[Keywords:] Xiang Yu hero image character defects
The great historical masterpiece "Historical Records", which is called by Lu Xun as "the historian's swan song, Li Sao has no rhyme", is also an excellent literary work, representing the highest achievement in the development of ancient historical prose. Sima Qian created a people-centered biographical writing technique, and the most literary value is biographies of people.
As the pioneer of China's art of writing people, Historical Records shows people a colorful gallery of historical figures, and creates many vivid figures, among which a group of all-powerful heroes are the most impressive. Xiang Yu is one of the heroes that Sima Qian pays most attention to, and Sima Qian made great efforts to shape the tragic hero image of Xiang Yu in Biography of Xiang Yu. In fact, Benji is a chronological record of state events from Huangdi to Emperor Wudi in Historical Records. Xiang Yu didn't claim to be the emperor, but Sima Qian used this chronicle to describe Xiang Yu's life track, and the order of the articles was above that of Gao Zu. It can be seen that Sima Qian respects historical facts and does not judge heroes by success or failure, but Sima Qian is a hero after all. From this, we can see Xiang Yu's personality characteristics: invincible and brave, brave and good at fighting, lack of adaptability, kindness and kindness, indecision. These contradictory factors organically merged in Xiang Yu, which formed his personality defect and caused his tragic life.
(A) invincible and violent character
The first thing that 24-year-old Xiang Yu said when he stepped onto the stage in Biography of Xiang Yu was that he was confident enough to recruit thousands of people. When he watched Qin Shihuang's tour, he said, "He can take the place of others." His rhetoric was breathtaking. The best way to show his bravery is the "Battle of the Giant Deer". First, he ordered the army to "behead Song Yitou in the account", and then he put his life and death at risk, burned his bridges, and took the lead in "killing Su Jiao and betraying Wang Li", forcing those involved to commit suicide and solving the siege of Julu. "When all the generals entered the Yuanmen, they all knelt down and did not dare to look up." Wrote a heroic spirit of the world. In the Chu-Han War, facing Loufan, who was good at shooting, "Wang Xiang scolded him with his eyes closed, Loufan didn't dare to look at him, and he didn't dare to let go, so he retreated into the wall and didn't dare to come back", and he stared at Loufan. Under the siege of Gaixia, Xiang Yu led 28 riders to flee to Dongcheng. "Then, Xiang Wang roared down, and the Han army was invincible." Chi Quan was "stunned by heaven and man" and retreated several miles. It's the end of the road, and the momentum is still unstoppable. However, if you are too brave and invincible, then your character will become fierce and furious. Historical Records has described its cruelty many times. From attacking Xiangcheng, "they were pulled out and all were pitted" to "more than 200,000 people were pitted." Later, he "burned the battlements and rooms of Qi in the north, which were all destroyed by Tian Rong, and he was an old, weak woman and child", and "Qi people saw the rebellion", which made "Wang Xiang failed to leave because he stayed". So at the last moment, his father Yin's "Left" put out Chu's last hope of making a comeback. It is because of his cruelty that he lost the hearts of the people and destroyed himself.
(2) Brave and good at fighting, with poor adaptability.
As a generation of heroes, he is brave and awesome, but he also has shortcomings that cannot be ignored, that is, he lacks tact and is not good at tactics.
Throughout his life, Xiang Yu spent most of his time on the battlefield after the uprising. He is good at war, claiming to have fought more than 70 wars in eight years, all of whom were beaten out of the water. The most typical example is the East City quick battle, surrounded by Gaixia. Xiang Yu was tricked into Ozawa by the Yin government, leaving only 28 riders, trapped in the pursuit of thousands of Han troops. In order to prove that "killing me today is not a war crime", he promised that "all armies will fight quickly and win in three wars", and then "Xiang Wang shouted that the Han army was invincible, so he cut the Han generals into one"
Xiang Yu likes to open an army to kill the enemy, but he is not good at "scheming". As for how to consolidate the achievements of the war, how to win over soldiers and buy people's hearts, he rarely does it. He has few advisers around him. According to historical data, Fan Zeng is the only one who can really be called a counselor. Father Fan Zeng followed Xiang Yu at the age of 70 and made suggestions. Can be said to be loyal, but did not get the attention of Xiang Yu. In April 208 BC, Xiang Yu surrounded Liu Bang in Xingyang, Henan Province, which was a good opportunity to destroy Liu Bang. Fan Zeng advised him to attack Xingyang, but Xiang Yu didn't agree, and Chen Ping played one or two tricks to alienate their relationship. Xiang Yu began to alienate and doubt Fan Zeng, refused to adopt his correct opinion, and Fan Zeng left angrily, resulting in his death on the way. Therefore, Xiang Yu lost the godsend opportunity to destroy Liu Bang and his loyal advisers.
Xiang Yu's personality is straightforward, and he especially hates insincerity. He has a strong sense of good and evil, and everything depends entirely on his feelings. Sima Xin was a little nicer to Xiang's family, so he was named king, no matter whether he was the material or not; If you hold a grudge against Tian Rong, no matter whether he has strength or not, you won't seal an inch of land. I hate Peng Yue just because he is disloyal to people. Although food supplies were repeatedly intercepted and plundered in later battles, I still disdained to make friends with him. Xiang can be said to be an invincible god of war, but he failed because he lacked the shrewd planning of politicians.
(3) Kindness, love and affection for children
Xiang Yu is cruel and kind. He sometimes shares joys and sorrows with his subordinates, sharing clothes and pushing food, and often considers the sufferings of the people, but this kind heart is one of the reasons for his failure. Could have easily destroyed the hongmen banquet, but because of his uncle's sentence "great achievements are made today, which is unjust", he stopped attacking. He believed that Liu Bang's defense suddenly resolved the inevitable hostility and made no response to Fan Zeng's gestures. In his view, Liu Bang came to apologize. He had no resistance and could not win, let alone the friendship between his former brothers and comrades. One thought of benevolence and loyalty moved compassion, put the tiger back to the mountain, lost the chance of victory, and led to the final failure.
The wonderful description of the protagonist's ending is a siege. At the last moment of losing the world, Xiang Yu was only worried about women and horses. This is not to belittle Xiang Yu, but to write about the other side of his brave and reckless husband: affection for children. He failed, but he refused to admit defeat, let alone admit defeat, and repeatedly stressed that "Heaven will destroy me". Because it was a disaster from heaven, I refused to rally across Jiangdong, refused to abandon the soldiers who followed me to the battlefield but died in battle, and dedicated my head to my old friend Lv Matong who was after him. This kind of heroism is exactly the tragic spirit of Xiang Yu.
We can find multiple personalities in Xiang Yu, and each of his strengths is accompanied by personality defects. These defects made him fail in the dispute between Chu and Han, leaving an eternal tragedy that made people cry. Xiang Yu failed, but he became a hero image that scholars and poets in past dynasties chanted endlessly. The tragic life he showed will always shine in the spiritual field of mankind.