A Dream of Red Mansions is known to all women and children in China. It appeared at the beginning of18th century and was written by great realist writers Cao Xueqin and Gao E, with a total of120th chapter and 730,000 words. Pride and Prejudice is the masterpiece of Austen, a British realistic woman writer at the end of18th century, with 290,000 words in ***6 1 chapter.
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Both novels are about the life of elites, feudal nobles or emerging bourgeoisie. However, they are not war scenes of the Kingoma Railway, nor major political activities or historical events, but children's daily family life. Pride and Prejudice describes the love and marriage of four young people (Jane and Bingley, Elizabeth and Darcy, Lydia and Wickham, Charlotte and Collins), develops a vivid picture of British society at that time with humorous and ironic brushwork, and describes in detail the disintegration of feudal ethics and the emergence and development of new bourgeois ideas. The author compares and criticizes the love and marriage of four young men and women one by one, and clearly shows his views on marriage. Although after some twists and turns, I finally became a family. A Dream of Red Mansions is more about the love and marriage of a dozen young men and women, with tragic endings. Whether it's the marriage between master and son-Baochai, Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng, You Erjie, Shi Xianglian and You Sanjie, Xue Pan and Xia Jingui, Jia Rong and Qin Keqing, etc. Or the marriage between master and handmaiden-the marriage between Xue Pan and Xiangling, Jia Huan and Jia Yun and Xiaohong, Jia Qiang and Lingguan, Qin Zhong and Zhien, or the marriage between handmaiden Zhong Siqi and Pan You 'an.
But it is worth noting that the two authors are not just writing about marriage and love. A Dream of Red Mansions, while writing about affection for children, extends the brushwork to the vast society, and profoundly criticizes the darkness of court officialdom, the decay of feudal nobles, the imperial examination system, the marriage system, the handmaiden system, the hierarchy system and its corresponding Confucian and Mencius, ethics and so on. So is Pride and Prejudice. In her works with Two Inches of Ivory (1), she explains many issues related to love and marriage through imagery. In a capitalist society where money is everything and property is the foundation, it naturally involves economic issues. Austin sharply criticized marriage without love and marriage based on money. Some people criticized her for "not touching the Napoleonic Wars during the Anglo-French War." It was also suggested that she give up this subject and write something else. She declined politely: "I don't write legends, I must keep my own style and continue to go my own way." Yes, a drop of water can reflect the brilliance of the sun, and a small world can reflect a big problem. For example, the twenty-ninth chapter of the novel describes a banquet at Rosings Manor and a table card after dinner, which explains many problems. Mrs. de Bourgh is so arrogant in front of Reverend Collins and his wife, relying on her family property. Reverend Collins is so humble to her. He was very honored to be invited to collect a table card for Mrs. de Bourgh. "He should thank her once for winning, and apologize to her for winning more." In fact, this is no ordinary flattery. You know, Reverend Collins was promoted by Mrs. De Bourgh. He regards his wife as a "benefactor", and of course he is embarrassed to win her money. However, such a small detail reflects profound ideological connotation, interestingly and sharply reflects the church's persistence in real estate at that time, and describes the complex and subtle relationship between two people with different identities. Another example is the simple story of "A soldier was whipped" in Chapter 12, which is full of laughter. Although it seems a bit discordant, this discordant voice reminds readers of the existence of the army. As the translator commented in the preface of Pride and Prejudice: "Seeing this, how can we not admire Austin's huge capacity of' two-inch ivory', and how can we not admit that Pride and Prejudice did not write historical events, but revealed the atmosphere of historical society without trace?" (4) Obviously, it is not necessary to write about major historical events or major wars. "It is useless to have a good theme, but it still needs technology; To make matters worse, the content is not so powerful, but the appearance is terrible, scaring off ordinary readers first. " 5] "As long as what he writes can become a work of art, no matter what he describes or what materials he uses, it will be of great significance to the present and the future. Why? Because the author himself is a fighter. " A Dream of Red Mansions is like this. Because the author is an anti-feudal warrior, although he did not write about peasant struggles and peasant wars, he profoundly reflected the class contradictions and class struggles in feudal society and exposed the decay and darkness at the end of feudal society. Fiction is not a history textbook. Writers have the freedom to write and not to write. Don't walk into the dead end of "theme determinism" A writer can write on any subject as long as he writes well and has certain artistic and social values.
