So, how did orphan Zhao produce such an exciting tragic force? In other words, what is the aesthetic significance of this historical tragedy?
First, the sense of justice and heroism embodied in Cheng Ying and others.
The Orphan of Zhao tells a story: In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a dispute with, and assassination began. Several plots, first sending assassins to assassinate, and then training evil dogs (named Shen Ao) to murder, all failed. So he falsely believed Gong Ling and killed more than 300 people in Zhao Dun's family. Zhao Shuo, the son of Zhao Dun, attached a horse as the spirit, and the princess was pregnant. After Zhao Shuo was executed with three royal gifts (bowstring, poisoned wine and short knife), the princess was put into limbo and gave birth to a son named orphan Zhao. For such a baby, Tu'an Gu also refused to let go, determined to extinction. Tu'an Gu's perverse atrocities of killing Zhongliang aroused the sense of justice of many benevolent people. They risked their lives to forget their death, courageously courageously, determined to rescue Zhongliang, the only offspring. Focusing on the core event of finding and saving orphans, the whole play launched a life-and-death struggle between justice and evil, light and darkness. In this sharp and fierce conflict, Cheng Ying, Han Biao, Gong Sun and other heroic images were created. After the plot unfolded, the princess was imprisoned, forced to entrust the orphan to Cheng Ying, and then hanged herself. Entrusted by the princess, Cheng Ying took the orphan out of the palace door with a medicine box. It was Han Jue, the general of Tu'an Gu, who was ordered to guard the palace gate. Although Han Dai is a ministry of Tu'an Gu, he is extremely dissatisfied with Tu'an Gu's tyrannical behavior of playing politics and undermining loyalty. He thought that a good state of Jin was messed up by traitors like Tu'an Gu, and the country became poor and chaotic. This laid the ideological foundation for him to find and release orphans later.
When Cheng Ying hid orphans and came to the palace gate, they were finally discovered by Han Jue. At this critical moment, it shows character. As he said to Cheng Ying, "If I send this orphan away, I won't be rich? But I am an indomitable person, how can I do such a thing! "Out of infinite sympathy and great indignation, and Zhao's orphans were released. And in order to win Cheng Ying's trust, let Cheng Ying pull out his sword with confidence. In this way, the clue that the old thief traced the orphan of Zhao was cut off, and he played a touching song of justice with his own life.
However, the tragedy did not end there. Knowing that Zhao's orphan had left, Han Jue's suicide broke the clue, so he had a sinister plan: he ordered all the babies under six months in the country to be executed. In this grim situation, in order to stop Tu'an Gu's inhuman barbarism, Cheng Ying had to consult the retired old Zaifu Gongsun Chujiu. As a result, Gongsun Chujiu was pushed into the whirlpool of struggle.
Gongsun Chujiu is also a loyal man. He and Zhao Dun were once ministers of a temple, knowing that Zhao was loyal and virtuous, but they hated Tu'an Gu's abnormal behavior and confused Chaogang. Therefore, facing the heavy pressure from Tu'an Gu, he and Cheng Ying calmly and decisively made a shocking and reasonable decision: one sacrificed his son and the other gave his life. Tu'an Gu's criminal dehumanization was finally stopped. In particular, they decided that Cheng Ying was the first. After Gongsun Chujiu was captured by Tu'an Gu, Tu'an Gu brutally tortured him and tried every means to force out the orphan Zhao. In this fight to the death, Gongsun Chujiu was unyielding and would rather die than recruit, full of abuse from beginning to end. When the sergeant searched out "Scott's orphan" from the earthen kiln, he was cut three times by Tu'an Gu and died. Gongsun Chujiu was even more indignant, lambasting Tu'an Gu for ruining Zhongliang, and finally got what he deserved, and then he resolutely crashed into the steps and died, which showed the oath of enmity with the thief minister Tu'an Gu. There is a sense of integrity, generosity and integrity everywhere in this 70-year-old minister.
Besides Han Biao and Gongsun Chujiu, the works also highlight the image of Cheng Ying, a "doctor Cao Ze".
When the princess entrusted the orphan to Cheng Ying, she was faced with a placard posted around Tu'an Gu: "But whoever hides the orphan, the whole family will be beheaded, and the nine families will not stay." Although Cheng Ying also has the ideological contradiction of "how can I hide him and not let him go out", his sense of justice supporting him to shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting orphans. When he boldly took the orphan out of the palace gate, he was inevitably flustered. Han Jue also saw that when he let you go, he was "like a bolt" and let you come back, "like pulling your hair on a felt". This just reflects his inner confused psychological state. But after all, Cheng Ying is not a person who is afraid of death. When he accepted the trust of the princess, he made up his mind to live and die with the orphans. When the orphan was found, he knew that he was doomed, because he said, "General, please take Cheng Ying away and get a reward; Zhao orphan and I would rather die together! "That he supports justice and is not afraid of sacrifice.
