object of Mizoguchi's intense and all-consuming obsession. He doesn't see the pavilion as a place of spiritual devotion or historical significance in the conventional sense. Instead, it transforms into an embodiment of perfect, unattainable beauty, a stark contrast to his own perceived ugliness and imperfections.

The Allure of the Golden Pavilion

The Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji, is more than just a setting in Mishima's novel; it is a character in its own right, albeit an inanimate one, that profoundly influences the central figure. For Mizoguchi, the pavilion represents everything he feels he is not: radiant, perfect, and eternally captivating. His fascination is not born of religious fervor but of an almost pathological aesthetic adoration. He views the pavilion as a symbol of an ideal world, untouched by the vulgarity and imperfection of human existence. This idealized vision fuels his internal torment and his growing disconnect from reality.

Mizoguchi's internal monologues reveal a man wrestling with his own perceived worthlessness. His stutter, his physical appearance, and his social awkwardness all contribute to a deep-seated inferiority complex. He projects these insecurities onto the world, seeing himself as inherently flawed and unworthy of experiencing true beauty or happiness. The Golden Pavilion, therefore, becomes a receptacle for his aspirations and his despair. He yearns to possess its beauty, to merge with it, or, failing that, to destroy it so that no one else can experience its perfection while he remains excluded.

The pavilion’s cyclical history—its reconstruction after fires—further captivates Mizoguchi. He sees a parallel between the temple’s ability to be reborn and his own desperate desire for a transformative experience, a rebirth from his own perceived imperfections. However, his understanding of beauty is perverted; he cannot appreciate it as something to be cherished and preserved. Instead, his aesthetic sensibility is intertwined with a destructive impulse, a belief that true beauty can only be experienced through its annihilation.

Mizoguchi's Relationships and Their Impact

Mizoguchi’s interactions with other characters serve to highlight his isolation and the complexities of his internal world. These relationships are often strained, marked by his inability to communicate effectively and his tendency to project his own issues onto others.

Tsurumaki: The Prosthetic Leg and Symbol of Unfulfilled Desire: One of the most significant figures in Mizoguchi's life is Tsurumaki, a fellow acolyte who walks with a prosthetic leg. Mizoguchi develops a peculiar and disturbing fascination with Tsurumaki's artificial limb, seeing in it a tangible manifestation of a fabricated reality and a perverse form of beauty. His desire for Tsurumaki, which is largely unrequited and cloaked in a complex mix of admiration and revulsion, further complicates his emotional landscape. Tsurumaki’s physical difference, rather than mirroring Mizoguchi's own perceived flaws, becomes an object of his obsessive gaze, illustrating how his perception of others is filtered through his own distorted lens.
Yoshiko: The Idealized Love and its Shattering: Mizoguchi also becomes fixated on Yoshiko, a beautiful prostitute. He initially views her as an embodiment of purity and grace, an ideal to which he clings. However, his idealized perception of Yoshiko is inevitably shattered by the realities of her profession and her own complex life. This disillusionment mirrors his growing disillusionment with the unattainable perfection he perceives in the Golden Pavilion. His encounters with Yoshiko expose the gap between his fantasies and the harsh realities of human relationships, intensifying his feelings of despair and inadequacy.
The Abbot: A Figure of Authority and Disappointment: The Abbot of Kinkaku-ji represents the spiritual authority and guidance that Mizoguchi desperately seeks but ultimately fails to find. The Abbot's pronouncements on beauty and spirituality often fall on deaf ears, as Mizoguchi's own warped aesthetic philosophy takes precedence. The Abbot's attempts to counsel Mizoguchi are largely ineffective, further underscoring Mizoguchi's entrenched psychological state and his inability to accept conventional wisdom or solace.

These relationships, or rather Mizoguchi’s skewed interpretations of them, function as mirrors, reflecting his own anxieties, desires, and growing detachment from reality. They provide glimpses into the depths of his psychological turmoil, demonstrating how his internal world dictates his perception of external events and individuals.

The Path to Destruction

Mizoguchi’s obsession with the Golden Pavilion escalates from passive admiration to an active, destructive impulse. He becomes convinced that the pavilion’s perfect beauty is a mockery of his own flawed existence. The more he contemplates its splendor, the more he feels its beauty diminishes his own worth. This leads him to a terrifying conclusion: that the only way to truly possess or understand the pavilion, and perhaps even to achieve a sense of self-worth, is to destroy it.

