Keywords "Dou Eyuan"; Social contradictions; Personality conflict; Tragic consciousness
Guan Hanqing was a great dramatist in China13rd century. As the head of the "Four Masters of Yuan Opera", his works are quite rich. There are 67 kinds of recorded names of zaju, accounting for one ninth of the total of more than 500 kinds of zaju in Yuan Dynasty, and there are 18 kinds of zaju handed down from ancient times. Among them, there are comedies and tragedies Among his four tragedies, Dou Eyuan, Dream of West Shu, Butterfly Dream and Lu Zhailang, except Dream of West Shu, which is the author's lament for the tragic fate of heroes, the other three are descriptions of the joys and sorrows of ordinary people and little people, expressing the author's sympathy for the kind and weak. Yuan is the most representative and critical, and is called "also worthy of being included in the world tragedy". [ 1]
First, the realistic description method
During the Yuan Dynasty, the intensification of ethnic contradictions, the decay of bureaucratic rule and the changes in the way of selecting talents and appointing people made the "Confucian scholars" valued by the Han people gradually reduce to "nine scholars and ten beggars". The Confucian scholar Dou, who "reads thousands of books omniscient", had to give his daughter to the creditor Cai as a daughter-in-law, but he also knew, "Where is this daughter-in-law? Obviously it was sold to him. " [2] Although he struggled internally: "I am helpless", he still chose to sell his children for his future. When he saw his daughter's ghost, he insulted Dou E without asking whether it was right or wrong. He was even more cruel to let this daughter, who became a stepping stone to his future, "never be a human being" and "always be a hungry ghost in Yinshan". What a cruel father and selfish humanity! There is so much human love, the world is cold and human feelings are so fragile!
Dou became the spokesman of the emperor. He could judge prisoners everywhere, observe corrupt officials and act before acting. But when he saw Dou E's literate Sect, he said, "This is the final document. Don't read it." If so, why do you want him to be an "honest messenger"? As an official appointed by the emperor and brought up from the poor class, his behavior shows from the side what is official corruption, what is social darkness and what is bureaucratic incompetence. At the time of the trial, it is also necessary for Dou E's ghost to personally wash away the grievances. He not only has no ability to distinguish between black and white, but also has no ability to draw the truth. This shows the social background of incompetent officials and dark officialdom, which is undoubtedly the source of people's suffering.
We can't find Guan Hanqing's description of the social environment in the play. We can only determine that the background of the play is the Yuan Dynasty through the official position of "anti-government cheap visiting ambassador". However, he described the social life in detail with realistic brushstrokes, wrote from the side, and showed the whole society in all directions, which made us understand the turmoil and chaos of the social environment and the sufferings of the people, explored the social causes of the tragedy from a broad perspective, and showed his sober realistic attitude.
Second, the artistic technique of interweaving sadness and joy.
Hu Shi once said: "What China literature lacks most is the concept of tragedy." [3] Some people think that there is no tragedy in the strict sense in China. This is probably a misunderstanding of the Chinese nation's good wish for a happy reunion in literary works. There was no complete tragedy theory system in ancient China. It seems to be the general trend to use the western tragedy theory to guide China's literary works. But in China's traditional philosophy and artistic concept, there is no such "desperate and sad" works. In Guan Hanqing's plays, the artistic technique of interweaving sadness and joy is more obvious.
When Dr. Cellou came to power, "the dead doctor didn't live, and the living doctor died" and "humanitarianism and my ability to be a good doctor" were all called Dr. Cellou. This kind of "self-introduction" not only has the comic color added by the author's deliberately laughing tone, but also has the ironic brushwork to show his image of ignoring human life and cheating, and also implies the tragic fate of the lower class at that time. The relaxed tone and teasing language are also reflected in corrupt officials: "I am a better official than others, and I want gold and silver when complaining;" If the boss brushes the roll, he won't go out at home. " Sketch its ugliness with the brush strokes of cartoons: "But it is my parents who complain about food and clothing." This made the audience laugh and despise his ugly face. The aesthetics of China's traditional literature determines that comedy description techniques are interspersed in tragedies, and there is a relaxed plot structure mode, which not only does not reduce the tragic meaning of the script, but adds a strong satire effect.