With the development of the plot, the struggle situation worsened. In order to save Zhao's orphans and children all over the country, he made a clever plan with Gongsun. Although it is Gongsun Chujiu who suffers, Cheng Ying's inner pain is unbearable for ordinary people. You know, he also gave it to his own son. When the "orphan" was found, he saw his son cut three times by Tu'an Gu and died in a pool of blood. It is not difficult to imagine his inner pain. As Gongsun Chujiu saw, "Seeing Cheng Ying's heart pouring with hot oil, Pearl dared not throw it at others, so she had to bow back. I'm not here to eat my own flesh and blood. " Since then, he has been on tenterhooks all day, raising orphans and teaching orphans, and spent twenty difficult spring and autumn periods, finally completing the historical mission of setting up orphans for revenge. Although Cheng Ying has been nervous and miserable in the fierce conflict with Tu'an Gu to protect orphans, repeated severe tests have not crushed him and made him yield. The works fully reveal his inner contradictions, which does not mean his weakness and vacillation, but shows the seriousness of the struggle at that time and his tenacity and tenacity. Cheng Ying is also an ordinary person. His works describe his thoughts and feelings and the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, making this image more real, vivid, vivid and humanized, so it is more typical.
According to historical records, he was a guest of the Zhao family, and saving the orphan was entirely for repaying the kindness. In this regard, the author made an artistic treatment and changed his identity to "Dr. Kusawa", which has nothing to do with the Zhao family. After this artistic processing, it is more prominent that he saved orphans not out of personal grievances, but out of a sense of justice, out of sympathy for loyalty and resentment against power rape. Thus wrote a flesh and blood, brave and tenacious hero. The theme idea has been further sublimated.
In this way, The Orphan of Zhao closely arranged the plot and organized the conflict around the two central events of "seeking orphans" and "saving orphans", and portrayed the heroic images of just men such as Han Jue and Gongsun in the fierce conflict. Cheng Ying, the protagonist of the work, and others embody the immobile integrity of wealth and poverty, the moral and ethical concepts of respecting promises and keeping promises, regardless of life and death, and the heroic spirit of struggling hard in suffering and helping the poor. This is undoubtedly the most precious character of the Chinese nation, and it is also the tragic strength and aesthetic value of this work.
The second is the author's correct understanding and grasp of the essence of life and artistic expression.
Although The Orphan of Zhao is a revenge ending, the whole play is permeated with a layer of tragic atmosphere from beginning to end. At the beginning of the play, Tu'an Gu was aggressive, mistakenly sent a letter to the spiritual master and killed all the more than 300 Scott's mouths. Then in the preface, Zhao Shuo was sentenced to death by three dynasties (see wedge). After the princess gave birth to an orphan, she was forced to hang herself because of hatred (see the first fold). Since then, in order to protect orphans, general Han Jue drew his sword and killed veteran Gongsun Chujiu. Although Cheng Ying survived, he also gave his son, who was born less than a month ago. Especially in the twenty years of orphan rearing and orphan education, he spent every moment in caution and fear. Therefore, this is a typical historical tragedy in China.
However, although the play is a tragedy, after reading the work, I think it is "sad but not sad". The whole play, especially those tragic protagonists, always has a generous and tragic spirit of awe, which gives people great encouragement and infection. Although their tragedy is inevitable, their sacrifice is not pessimistic, desperate and sad, because they are willing to make sacrifices to pursue a belief and support the truth, and they die tragically with hope. This hope comes from the firm belief that justice will overcome evil and light will replace darkness. As long as the orphans are saved, there will be a day of revenge and justice. Although this hope is vague, it is the spiritual force that supports their actions.
Of course, the ideological and aesthetic significance of the characters in the play comes from the author's observation and experience of life, from the author's correct understanding of the nature of life and accurate grasp of history. Although he is not a dialectical materialist or a historical materialist, he believes that "evil is rewarded with evil, and good with good", and he knows that in social life, things that are true, good and beautiful are always pursued and yearned for by people, and they will always get people's sympathy and support. On the contrary, all ugly things and all reactionary forces are bound to be spurned and opposed by people. Although they can be arrogant for a while, they can never be arrogant for a lifetime. Light will replace darkness, and justice will overcome evil, which is a historical trend that no force can reverse. It is from this understanding that the author carefully created this exciting historical tragedy, vividly described the life-and-death struggle between justice and evil, and expressed the author's aesthetic ideal that the just forces finally won and the reactionary forces completely failed. This aesthetic significance of the work is first manifested in the author's overall conception of the whole play.
