The artistic achievement of The Romance of Three Kingdoms is more important in the description of war and characterization. Novels are best at describing wars and can write the characteristics of each war. Pay attention to describing the application of different strategies and tactics under specific conditions, and guide the subjective initiative of combat, instead of spending the main pen and ink on the simple strength and martial arts contest. For example, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling. The writing of each war also changes with the characteristics of the war. While writing about the war, other activities are also written as the prelude, aftermath or auxiliary means of the war, which makes the exciting and thrilling war seem relaxed and slow. Such as the cooperation between Battle of Red Cliffs's former grandson and Liu, the contradiction between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, the temptation of Cao Cao, and the in-depth preparation of Sun Liu's allied forces to lure the enemy. In the aspect of characterization, the novel pays special attention to putting the characters in the sharp contradiction of real struggle and expressing their ideological character through their words and deeds or the surrounding environment. Such as Cao Cao's treachery, every move seems to hide intrigue; Zhang Fei has nothing but innocence and recklessness. Zhuge Liang has a well-thought-out plan, and he is always comfortable and leisurely in the face of things. The famous Guan Yu's "warm wine to kill Hua Xiong", "going through five passes to kill six generals", Zhang Fei's "sublime Changban Bridge", Zhao Yun's "riding alone to save the young master" and Zhuge Liang's "capturing Meng Huo seven times" are even more widely circulated chapters.
Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes history as its theme, it is not a history book after all, but a literary work. Because of artistic processing, there are many fictions.
The artistic achievements of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms are manifold:
1. It successfully created many characters. There are 1798 people in the book, among which the main characters are typical artists with distinctive personalities and vivid images. All kinds of roles have their own * * *; People of the same kind have their own personalities. When describing the characters, the author is good at grasping the basic characteristics, highlighting one aspect, exaggerating, and using the methods of comparison and contrast to make the characters vivid and vivid. This is a basic principle of the author's characterization. The best explanation for applying this principle in novels is what people have always called "three unique skills", that is, Cao Cao's "technique of treacherous men"-treacherous men; Guan Yu's "absolute righteousness"-"righteousness is as heavy as a mountain"; Kong Ming's "unique wisdom"-extraordinary wit. The methods of portraying characters in novels mainly include: putting characters in thrilling military and political struggles and shaping them in sharp and complicated contradictions and conflicts. For the main characters, their complex personalities are often expressed through a series of storylines and characters' language.
2. It is good at describing war. This book * * * has written more than forty wars, showing thrilling war scenes. Among them, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling are the most prominent. For several key battles that determine the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms, the author always focuses on describing and writing all aspects of the war, such as the strategies and tactics of both sides, the comparison of forces, and the transformation of status. , colorful, ever-changing, unique, fully embodies the complexity and diversity of war; It not only writes about the fierceness, tension and adventure of the war, but also does not seem miserable. Generally, they are in a high-spirited style, and some of them are calm, quiet and relaxed.
Its structure is magnificent and exquisite. The time is as long as a hundred years, with hundreds of characters, complicated events and complicated clues. Description should not only conform to the basic facts, but also pay attention to the coherence of artistic plots. So it is very difficult to arrange the structure. However, the author can write methodically and clearly, and each chapter can be independent, and the book is a complete artistic whole. This is mainly due to the author's grand and rigorous conception. He organized the story of the whole book with Shu Han as the center and the contradiction and struggle of the three countries as the main line, which was both tortuous and coherent. There is a master and a slave, and the master and the slave work closely together.
4. The language is concise and fluent. This language seems to be semi-written today, but it was close to the vernacular at that time; Writing novels in this language is a pioneering work, which is an obvious progress compared with the rough and mixed language of some novels in the past. The biggest shortcoming of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in art is its fixed characters and lack of development and change. This may be influenced by the stereotyped characters in folklore and the limitations of historical materials. Second, imagination and exaggeration are sometimes unreasonable. Mr. Lu Xun said: "I want to show Liu Bei's long and thick, but he looks like a fake. He looks like a demon." This criticism is to the point.