A Dream of Red Mansions and Pride and Prejudice are both realistic novels, not legendary novels, but two different types and styles. In the west, realistic novels inherit real records such as letters, diaries, biographies and history, and emphasize realism. Legendary novels inherit epic and medieval legends, and write amazing things, focusing on imagination and exaggeration. The story of Pride and Prejudice is unremarkable, and the plot is trivial, such as the communication between neighbors, tea parties, banquets, dances, or driving around places of interest, or staying in London, or visiting relatives and friends. , are the daily life of the township leisure class. Austin believes that people in towns and villages are as interesting objects of observation and research as people in big cities. There are no heroes or role models to worship, only people we see every day, such as gentlemen, ladies, young masters and ladies of the leisure class. It can be seen that Austin obviously chose ordinary themes to create realistic novels. Unlike Scott, he is good at writing legendary novels. A Dream of Red Mansions is also different from China's Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, and the legendary novels of The Journey to the West and Scott. Obviously, it deliberately chooses ordinary themes to create realistic novels.
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In terms of characters, although the two novels focus on the Grand View Garden, they both write a fan group with Jia Baoyu as the main body; First, Netherfield Garden is the center, depicting the powder ball made up of Bennett family women. However, both in quantity and quality, Pride and Prejudice can't compare with A Dream of Red Mansions. When it comes to female images, the former only succeeded in shaping Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia, Mary, Mrs. Bennet, Miss Bingley, Charlotte and so on. The latter has successfully shaped a huge group, reaching more than 350 people, not to mention elderly women, granny Liu, Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xing. And there are countless beautiful young women, which can be roughly divided into three categories: Daiyu, Xiangyun, Yuan Chun, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Li Wan, Baoqin, Xiangling, Miaoyu, Qingwen, Yuanyang, You Sanjie, etc. Many beautiful things in human nature can be felt from these characters to varying degrees; One kind is complex and dual, with both valuable side and certain defects, such as Wang Xifeng, Qin Keqing, Baochai, Xiren, You Shi and You Erjie. There is also a kind of characters that the author hates and lashes, such as Aunt Zhao and He.
The characters in A Dream of Red Mansions are all flesh and blood, vividly portrayed, as if they were all around us and real people. In Pride and Prejudice, even Elizabeth's most successful portrayal is the embodiment of a single concept or a certain personality, which does not give people a sense of freshness. Foster, a famous British novelist, essayist and literary critic, creatively divided the characters into two types: flat and round. He said: "In the17th century, flat characters were called' character' characters, but now they are sometimes called type characters or cartoon characters. In their simplest form, they are created according to a simple idea or feature. " "In all Austin's works, we can find such characters. It is simple and mediocre, and there is still a certain depth without further introduction. Henry Thirny, Mr Woodhouse and Chariot Laukas are such figures. She can hang signs such as' perception',' arrogance',' sensitivity' and' prejudice' on various characters, but she is not limited by these signs. " At one time, there were indeed many round characters in A Dream of Red Mansions, but there were too many flat characters in Pride and Prejudice.
