Mora, Kaki and Wanthong, Heroines Who Were Enslaved to Their Fate

Abstract

    This article aims to study the fate of female heroines in Thai literature whose behaviour went against the accepted custom of that time, specifically Wanthong, Mora, and Kaki. All of them were condemned as being bad and unfaithful women for having many sexual partners. This misbehaviour led them to meet misfortune.

The study found that the behaviour of both Mora and Kaki were strongly against the tradition of that time. Mora was an indecisive person. Although she had already had a husband, she still fell in love with a robber, an act that caused her husband to be killed. In addition to this, she agreed to have sex with a transformed hawk. Finally, Indra cursed her to be a gibbon. Similar to this, Kaki had sex with three men and always lied to survive. In the end she was floated out to sea.

Wanthong, on the other hand, was accused of being unfaithful even though she actually played a passive role to both the one who loved her and the one who she loved. Ultimately she was punished, paying the price of her predicament by losing her head.