The social significance of the love tragedy in "A Dream of Red Mansions"

Abstract "A Dream of Red Mansions" takes the love tragedy of feudal aristocratic young men Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu as the central clue, and tells the story of Jia, Xue and other families from their rise to the throne. The history of the decline of feudal society profoundly reflects the broad social reality of the mid-eighteenth century in my country, embodies the various sharp and complex contradictions and struggles in feudal society, reveals the sinful nature of the feudal ruling class, and thus reveals the inevitable collapse of feudal society. trend. The uniqueness of love in "A Dream of Red Mansions" is first determined by the uniqueness of its male and female protagonists. Secondly, it has a different connotation from all previous love stories. Bao Dai's love tragedy is inevitable. The love tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu on the one hand reflects the contradiction between the preliminary democratic thoughts of pursuing individual freedom and decadent feudalism. It reflects the most important social problems of that era and is a bloody and tearful indictment of feudalism. The reflection and pursuit of social ideals and life ideals. On the other hand, the love tragedies of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu are alarming dreams of the ups and downs of all living beings. Bao Dai's love tragedy also illustrates this point.

Keywords "A Dream of Red Mansions" tragedy, uniqueness, necessity, social origin

The text of "A Dream of Red Mansions" criticizes feudal society not only profoundly, but also extremely widely. Cao Xueqin has made extensive reflections and varying degrees of examination on many problems existing in feudal society, whether they are rules and regulations, moral laws, culture and education, religious beliefs, ideas and customs, etc. Its extensive coverage can be called an encyclopedia of feudal society. As Wang Xilian said: ""A Dream of Red Mansions" can be said to be all-encompassing and comprehensive, and no other novel can match it!" ("A Summary of "A Dream of Red Mansions")(1) Among them, the love tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu especially arouses the sympathy of readers. Feelings and deep thoughts. When Cao Xueqin expressed this love tragedy, he did not put the tragic conflict in a superficial and sharp state, but truly and delicately described the confrontation between Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu and the surrounding environment in their emotional journey from childhood sweethearts to mutual understanding. .

1. The tragedy of love in "A Dream of Red Mansions"

When Lin Daiyu first came to the Jia family, everyone in the Jia family was very interested in her possibly becoming the daughter-in-law of the Jia family. Sister Feng, who was good at watching the wind and observing Jia Mu's expression, teased Lin Daiyu many times. In the twenty-fifth time, she affectionately joked: "Since you have eaten our tea, why don't you become our wife?" (2) Chapter 66, when Xing'er introduced the figures of the Jia family to the You sisters, he said confidently: "Jia Baoyu's marriage will definitely be decided by Miss Lin in the future." (3) As time goes by , with the development of Lin Daiyu's aloof character and the exposure of her rebellious thoughts, she gradually lost the love of the rulers of the Jia family. The conflict between her and Jia's family was carried out in a form that was calm on the surface but profound on the inside. It was truly sharp. The love between Baoyu and Daiyu became a tragedy, not because of the appearance of Baochai, nor simply because of Sister Feng, Mrs. Wang, and Mu Jia. For these direct creators of Bao Dai's love tragedy, Cao Xueqin did not write them as clowns in traditional drama novels to mess things up, but wrote that they acted along the irresistible social laws of feudal society. It is not simply because of the wrong family, nor simply because free love violates the feudal marriage system, but because the anti-feudal color contained in this love itself is not tolerated by society, causing tragedy. This is Cao Xueqin's superiority. Compared to his predecessors, it is also a more profound place.

(1) The "wood and stone alliance" that is not in line with the "propriety" - a destined tragedy