Let's compare the characteristics of characterization in the two novels: the characterization in Pride and Prejudice is mainly through the technique of "expression", that is to say, the characters' personalities are basically stereotyped from the moment they appear, and in the process of story unfolding, the author further expresses their personalities mainly through each character's different attitudes towards the same event. For example, in chapter 13, Collins wrote a letter before going to Bennett's house. What are the attitudes of the five girls in the class? Jane said he had "good intentions"; Elizabeth said he was "grandiose in writing" and doubted his words; Mary is only "as far as the article is concerned"; Catherine and Lydia don't care. They all thought the letter was "boring". In fact, Jane's tenderness and indifference, Elizabeth's keen observation, Mary's complete bookworm, and Catherine and Lydia's innocence have long been known to readers. At this time, the description should go further, but the response to this letter is very superficial and does not deepen the characterization of the characters. Readers don't see their different personalities from their attitudes, but know from their personalities that they have to do that. Therefore, in Austin's works, the process of creating characters becomes a boring logical reasoning process. As for Miss Bingley, she is simpler and a cartoon character. This person is hypocritical and cunning, ignorant, obsessed with money, affectation, extremely disloyal to friends, whispering behind her back, which is an annoying female image. Austin's portrayal of this character adopts a cartoon-like thick line technique, lacking delicate psychological description and not deepening his character in the development of the plot. Please refer to the description in chapter 1 1:
"Miss Bingley is reading a book while watching Darcy, and it is half-hearted to do these two things at the same time." She chose this book only because it is Darcy's second volume. She wanted to read on with relish, but now she is exhausted. "She yawned and said," How pleasant it is to spend a night like this! I said, no entertainment can compare with the pleasure of reading. No matter what you do, you will get bored as soon as you get started, but reading won't! One day I will have a home of my own. What a pity if I don't study hard! Miss Bingley is indeed a "flat figure", which fully conforms to Foster's point of view. "The hardest thing to describe characters is to make them stand up. As we all know, using the characteristics of occupation, class and nation to help form a unique personality; However, these things don't necessarily make the characters active. On the contrary, sometimes the characters are more rigid because of detailed introduction. We should remember that to describe a person, we must know everything about him, but don't write it all in one place; We must always show him with actions. The clearer and more powerful he is in every movement, the more vivid he becomes. Although we know the characteristics of his occupation and place in detail, we seem to notice that he is a living person and does not exist specifically to represent anything. In this way, the appeal of the characters can be profound and extensive. " ⑻
However, the characters in A Dream of Red Mansions avoid simplistic molding, and their personalities are not fixed at once, but gradually developed through the progress of the plot. The author can not only write the difference between one person and another, but also write the difference of one person in different situations with his meticulous pen and ink. Take Lin Daiyu as an example: when we read the eighth time, Lin Daiyu waddled in to visit Baochai, and when she saw Baoyu, she said, "Oh, I came at a bad time!" Baoyu and others quickly got up and smiled and asked them to sit down. Baochai said with a smile, "What do you mean?" Daiyu said with a smile, "If I had known he was coming, I wouldn't have come." . ... then Baoyu asked, "Did you take my clothes?" Daiyu said,' Shouldn't he have left when I came? Baoyu said with a smile, "How long have I been gone? But be prepared. ""Here we see Daiyu's narrow-minded character, and it is here that the shaping of Lin Daiyu really begins. Subsequently, with the development of the story, her intelligent nature, eloquent, well-read, playful, aloof and sentimental personality gradually took shape. Moreover, her personality is by no means a single conceptualization, just like the complexity of social, family and cultural reasons that cause her personality, her personality is multi-level and multi-faceted. The nineteenth time: "Daiyu saw a blood stain the size of a button on Baoyu's left cheek, so she leaned over and touched it carefully with her hand. Then she said, "Whose nail is this scratched?" Baoyu leaned down and said with a smile,' I didn't shave. I'm afraid I just put rouge cream on them, a little. "Say, then find a handkerchief to wipe. Daiyu wiped him with a handkerchief. "What we see here is the gentle and considerate side of Daiyu. The twentieth time I wrote about Daiyu's "witty and charming voice" and said many heartless words to Baoyu. What do you mean, "You care about me!" "I am dead, it's none of your business!" "Partial death! I'm dying now! You're afraid of death. How about your long life? " What we see here is the cold and stubborn side of Daiyu. For the 23rd time, I wrote "What a beautiful day, who is happy?" In Peony Pavilion, which one made her cry? If I saw the sharp and exposed Lin Daiyu before, I saw the gentle and restrained Lin Daiyu this time. Here, we have fully seen her complex mood. In a word, from nineteen famous articles such as Quiet Day and Jade Making Fragrance, to twenty-three articles such as Reading Music, twenty-seven articles and twenty-nine articles such as Burying Flowers, and thirty-two articles such as Baoyu's Complaining to the Heart, all described Daiyu's complex personality and psychological activities in detail, and the misunderstanding between Baoyu and Daiyu was finally solved, and their feelings became deeper and deeper. Lin Daiyu in A Dream of Red Mansions is by no means "the embodiment of a certain concept". Cao Xueqin, with his talented artistic skills, vividly described the complicated and subtle love psychology of "three days is good, two days is annoying". Take her jealous personality for example. In her mind, Baochai is her rival in love, not only in appearance and personality, but also because Baochai's behavior is steady and generous, which conforms to the feudal ethical standard of "women without talent are virtuous". Accurately speaking, her rival in love is not just Baochai, but the whole society. Naturally, she is weak and will be at a loss if she is defeated. Therefore, the formation of her jealous personality has its profound social background. Jealousy is her weakness, not her cleverness.
