The name of the play is Sunrise. It is not only a symbol of light and strength in the mighty era, but also a contrast that the characters in the play live in darkness and have no bright future.
In the silent evening, grotesque dark clouds covered the sky. In the vast Yuan Ye, huge gray sleepers lie quietly. With a long train whistle, the sleepers began to vibrate slowly. One, two, three ... This may be hope, sinister, rebellious or melancholy. It was in this atmosphere that vilen began. The primitive atmosphere, gloomy land and distorted human nature, especially the appearance of gloomy world in the third act, make the whole drama of Yuanye shrouded in heavy mystery. This paper attempts to uncover this mysterious veil through the surface of symbolic images that can be seen everywhere in the play and get a glimpse of Cao Yu's creative thoughts in the play.
Symbolic images in Yuan Dynasty can be seen everywhere. Of course, the embellishment of symbolic images is not concrete, and there is no narration or monologue as usual in the play. Facing the mystery, different people have different views. But this just gives readers and viewers unlimited space to think and feel, so as to go beyond the description of the story itself and taste the true meaning of tragedy.
First of all, there are two symbolic images in the script: the train and the iron chain: the train that runs rapidly outside the forest [1] and leads to the endless land, is entrusted with the "most persecuted person"-Qiu Hu, the protagonist of the script, and his beautiful pursuit of "flying" to "a land of gold"; "Iron chains" symbolize the fate of slavery that can never be broken away. Playwrights have repeatedly felt strongly from real life that people's pursuit of ideal and free life is always bound by an invisible force, which forms a contradiction. The writer is searching with depression, pain and anxiety: what kind of "invisible force" is this? Perhaps the author can't make a clear generalization in theory. He concealed his subjective opinions in the characterization. He is good at "expressing" in the conflict of drama, and readers will draw their own conclusions from the image of playwright. Therefore, people found the shadow and "iron shackles" of feudal patriarchal ideology that ruled the countryside for thousands of years from Hu Jin's "revenge", which is essentially the struggle and resistance to the enslaved fate in Yuan Ye: revenge must be "because" a son who does not avenge his father is a great rebellion "; They must kill the innocent son Xing, because "paying debts for the father" is "natural"; They must murder Jiao Yan's grandson Xiao Heizi, because "childlessness" is the biggest "revenge"; However, the concept of "karma" is like a heavy chain, which tightly binds them and makes them finally fall into the brink of mental breakdown. Obviously, the "shackles" of this feudal patriarchal ideology is the "more core reason" that the "most persecuted" blind avenger can't get real freedom.
Secondly, the gloomy earth and the boundless "Yuan Ye" itself make people smell a strong primitive, barren, cold and stupid gas, and how can the enemy tiger nourished by this powerful "rustic gas" get rid of the barbarism and ignorance that has penetrated into his bones since childhood? Therefore, the play Yuan Ye itself indicates that this revenge story is doomed to be a tragedy. When the first act of the drama just started, Qiu Hu had been waiting for the big star at Jiao's home for ten days. These ten days are not so much a wait as a choice. As a hunter, Qiu Hu had no choice but to take a revenge gun and aim at his "prey", but his hands and heart trembled at the thought of the "blood" he would face after the gunshot. He is confused, contradictory, painful and confused. He knew what his gold said: "Your man should not leave", which made him more anxious: on the one hand, his family's blood feud made him unable to shirk the responsibility of revenge, on the other hand, his kind and innocent childhood friend made him feel uneasy. After all, Daxing is nothing wrong except being the son of Yan. "He can't even step on an ant." "He used to look at me like his own brother." These are the objective facts that Qiu Hu has to admit. However, revenge, like an invisible and powerful hand, pushed him onto this road of no return. In order to find a psychological balance and eliminate the guilt that has been bothering him, Qiu Hu had to design a big star. "I think now, thinking about how to let Daxing move his hand first. He moved his hand first, so no wonder I did." He played a ruffian rogue and stabbed Daxing with his affair with Jin, but Daxing, who was extremely weak, tolerated his blatant trampling on his male dignity, so that Qiu Hu had to take the initiative to wield a knife. This knife was finally cut down, but Qiu Hu's spiritual building supported by hatred also collapsed. Before he tasted the pleasure and relaxation he dreamed of, people were "possessed": "My hand, my hand. I have killed people, how many people have I killed, but these hands are so trembling for the first time. " "Blood can be washed away. Who can wash this' heart' with?" If the guilt and revenge thoughts that were completely intuitive and irrational before were dispelled, then this moment completely affected his whole soul and finally made him hallucinate in the dark forest where he fled. Qiu Hu is a farmer and a nobody living at the bottom of society. It is normal for him to have feudal superstitions in his mind. He is afraid of going to hell after death, which is a natural intuitive response, but the more he is afraid, the more fear will appear in his mind and consciousness, which is also in line with human nature. Therefore, it is obviously inevitable for the story to develop in the third act. In order to get the prince's forgiveness, Qiu Hu tried his best to tell his grievances in front of the prince, which just shows that Qiu Hu's subconscious is guilty. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to understand why Qiu Tiger is so afraid of Jiao Mu's soul call and the drums in the temple, and desperately wants to escape their pursuit, because this voice evokes his inner condemnation and regret for his sin.