His internal monologues become increasingly nihilistic. He grapples with philosophical questions about beauty, ugliness, and the nature of existence. He admires figures who have achieved notoriety through destructive acts, seeing in them a form of ultimate freedom and power. The idea of burning the Golden Pavilion begins to germinate, transforming from a fleeting thought into a meticulously planned endeavor.

The novel meticulously details Mizoguchi's descent into madness. His stutter worsens, his interactions become more erratic, and his grip on reality loosens. He sees himself as an agent of fate, destined to carry out this monumental act of destruction. The pavilion, in his warped perception, is not just a building; it is a symbol of an oppressive ideal, and its destruction will liberate him and, in a twisted sense, preserve its beauty in his memory forever.

The Climax: The Burning of the Temple

The climax of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is the night Mizoguchi sets fire to the Golden Pavilion. This act is the culmination of his years of internal struggle, obsession, and psychological deterioration. The narrative leading up to this event is rife with tension, as Mizoguchi grapples with his resolve and the inevitability of his actions.

When the night of the arson arrives, Mizoguchi is almost in a state of ecstasy. He feels a profound sense of purpose and liberation as he carries out his plan. The burning of the temple is described with vivid, almost surreal imagery. The flames consume the golden structure, transforming its radiant beauty into a spectacle of destruction. For Mizoguchi, this is not an act of sacrilege but a moment of ultimate transcendence. He believes that by destroying the pavilion, he is finally able to possess its beauty in a way that was previously impossible. He is freed from its oppressive perfection and, in its ashes, finds a perverse form of self-affirmation.

However, his triumph is short-lived. The immediate aftermath of the fire sees him apprehended by the authorities. Yet, even in captivity, Mizoguchi experiences a strange sense of peace. He has achieved his ultimate goal, and the world that once seemed so daunting and alien now appears somewhat less threatening, perhaps because he has made such a dramatic mark upon it. The burning of the Golden Pavilion becomes the defining moment of his existence, the act that solidifies his identity, however tragically flawed.

Thematic Significance of Mizoguchi as Main Character

Mizoguchi’s role as the main character allows Mishima to delve deeply into several profound themes:

The Nature of Beauty: The novel questions what constitutes true beauty and how it is perceived. Is beauty inherent, or is it a construct of the observer? Mizoguchi's destructive impulse suggests that the appreciation of beauty can be a deeply personal and even dangerous endeavor.
Alienation and Identity: Mizoguchi's struggle to find his place in the world, exacerbated by his stutter and his social ineptitude, is a central theme. The Golden Pavilion becomes a substitute for a stable identity, and its destruction is, in a sense, an attempt to forge one.
The Sublime and Destruction: Mishima explores the concept of the sublime, the awe-inspiring beauty that can also evoke terror. Mizoguchi’s obsession with the Golden Pavilion borders on the sublime, and his eventual act of destruction is a terrifying manifestation of this concept.
Aestheticism and Nihilism: The novel examines the potential for aestheticism, the pursuit of beauty above all else, to descend into nihilism, the belief that life is without objective meaning. Mizoguchi's pursuit of the perfect beauty of the pavilion leads him to a destructive and ultimately meaningless act.

Ultimately, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a character study. It is Mizoguchi’s internal world, his obsessions, his pain, and his eventual destructive act that propel the narrative forward. The Golden Pavilion is the object of his obsession, the catalyst for his actions, but it is Mizoguchi, the tormented acolyte, who is the true heart of the story. His complex psychological journey serves as a powerful and unsettling exploration of the human condition, the destructive potential of idealized beauty, and the desperate search for meaning in a world that often feels alien and unwelcoming.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Main Character of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

Who is the protagonist of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion?

The protagonist of The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is Mizoguchi Aokiji.

Is the Golden Pavilion the main character?

No, the Golden Pavilion is a significant symbol and a focal point of obsession but not the main character. Mizoguchi Aokiji is the main character.

What is Mizoguchi’s defining characteristic?

Mizoguchi’s defining characteristic is his profound obsession with the Golden Pavilion and his deep sense of alienation.

What drives Mizoguchi’s actions?

Mizoguchi’s actions are driven by his desire to possess the perfect beauty of the Golden Pavilion and his feeling of inadequacy in comparison to it, leading to a destructive impulse.

What is Mizoguchi's struggle throughout the novel?

Mizoguchi struggles with his stutter, his perceived ugliness, social isolation, and an intense, all-consuming aesthetic obsession that leads to his psychological breakdown.

What is the ultimate fate of Mizoguchi?

Mizoguchi burns down the Golden Pavilion and is subsequently apprehended by the authorities.