In Austin's works, Elizabeth's rival in love is an incompetent Miss Bingley, not even an opponent. Moreover, the public opinion of social morality is on Elizabeth's side, and she can beat her opponent with certainty, which greatly weakens the artistic appeal of Miss Bingley's image. Even if the author artificially creates some misunderstandings and twists and turns the plot, it can't save the "dull" ending of characterization. Most of the characters in Pride and Prejudice are portrayed as "flat" characters, just like Foster's definition: "The simplest form of flat characters is shaped around a single concept or quality." However, although there are not many characters in Pride and Prejudice, and their success value is not as good as that in A Dream of Red Mansions, some female characters are still vivid and have great personality. For example, Austen also created a lonely and rebellious Elizabeth like Daiyu, a gentle and honest Jane like Baochai, a stupid, cunning and vulgar Miss Bingley like Baochan, a bohemian Lydia like Qin Keqing, and a Mary who has nothing to do with herself. How the prejudice of Austen's heroine is caused and eliminated is from the surface of the characters to the hearts of the characters to understand their personality, cultivation and psychological state. Western critics often praise Austin's meticulous figures, but this painting is only two inches wide as ivory, which shows that she used meticulous brushwork. Her works are all about ordinary people, but each one is special and there is no repetition. Obviously, they are all creating real people instead of copying them.
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A Dream of Red Mansions is a tragedy, and Pride and Prejudice is a comedy. How did this different style come about? The fundamental reason depends on the theme of the work and the handling of the subject matter. The former is a typical tragic theme, which shows the irreversible disillusionment of young people's beautiful ideals in a feudal family and reflects the decline of the whole society. The latter, in a kind-hearted teasing mood, makes the true colors of young people's beautiful ideals gradually emerge, seeing gold through sand, colliding with emotional sparks in misunderstanding, and finally moving towards a happy comedy ending.
"Style is man" ⑽, which is a famous saying about style by French naturalist and writer Buffon. The writer's creative style depends not only on the angle of choosing the theme, but also on his method and style of handling and expressing the theme. Cao Xueqin mourned for gold and jade, and was compassionate to the world. Therefore, the structural framework of the whole work is in a profound and mysterious symbolic system. The mysterious booklet "Wandering in Fantasy and Pointing to Twelve Women" is gradually revealed with the works. The characters are like chess pieces, no matter how they move and struggle, they will eventually be destroyed. Such an unpredictable and irreversible sense of destiny is precisely Cao Xueqin's genius premonition of the future of society. Austin's world outlook and outlook on life are clear and optimistic. She affirmed the existing social order and expounded the truth that "a rich bachelor always has to marry a wife" through Mrs. Bennet's mouth, which was finally fulfilled in her works. This means that life is like this, and it can only be like this. No matter how many misunderstandings and prejudices there are, the logic of life is irresistible. This is also a fate, but it is radical and optimistic.
In Cao Xueqin's eyes, the world represented by A Dream of Red Mansions is doomed to be destroyed, and the kind-hearted people will eventually become dirt, "eventually becoming a white land, really clean"; In Austin's eyes, the world shown in Pride and Prejudice is beautiful after all, and even Wickham the liar and Collins the vulgar priest can't put a trace of sadness on their foreheads. Was British society really so beautiful and exciting at that time? Don't! As a master of realism, Austin did not show the fundamental decline and decline of Britain as a defender of the old order in the Napoleonic Wars. However, why is her reputation getting higher and higher? Obviously, it depends on the writer's creative style to find the answer. It should be said that Austin's era is far from a beautiful era: the Opium War made British overseas colonialism full of blood; In the Napoleonic Wars, Britain played an ignominious role as a defender of the old order. At home, the industrial revolution promoted the birth of the proletariat and the industrial bourgeoisie, and also caused the increasingly sharp disparity and polarization between the rich and the poor; Official corruption and bribery, the electoral system is very corrupt; Luxury, speculation, binge drinking and gambling in high society have become a fashion. However, all this is beyond Austin's concern. What she wants to show is the family's view of the rich and the poor, the generation gap between the young and the old, the love view of boys and girls, the distinction between refined and popular talents, and the difference between human wit and blind obedience. These are the themes she wants to reveal. So there is no distinct social class brand here, it is a paradise, the world is closed and the characters are flat. This work is the crystallization of human nature that the author put the characters on a smooth plane and observed through the mirror of art. However, because readers all over the world share some common humanity, this crystallization can naturally penetrate the gap between regions and times, emitting a long and elegant artistic brilliance. However, the Rongning Mansion written by Cao Xueqin is a complete epitome of a feudal machine and the totality of the feudal system. Here, it is the top of the pagoda of the feudal family. Jia Zheng is the ruler of the feudal society and the feudal family, while Baoyu is an alien "human demon". They are in charge of everything, selfish, overbearing and irresistible, which shows that benevolence is the grace of a mighty emperor and that power is a natural tolerance. Everything is a specimen of the feudal system. Therefore, the writing of Rongning Second Mansion means the writing of Qing Dynasty.