The story framework of the golden marriage and the wood and stone alliance provided by "A Dream of Red Mansions" has its significance. Go far beyond the story itself. Moreover, its speculative content is rich and profound. It reaches into the depths of Chinese history, culture, philosophy, and beauty, crystallizing almost all the essence and shortcomings, and encompassing almost all desires and conflicts. In recent years, some researchers have tried to penetrate the surface of the novel's plot into the depth of spiritual symbolism, focusing on the abstract and secret relationships between characters. For example, Xue Baochai's "gold" is the nemesis of Lin Daiyu, who is a grass "wood" person, while Jia Baoyu's "stone" has dual natures. It can be turned into soil to produce wood, and it can be mined and refined into gold, so there is a "wood and stone alliance" and "gold and jade karma" are two potential possibilities. From the word "wood" represented by Lin Daiyu and the word "gold" represented by Xue Baochai, we can retrieve a series of related images and concepts in Chinese culture: wood is close to water, gold is close to fire, femininity and masculinity, loneliness and vitality, emptiness and reality Yes, pessimism and optimism, etc., are the manifestations of the Chinese people's two different understandings of the nature of the universe and life since ancient times. Xue and Lin are presented as the incarnations of two opposing aesthetic norms, personality ideals and cosmic spirits. The significance of the character Jia Baoyu is to try the possibility of a certain trade-off. As the bearer of huge spiritual conflicts, although Jia Baoyu's talents tended to favor Lin Daiyu, he actually had no choice. In front of the feudal "ethics", he is insignificant. With his personal ability, he cannot compete with the entire feudal society, nor can he compete with the feudal marriage system

(2) Bao Dai's emotional rift The root of the novel - Baoyu's weakness and passion

Jia Baoyu is the most well-known protagonist of the novel, and can be said to be at the center of the image system of the whole book. The Twelve Hairpins of Jinling are the twelve women that the novel focuses on describing, and it should be said that they occupy an important position in this image system.

There are also quite a few daughters who are of low status but have extraordinary character. The images are eye-catching. Obviously, the relationship between all these characters and the protagonist is far beyond what a pedigree table can include and express.

Looking at the relationship between Jia's Sichun and Baoyu, it can be said that the love between brothers and sisters is recorded separately. In the section on marriage, it is written that although Yuanchun and Baoyu are siblings, they have the same love as mother and son, enlightenment and wisdom, and hand-to-hand guidance. Oral transmission, careful education, belonging to the Yin Dynasty. Although Tanchun and Baoyu are separated by their mothers, their closeness to Baoyu is ten times stronger than that of Jia Huan, who was born to the same mother. In the twenty-seventh chapter, she specially asked Baoyu to leave everyone and go to talk under the pomegranate tree. She asked Baoyu to buy Xinya things for him, promised to make shoes for Baoyu with her own hands, and complained about the injustice and scolding her biological mother, Aunt Zhao. Here the author specifically uses Baochai's words to point out: "It is obvious that they are brother and sister." (4) He is timid in welcoming the spring and rarely talks. There seems to be nothing worthy of "close-up" with Baoyu on weekdays. However, after getting married in the Spring Festival, Baoyu sighed and wandered to Ziling Island alone. He was saddened by the scene and recited poems in memory of the love between brothers and sisters. Xichun is young and withdrawn, so Baoyu treats her equally, and even though she doesn't have a close-up, she can still be praised. As for Sister Li Wanfeng, she and Baoyu are not only uncles and sisters-in-law, but also siblings. Li Wan is in charge of the Grand View Garden, and she is the leader of all activities in the garden. She is an indispensable figure in Baoyu's emotional world. Needless to say, Sister Feng and Baoyu share the same misfortune of "siblings meet five ghosts", share the same fate, and are as close as flesh and blood. Then there is the Qin family. Although she is from the Ning Mansion, she is one step further away than Sister Li Wanfeng. But she is the one who guides Baoyu Renmeng into the illusion of Taixu. occupies a special place in the novel. Shi Xiangyun was not from the Jia family, but his relationship with Baoyu was almost as close as that of Daichai. Apart from various descriptions of her talents and character, the "Jin Qilin" case is sufficient proof. In addition, there is Miaoyu, who is not related to the Jia family. In addition to her noble birth, she is also listed because of some kind of "love" connection with Baoyu. From the plots such as "Tasting Tea" and "Begging for Plum Blossoms", especially the "Kowting from afar" greeting card on Baoyu's birthday, it can be seen that this "tattered outsider" has stepped into the crowd and unknowingly became the " "Influenced by love".

