Passive ambiguity in this passage (「あなたに向けられる視線」・「殿下が判断された」)

Question

A is a commoner right now. B is a high ranking commander. A ceremony just finished, involving A getting bestowed a role by the queen/殿下 as a reward for some good deeds. B was in the audience and was a very brief acquaintance of A, this is their first real conversation. The 殿下 had defended A during the ceremony against criticism from some of the nobility, and demanded that there will be no objections to A's new role.

A「ま、平民出身騎士の私もよくいびられてはいますけどね」

B「あなたも平民なのですか？」

A「はい──本来なら今日みたいな謁見には呼ばれませんけどね」

B「私はあの場にいましたし・・・多分あなたに向けられる視線が選民意識の高い貴族のものばかりではマズイと、殿下が判断されたのではないでしょうか」

A「なるほど・・・それであなたも呼ばれたと」

B「多分ですけどね」

• All eyes naturally should be looking at A during the ceremony and A was only looking and replying to the 殿下. So あなたに can only be indicating the direction if that were the case, and not the agent doing "向けられる". So it seems the 謁見/選民意識の高い貴族 are the ones be doing the 向ける, as is described. But then how is it grammatically correct to use the passive form here? compare to "あなたに向ける視線が選民意識の高い貴族のものばかり" for example

• Ending the with 殿下が判断されたのではないでしょうか, who is doing the 判断 here then? What did happen was a definitive ruling by the queen that A will get the role/job without further debate. But since it was not written as "殿下に判断されたのではないでしょうか", does that mean the queen herself is being "judged" by B's interpretation? That would a very sacrilegious thing to say in this context.

I look at the sentence as:

"[多分あなたに向けられる視線が選民意識の高い貴族のものばかり]ではマズイ" と 殿下が判断されたのではないでしょうか

... but depending who is actually doing the actions, that may make no sense.

Thanks

Answer 1

There are two kinds of passive happening here: straightforward passive, and honorific passive.

Straightforward passive

This is your basic, garden-variety passive: something is being done.

Your analysis of the に in あなたに向けられる視線が is correct: this is not the instrumental に, but rather the directional に.

However, your analysis of the verb isn't quite right. We can't say あなたに[向]{●}[け]{●}[る]{●}視線が, because that means that the 視線【しせん】 is the one doing the 向ける-ing. This doesn't make any sense, because 向ける is a transitive verb, and 視線 here is marked with the subject particle が, such that the 視線 would grammatically have to be 向ける-ing some unstated object.

Instead, the 向けられる is the straightforward, garden-variety passive. A more idiomatic English translation that maintains this passivity might be, "the gazes [that were] turned towards you..."

Honorific passive

When speaking about someone in an outside or otherwise status-elevated social context, speakers in Japanese often use honorific constructions. In this kind of context, using the basic verb する, I might talk about myself 致【いた】す-ing (using the humble register for myself), whereas I'd talk about the status-elevated person as される-ing (using the honorific register for the "exalted other").

Anecdote

Years ago, I visited Kyōto as a tourist. I was reasonably fluent in Japanese after having lived in the Tōhoku and then the Kantō for a total of, perhaps, four years or so. In the taxi cab from the station, the driver asked us, どこから[来]{●}[ら]{●}[れ]{●}[ま]{●}[し]{●}[た]{●}か, which confused me initially, as I wasn't used to the honorific passive. Later in the conversation, he also asked, どこへ行かれますか. At this point, my memory of earlier studies kicked in, and I realized more clearly what he was saying: どこから[来]{●}[ま]{●}[し]{●}[た]{●}か, and どこへ[行]{●}[き]{●}[ま]{●}[す]{●}か, only in the honorific register, using the passive honorific.

Back on point

In your sample sentence, you have 殿下が判断[さ]{●}[れ]{●}[た]{●}. We see that 殿下 is marked with the subject particle が, so we know that she's the subject of the verb. This could grammatically be the straightforward passive, but as you note, that doesn't make sense in this context -- the queen is not being "deemed" or "judged" in one way or another. Rather, the queen herself is doing the "deeming" or "judging" here. And because she's the queen of the speaker, the speaker is using the honorific register, and thus we see instead the honorific passive.

How to tell which passive?

Generally speaking, if the passive construction would be truly ambiguous, people will find other ways of saying things to avoid that ambiguity. Perhaps instead of the honorific passive, they might use a different verb altogether, perhaps なさる. As with many things in language, context is key.