It can be seen that both realistic writers focus on what they have seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears, but their concerns about the world and life are quite different, thus providing different soil for the writers' artistic expression. Cao Xueqin wrote about the spring, summer, autumn and winter of life in heaven and earth, and finally ended in the winter with sparse trees and vast land; On the other hand, Austin only tells the story of one spring. Even if there are emotional ripples and twists and turns in life, it is just misunderstanding and thawing.
Although the two novels have different styles, they both describe trivial things around them, people and things in daily life, and they all adopt realistic techniques, which are vivid, picturesque, delicate and touching, so they have reached the same artistic realm: turning decay into magic. After reading Pride and Prejudice for three times, Scott, a famous British historical novelist of Austin's contemporaries, said, "This young lady is good at describing all kinds of entanglements, feelings and characters in daily life. I think her talent is the best, which I have never seen before. I can do it myself, and I'm as good as anyone now. However, I can't do that kind of delicate brushwork, because it describes truth, tastes truth, and outlines ordinary trivial things with relish. " ⑾ There is nothing wrong with putting this on Cao Xueqin's head. If we compare Cao Xueqin with Austin, there is no doubt that there is a profound difference. The two writers deal with similar themes, but their artistic vision, style and hobbies are quite different, which is like two waters diverging and finally merging into the sea, which is thought-provoking.
The profundity of Cao Xueqin's artistic technique lies in that the author takes the Grand View Garden as the first place. Although the political history has not changed, it has the general anatomical framework of the feudal system, and the Qing Empire has become the background of the whole book like a dead "hundred-legged worm", thus achieving the artistic effect of seeing the big from the small. Baoyu and Daiyu have distinct bourgeois democratic thoughts, strongly demanding individual liberation, opposing feudal ethics and holding high the banner of "equality, freedom and fraternity", which is beyond the reach of any hero or heroine in China's ancient literary works. It reveals the information that feudalism will soon die out in the last days, shows the inevitable trend of historical development of the times, and proves that Cao Shi has grasped the pulse of the times. Austin is not good at it. She failed to reflect the situation of the times and the essence of history through ordinary people and things; The characters' self-awareness and actions are blind. Elizabeth, a well-shaped positive image, is not only deceived by Wickham, but also unable to distinguish the nature and status of Darcy's feelings for herself and Darcy ... These are absolutely different between Austin and Cao Xueqin.
In a word, judging from the stylistic tone of the two novels, A Dream of Red Mansions is tragic, and Pride and Prejudice is comic, but not completely absolute. The former is not an out-and-out tragedy, which contains quite a strong comedy color. It is based on sadness, combining sadness with joy, containing sadness with joy, and lining sadness with joy; The latter is not a complete comedy, which contains quite profound tragic factors. It is based on happiness, combining happiness with sadness, combining happiness with sadness, and lining happiness with sadness. I remember there is an old compliment in Peach Blossom Fan, which once said, "Have fun, have fun. Laughing for no reason, I can't feel tears. " ⑿ These opinions are aimed at the characteristics of China's drama tragedy, but they can also be used in A Dream of Red Mansions. The ingenious combination of "sadness" and "joy", the comedy factors mixed in the tragedy and the proper use of comedy techniques not only did not dilute the atmosphere of the tragedy and destroy the unity of style, but achieved the artistic effect of complementary opposites. A Dream of Red Mansions is such a work.
A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and English Traditional Family Texts —— Taking A Dream of Red Mansions and Pride and Prejudice as Examples
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