People in China believe that "the sun shines at noon and the moon is full" and "it's the same whether you are Thai or not". Although the drama describes the tragic fate of tragic characters whose beliefs have been destroyed and shows the disillusionment of ideals, the author still realizes people's wishes in another way in this disillusionment: a "happy reunion" in another sense in the form of ghosts. This tendency from sadness to joy is common in Guan Hanqing's works. Although this change is more or less illusory, it shows the author's call for justice and kindness and his hatred for evil and filth.
Third, the characterization of personality tragedy
Goethe said: "The key to tragedy is that there is a conflict that cannot be solved, and tragic characters can conflict because of the contradiction of any relationship, as long as this contradiction has a natural basis, it is a real tragedy." [4] Guan Hanqing's setting of drama conflict is developed through the description of the characters' personalities in the drama. Dou E, the hero, is strong-willed, opinionated and has feudal ethics. In the face of the rogue behavior of Zhang Lver and his son, their resistance aroused each other's desire, but mother-in-law Cai gave her hope, and the tragic fate unfolded step by step with the drama conflict. When Zhang Donkey's father was killed by medicine, the framed one did not succumb to the torture of power, but to protect her mother-in-law. Her filial piety and kindness made her confess. At this time, Dou E's tragic fate has been in full swing. Aristotle believes that tragedy is "to relieve these feelings by arousing pity and fear." [5] In order not to let Cai's mother-in-law see that she was beheaded, she begged to go to the backstreet and told her mother-in-law, "I can't eat rice, I can eat half a bowl with it; The endless paper money is strange to Dou E. For thousands of years, I don't know how many people will hide their faces and cry when they see it. With the tragedy of an ordinary, strong, kind and filial man, the author stimulated the numb nerves of the oppressed, aroused the voices of the vast majority of people and produced touching effects.
There are not many characters in the play, and the author has not made an intuitive and detailed introduction to the social background and character. However, the author's accurate grasp of the psychological state of the characters deepens the contradictions and conflicts, and presents the audience with bloody scenes full of good shock, evil arrogance and strong opposition. The extremely evil reality forms a strong conflict with the extremely good beauty, resulting in shocking tragic beauty. At the same time, the contradiction reached its peak, showing a strong critical force and profoundly exposing the cruel oppression of the people by the dark society.
Four. conclusion
As a writer living at the bottom of society, Guan Hanqing's works truly reflect the subtle and ordinary, humble and struggling life state of ordinary people. Yuan used artistic techniques such as detail treatment and profile description to fully and truly show the tragic fate of a kind and loyal woman in the society of the Yuan Dynasty with decadent officialdom and dark bureaucracy. At the end, Dou E's three illogical vows are realized through romanticism, which not only embodies Dou E's strong will and strong rebellious spirit, but also expresses the author's yearning for kindness and justice, as well as the yearning for a clear society with wise emperors, clean officials and happy people. As a representative of ordinary people, Dou E's tragic fate is not only the tragic fate of the lower classes in Yuan Dynasty, but also her questioning of heaven and earth, not only the lower classes in Yuan Dynasty, but also the upper rulers and the author's questioning of the dark rule of feudal society.
Precautions:
[1] China Theatre Publishing House. Wang Guowei's Drama Essays [C]. Beijing: China Theatre Publishing House, 1984.85.
[2] Ma. Collected works of Guan Hanqing [M]. Taiyuan: Shanxi People's Publishing House, 1996.4
[3] Hu Shi. The concept of literary evolution and the improvement of traditional Chinese opera. Hu Cun, Volume 1 [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore, 1989.207
[4] Goethe. Goethe's conversation [G]. People's Literature Publishing House, 1978+022
[5] Aristotle. Poetics [M]. The Commercial Press, 1996.63
refer to
[1] China Theatre Publishing House. Wang Guowei's Drama Essays [C]. Beijing: China Theatre Publishing House, 1984.
[2] Ma. Collected works of Guan Hanqing [M]. Taiyuan: Shanxi People's Publishing House, 1996
[3] Vernacular I Ching Compilation Group. Complete translation of the vernacular I ching [M]. China Folk Literature and Art Publishing House, 1989.