In addition, Jia Baoyu sympathized with the young official who painted roses, protected the Ou official who burned paper, concealed the stolen goods for Caixia, and felt unjust for Fangguan. He was afraid that the monk's stench would offend the You sisters, so he made an exception to receive Fu. The mother-in-law is afraid that Fu Qiufang will be shortchanged... and so on. It can be considered that almost all the women listed on it have "registered" with Jia Baoyu, the "crown of beauties", at different levels, from different angles, and in different ways. In other words, these artistic images, regardless of their own importance, have one thing in common, that is, there is some emotional connection with Baoyu, which is enough to reveal the "passionate" characteristic of Jia Baoyu's character. .

On the other hand, Jia Baoyu has a weak side in his character. In "A Dream of Red Mansions", for the deaths of Qingwen, Jinchuan and Daiyu, except that he hated them to death and pitied them to death, he never really fought to avoid their deaths. It was his weakness that allowed him to love Qingwen but not be able to refuse the alluring temptation. He loved Daiyu but was greedy for Baochai's snowy skin. Everyone said that Cao Xueqin spoke of Baoyu in argot, saying that he was reckless, stupid, unworthy and incompetent. , in terms of treating love, it is actually not unreasonable.

(3) The ending of Bao Dai’s rebellion against the worldly ways - the disillusionment of ideals

The two love protagonists Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions" are no longer what they used to be. The "gold-listed" type of talented man and the gentle and virtuous beauty that are often written about in dramatic novels are actually two feudal rebels with eccentric temperaments who were ridiculed by people at the time as having "madness". They not only contradict that society on the aspect of free love, but also contradict that society on many ideological issues and life issues. Jia Baoyu resolutely rejected the life path arranged for him by his feudal family. He was very indifferent to the imperial examination and official career path that the whole world was flocking to. He scolded those who crawled under the fame and official career as "national traitors" and "lunshi", and was very dissatisfied with the feudal order. , spiritual morality, etc. were all fiercely hated and denied, and even those books that promoted feudal orthodox doctrines were burned. Jia Baoyu completely broke the traditional concept of male superiority and female inferiority in feudal society. He believed that "the beauty of mountains, rivers, sun and moon is only for women" and "men are just scum" (5). Although Lin Daiyu didn't say much verbally, she deviated from the women's ethics of that society in many practical actions. In particular, she always took a sympathetic and supportive stance towards Jia Baoyu's rebellious behavior. "Bad words", and introduced Jia Baoyu as a confidant and a lifelong partner in life.

Although the love between Bao and Dai has an anti-feudal and rebellious color, on the other hand, it has a strong atmosphere of a declining aristocracy. On the one hand, this is reflected in the fact that the hero and heroine lead a leisurely life, and their love life is colored with a sentiment of beauty, gentleness and melancholy. On the other hand, due to the class nature of their love, the anti-feudal nature of their love can only reach a certain limit. Their love can only be limited to the small world of Grand View Garden, and they are unable to open up new worlds outside Rongguo Mansion. They still have some illusions about their feudal parents. In the final stage of love, they passively wait for the feudal parents to make the decision to complete the marriage, and even lose the ability to fight in the face of the feudal arranged marriage system.

The incompleteness and compromise of this anti-feudal love are the fatal weakness of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu’s love.

Therefore, the tragic ending of this love is certainly caused by the times, but the aristocratic weakness of love itself has also become a very important reason why their love is more difficult to escape the tragic ending.

2. The uniqueness of love in "A Dream of Red Mansions"

The uniqueness of love in "A Dream of Red Mansions" mainly lies in the characters of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu.