There is also a big gap between the characters in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the real characters in the History of the Three Kingdoms. Here are a few characters to illustrate. Zhuge Liang: Zhuge Liang's ability to govern the country and the army, his character of helping the world and loving the people, and his modesty and prudence set an example for various outstanding historical figures in later generations. The monarch, intellectuals and people all praised him, praised him and loved him from different angles. It can be said that Zhuge Liang's great influence in history has surpassed his political and military practice in the history of the Three Kingdoms. Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms highlights the positive aspects of Zhuge Liang's life, such as personality, morality and achievements, it is infinitely exaggerated, describing him as the embodiment of wisdom and the representative of loyalty, and deifying him into a superman image that is half man and half god. Lu Xun commented: "Zhuge Liang's wisdom is close to the devil." Therefore, Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not a real historical figure, but a historical novel figure. Liu Bei: Chen Shou's evaluation of Liu Bei is: "Hongyi is generous, knows people and treats scholars, and is a hero in the style of Gao Zu." And entrusted the whole country to Zhuge Liang, but with the same mind, sincere monarch and minister serve the public and prosper in ancient and modern times. If you have no right to do something, you can't catch Wei Wu. Because the cardinality is too narrow. However, he "persisted, and he would never do it." "In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author described Liu Bei as a representative of the benevolent, who was the orthodox successor of the imperial power in the Han Dynasty. Therefore, it is extremely exaggerated to describe Liu Bei's kind, generous and kind-hearted personality, but while highlighting his kindness, he fell into an incompetent side, giving people the feeling of incompetence and hypocrisy. Liu Bei in TV plays is often Lacrimosa. Although crying and tears show Liu Bei's "benevolence", they give people the impression that Liu Bei's world is crying and distort the true image of Liu Bei's "lean". Guan Yu: In history, Guan Yu was the tiger general of "ten thousand enemies". He is proud and has no regrets, and his grievances are clear. He is famous for his loyalty, but he is "righteous and proud" and has more courage and less wisdom. After Ma Chao surrendered to Liu Bei, he was named General of the Day. When Guan Yu was in charge of Jingzhou, he wrote a book with Zhuge Liang, "Ask who can match the super talent. "Zhuge Liang wrote back that Ma Chao is a great man in the world, but not as good as Guan Yu's" peerless ",and Guan Yu" kept books to entertain himself as a guest. "This is a typical foolhardy military commander's character. However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, because he is a member of Liu Bei's camp and has the characteristics of loyalty, he is portrayed as the embodiment of benevolence and righteousness. He followed Liu Bei and did not avoid difficulties and obstacles. Xiapi was captured and surrendered to Cao Cao, but he was worried about Liu Bei. Just because Cao Cao was very kind to him, he killed Yan Liang, the general of Yuan Shao, for Cao Cao before he left Cao and returned to Liu, and lifted the siege of the white horse. However, it is written in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Guan Yu met three times when Pi surrendered, and Cao Cao had a small banquet on the third day and a big banquet on the fifth day, but it was false. In short, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author described Guan Yu as a "righteous man", so his image was seriously distorted. Cao Cao: In history, Cao Cao's character is very complicated. Chen Shou thinks that Cao Cao is "the first in the history of the Three Kingdoms." The magic of application and transaction, Han Bai's unique strategy, and the official awarding materials all have their own tools, and they are sentimental and don't forget old evils. "Cao Cao has been running the army for more than 30 years, but he can't let go. He will be rewarded if he climbs high. He is better at poetry, cursive script and Go. Live frugally and don't pay attention to clothes. Discuss with others and talk and laugh. " Honor should be rewarded, generous daughter; Nothing can be done, nothing can be done. "He is a first-rate politician, strategist and writer in the history of China. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, these good aspects of Cao Cao's character and morality are ignored, while his cruel and treacherous side is exaggerated. Therefore, Luo Guanzhong's Cao Cao is a typical treacherous, cruel, willful and suspicious villain. Zhou Yu: Zhou Yu in history was "generous", modest and obedient, and "open and ambitious". Liu Bei called him "the plan of civil and military affairs, the English of ten thousand people." Sun Quan praised him as "the capital of Wang Zuo". However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhou Yu became the bottom figure of Zhuge Liang. Zhou Yu was written to raise Zhuge Liang. Therefore, Zhou Yu in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is narrow-minded and always inferior to Zhuge Liang in wisdom. Unlike Zhou Yu praised by Su Shi, he is a "romantic figure through the ages". Lu Su: If the characters of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and others in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms are distorted, but there is still some basis, then in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Su is almost completely fabricated except for his name. Lu Su in history was "in the army, never leaving his book", "far-sighted" and "brilliant". When he first met Sun Quan, he put forward the founding policy: set foot in the east of the Yangtze River, reject Cao Cao in the north, wait for the destruction of Huang Zu, head for Liu Biao, who was accidentally discovered in the Yangtze River, and then build the so-called emperor for the world. This is similar to Zhuge Liang's longzhong pair. When Cao Cao's army marched south to Jingzhou, Sun Quan's men all surrendered, but Lu Su advocated resisting Cao and advised Sun Quan to recall Zhou Yu in order to defend the plan in the commercial war. After Battle of Red Cliffs, he urged-Cao. In the history of Wu Dong, Lu Su was a real Zhuge Liang figure, and Sun Quan also admired him very much. The establishment and development of Wu was basically carried out in accordance with the political strategy and strategic policy put forward by Lu Su. However, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Su became a victim of the wits and wits of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, a typical example of being fooled and bullied.
First of all, the theory of historical fatalism has been strengthened in the Mao version. The author has very strong feudal thoughts and limitations, and all kinds of feudal superstitions are among them, which should be eliminated when reading. Except for the original, other rewrites basically deleted these things.
The biggest shortcoming of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in art is its fixed characters and lack of development and change. This may be influenced by the stereotyped characters in folklore and the limitations of historical materials. Second, imagination and exaggeration are sometimes unreasonable. Mr. Lu Xun said: "I want to show Liu Bei's long and thick, but he looks like a fake. He looks like a demon." This criticism is to the point.