Thirdly, let's take a look at Jiao Jia, whose furnishings are not complicated. This small space condensed with hatred for tigers is the epitome of a complete feudal society. Hanging on the main wall is "a huge, greasy bust of Jiao Yan, wearing the company commander's weapon, heavy eyebrows, fierce eyes, aquiline nose and neat moustache, as if with a kind smile and a murderous face". Jiao Yan's hideous portrait in military uniform symbolizes that this evil ghost not only breeds evil, but also dominates this dark world forever. Qiu Hu, who is full of hope of revenge, is constantly suffering from his invisible sarcasm and mental torture. Does this mean that it is a delusion for the autumn tiger to compete with the cruel feudal rulers with the strength of a savage? Or just throw eggs at stones. It was his mocking exam that forced the unwilling enemy tiger to redefine the object of revenge, which led to a new tragedy. There is also a small prop that cannot be underestimated, which is a shrine dedicated to the left side of the house. "There is a black incense table next to the door on the left, with three hideous six-armed golden-eyed bodhisattvas on it ... Now half of the incense burner is burning incense, and the black-faced bodhisattva shines brightly." It embodies all feudal spiritual rule and its ignorance and superstition. It is in this thousand-year "fragrance" that the ruling class has imprisoned people's souls. Some people often go to jail because they can't find the right direction, even if there is a spark of struggle in their minds. After the instant fall of Hu Qiu, we chose the same revenge as Rebecca, killing our son and grandson. As the guardian of feudal rule, Jiao Mu immediately determined that Hu Qiu's new revenge object would be his own son, from which we can realize the depth of his poison. Because both rulers and rebels, their thinking is fixed on the childlessness of China's traditional feudal patriarchal ethics.
Fourthly, in the third act, there appeared a black-faced Yan Luowang with a flat crown and jade in his hand, a judge with a black crown, a green gauze and black wings, and scary scenes of imaginary world such as a cow's head face, a horse's face and a green-faced kid. This is a vivid and cruel portrayal of reality. They reversed right and wrong, confused black and white, betrayed the enemy who was forced to death by Jiao Yan, sentenced the sisters who committed suicide to go to a brothel to go to hell, and the culprit Jiao Yan went to heaven. Qiu Tiger's accusation of Yan Luowang's injustice is an accusation of injustice in the real world. His exposure of Yamaraja's world law is also a criticism of the real world law. The author uses this unrealistic symbolic technique to reflect the suffering of the oppressed and describe the violence of real oppression. As Mr. Lu Xun said in He Dian: "The author shows the face of the living in the symbol of the dead ghost and the ghost hitting the wall, or we can say that the face of the living is regarded as the symbol of the dead ghost and the ghost hitting the wall." [2] It has a kind of "spiritual essence of secular phase", which makes the tragedy of the autumn tiger have a historical truth that can't be broken out of the tight encirclement. Moreover, it is in this scene that we can step into Qiu Hu's subconscious world and approach his soul, so as to explore why the soul is still bleeding and crying after revenge, and to pursue and explore Cao Yu's creative ideas at a deeper level, thus deepening the practical significance.
In Yuan Ye, the use of symbolic images seems to make Yuan Ye, a true story of peasants' revenge, far away from reality and bizarre. Since the publication of Yuanye, people have misunderstood and misread it, but it has deepened people's interest in exploring mystery, and at the same time it has given us another enlightenment, that is, to simply and absolutely examine Yuanye from the perspective of realism. It is unreasonable and unfair to blindly ask a writer to follow or maintain the realistic style, and it will also curb the application of new technologies and the discussion of new ideas.
We can't absolutely look at Yuan Ye from the perspective of realism, nor can we absolutely look at Yuan Ye from the perspective of class struggle (the struggle between farmers and landlords). For a long time, there has been a misunderstanding in literary criticism that the works reflecting the peasants' struggle against landlords have great practical and historical significance. Actually, this is a misunderstanding of history and reality. Class struggle is only an important part of history and real life, but far from the whole. In essence, Yuan Ye is not about the struggle between farmers and landlords, because the enemy, in terms of economic status, was on a par with Jiao's family before being persecuted by Jiao's family, at least there is no need for Jiao's family to be poor. This is a very good field. Jiao Yan coveted Jiao's family. He used his privilege as a warlord company commander, which led to the destruction of the enemy. What is written here is the commonness and weakness of all mankind: jealousy, savage possession, the implementation of intrigue and so on. Autumn tiger's fierce revenge after the struggle also has the same weakness as all mankind: the father's debt has been paid off, leaving the other side childless, thus hurting the innocent and young. From this point of view, the greatest feature of Yuan Ye is that it breaks through the mode of class struggle, reaches the height of criticizing the humanity of all mankind, and has the nature of ultimate concern and inquiry about human survival and living conditions. Its invisible idea is to criticize the commonness and weakness of all mankind, and at the same time, it reflects from the opposite side the search for the best side of human nature, the design of the best living state, and the infinite sense of compassion. For a long time, people not only misunderstood and misread Yuanye from the perspective of class struggle, but also ignored its invisible aesthetic pursuit of finding the best humanity and designing the most beautiful living state. This shows that our critics are superficial and rigid. In order to match the writer's creative ideas and aesthetic ideals, he used symbolism as the external form of the play. In my opinion, the two are perfect and complement each other, which makes Yuanye a highly unified masterpiece from content to form. If this script simply interprets the struggle between farmers and landlords, then the use of symbolism becomes almost impossible, and even if it is used reluctantly, it will separate the two. For a long time, there are some deviations in the use of symbolism in China's literary creation. Symbol becomes metaphor, too real, too direct, too specific. The use of philosophy and abstract symbolism has become an unwritten forbidden area, which is determined by the over-absolute realism and the over-absolute expression of class struggle. Cao Yu's "Yuan Ye" became an alternative, and he rose to the height of philosophy and abstract symbols. This is a work that stands out from the crowd. Although it caused some misunderstandings and misreading, it finally proved that it was the best of its kind! It's time to unveil its mystery today.