At the beginning of the play, Tu'an Gu, as a representative of reactionary and decadent forces, is at a disadvantage. He is aggressive and arrogant. He killed 300 people in the Zhao family, gave Zhao Shuo a death sentence and forced the princess to die. Even a posthumous child born to the princess was spared, and he must eradicate it. It is putting up posters and sending troops to guard the palace gate. How arrogant! In contrast, Cheng Ying and others, as representatives of justice forces, are so weak. The sky is high and the clouds are rolling, so it is difficult to save the orphan of Zhao. What a risk it will take! However, as a representative of justice, it is bound to get people's sympathy and support. So, in essence, they are the real strong. In order to protect the descendants of Zhongliang, Han Jue and Gongsun Chujiu shed blood, and Cheng Ying gave his son. They United as one, fought bravely and were not afraid of sacrifice, and finally protected the orphans. Their blood did not flow in vain. Finally, the revenge of Zhao orphans is the best reward for their loyalty. On the other hand, Tu'an Gu is cruel and ferocious. On the surface, he looks strong, but in essence, he is weak and will never be popular. His cruelty, tyranny and abnormality led to the alienation of the people. General Han Biao's defection fully illustrates this point. Although he can pass on his imperial edict hypocritically and kill all the more than 300 people in Zhao family, including the princess and the possessed horse, he can't do anything about orphans born before the full moon, so that orphans escape from his iron palm again and again; He announced to the world: "But if anyone steals Zhao's orphan, the whole family will be beheaded, and the nine families will not stay." However, some people did not avoid danger and were not afraid of beheading, and stole the orphan of Zhao; He hates orphans to death, and he is afraid that they will be scared to death. Can this show his strength? When he found the "orphan" and chopped it three times, he thought that he had eradicated the grass and realized his lifelong wish, but the orphan grew up beside him day by day; He got carried away, watched his adopted son grow up, and dreamed of usurping the throne and calling himself an orphan. The orphan Zhao used to sharpen his knife here and dig his grave. Finally, he was buried in the flame of justice.
Of course, the ideological and aesthetic significance of the work is also reflected in the arrangement of each specific plot in the work.
The whole play of Orphan of Zhao is 50% off with a wedge. In the wedge and the first four-fold play, every time it was started by Tu'an Gu, which was aggressive and arrogant, but every time it ended in his failure and left angrily. In the wedge, Tu'an Gu came to power first, killed more than 300 Zhao people, sentenced Zhao Shuo to death with three kinds of letters, but put the princess in limbo. The child in the princess's belly is his future grave digger. The first discount was the opening of Tu'an Gu. When he heard that the princess had given birth to a son, who was called Zhao's orphan, he posted a notice saying that the troops would strictly abide by the palace gate and prepare to be executed after the full moon. It seems that orphans can't escape. However, some people did not avoid being killed and took the orphans out of the palace. In order to get justice, the gatekeeper general Han Jue let the orphans go and committed suicide. He almost succeeded, and it was himself who failed. The second discount is also the opening of Tu'an Gu. When he learned that Han Jue had committed suicide and left an orphan of Zhao, he immediately made a plan to put all the babies over one month and under half a year old in the country to death, thinking that in this way, the orphan of Zhao would be doomed. However, it never occurred to him that Cheng Ying and Gongsun Chujiu had made a clever plan to deal with him, and finally effectively stopped his inhuman cruelty. It was he who failed. On the third fold, Tu'an Gu played again. But it was reported that he led troops to catch gongsun. He is full of tricks. I'm afraid he was taken in by Cheng Ying, reported a false case, and tried every means to force out the true orphan. Finally, I found "the orphan of Zhao" and put him to death in public, thinking that I called him "the wish of my life". But he never imagined that the real orphan Zhao grew up beside him day by day. The fourth folding is still played by Tu'an Gu. Twenty years later, he watched his son grow up and dreamed of killing the king and usurping the throne. However, under the guidance of Zhao's orphans, they have sharpened their knives and gnashed their teeth, vowing that even cutting the old thief's tongue, digging holes, scraping meat and knocking on bones will not be enough to relieve his hatred. At the end of the fifth discount, his dream was still awake, and the orphan Zhao had put him to death in the middle of the year and got the punishment he deserved.
The orphan of Zhao deserves to be regarded as an excellent historical tragedy. The heroic images of Cheng Ying and other just men created in the works and the spirit of helping the poor by sacrificing oneself and saving others will always shine with the moral light of China's ancient tradition, with permanent artistic charm and profound aesthetic significance. The indomitable spirit and perseverance shown in his works are the cornerstones of soul of china of the Chinese nation. As a valuable spiritual wealth and excellent cultural heritage, it will be cherished by our people in the past, present and future.