(1) Lin Daiyu’s character

The most profound source of Lin Daiyu’s sorrow and tears is her incompatibility with the secular people in her surrounding environment. Needless to say, Xue Baochai, who abides by famous teachings, and Jia Yingchun, who is resigned and resigned, even Shi Xiangyun, who is bold and open-minded, also has her secular and resigned side, and is content with the situation. Therefore, although they each have their own tragedies, they are not as rich as Lin Daiyu's tragedy. Socially relevant and exciting. Lin Daiyu's aloof and sensitive personality and temperament are indeed very unique. It often happens that people in the Jia family, especially Jia Baoyu, did not hurt Lin Daiyu, but Lin Daiyu thought that others had hurt her. Sometimes even other people's good intentions can become a cause for sadness for her. This seems incredible, but it is reasonable and completely shows the uniqueness of this personality. One time, the actors in the Jia family were acting in a play, and Xiaodan was dressed like a real person. Sister Feng, Baochai, Baoyu and others knew it in their hearts, but no one said it, either because they didn't dare or were unwilling, all because they were afraid of getting hurt. Lin Daiyu. Only Shi Xiangyun spoke frankly. Baoyu quickly stopped him with a wink, and tried to mediate and explain. In the end, Daiyu not only refused to accept Baoyu's affection, but was even more annoyed with him than Xiangyun. Baoyu argued that he did not compare Daiyu to an actor, and Before she laughed at her, Daiyu replied: "You still want to compare? You still want to laugh. If you don't compare, you are more powerful than someone who smiles!" "Why are you winking at Yun'er again? What's the matter? What kind of heart? Could it be that because he was playing with me, he despised himself? He was originally the daughter of a prince, and I was originally a poor girl..." (6) What kind of sensitive and self-respecting heart is this. Indeed, no one wants to embarrass Daiyu; however, with her fragile and stubborn personality, she is always on guard against the mentality of self-defense, and her demanding feelings for Baoyu due to her acquaintance, aren't they completely understandable and worthy of sympathy! Just like The psychological reaction caused by Baochai's gifts of bird's nests and earthen rituals to Daiyu should also be regarded as such. There is no doubt about Baochai's good intentions; on Daiyu's side, the sadness and weeping are indeed inevitable. It can be seen that even well-intentioned concern and consideration can trigger her associations and cause him to feel sad.

In Lin Daiyu, her own personality is fully expressed. Her so-called aloofness and aloofness, her sensitivity, suspicion, self-esteem, and petty nature. Often of a more personal nature. Clues can already be seen from some subtle details. Zhou Rui's family distributed palace flowers, and everyone else thanked them and accepted them. Only Daiyu asked: "Should it be given to me alone, or should the other girls also have flowers?" "Others don't choose the rest and don't give it to me either." At first glance, Daiyu is indeed picky and petty. Through the appearance, we can feel that she always values ??herself as an independent personality. During the drinking order, she casually uttered sentences from "The Romance of the West Chamber" (The Peony Pavilion) and other "obscene lyrics and songs". She lost her temper and was punished by Baochai. Daiyu seems to have put the admonition "a woman's lack of talent is virtue" in the back of her mind, and always wants to show off her talents and compete with others. On the day of the wedding, Daiyu showed off her talents in peace and overwhelmed everyone. She didn't want to just compose one plaque and one chant, but she couldn't disobey the order and compose more, which would be a huge disappointment. After all, Hou Cai couldn't hold it in anymore and acted as a "shooter" for Baoyu, who was thinking a lot. Baoyu was overjoyed and felt ten times higher than himself.

(2) Jia Baoyu’s character

Jia Baoyu is the central character in "A Dream of Red Mansions", and he is also the character on whom the author has put the most effort and written more successfully. He has not only the shadow of the author, but also his reflection on life and reality.

As for his image, the author gave a general and vivid explanation in the third chapter: "He seeks sorrow and hatred for no reason, and sometimes seems as stupid as crazy. Even though he was born with a good skin, he is originally rough inside. He is unreasonable. He is a common man who is stupid and afraid of reading. His behavior is eccentric and he is slandered by the world. He is poor and miserable. He has no hope in the country and his family. He is unworthy and unparalleled in ancient and modern times. The most distinctive character given to Jia Baoyu by the author is his rebellious spirit that was incompatible with the society at that time. The descriptions after this are nothing more than the deepening and vivid illustration of these two poems.

The characteristics of Jia Baoyu's character are, first of all, dissatisfaction, disgust, and even resentment towards a life of wealth and honor. In the seventh chapter, he said with emotion: "Why was I born in this house of the Duke of Hou Men? Silk silk and silk brocade can only cover my dead wood and rotten branches. Lambs and fine wine can only fill my cesspool and mud ditch. Wealth and honor can only fill my cesspool. Those two words really poison people." (8) In the 71st chapter, Jia Baoyu said angrily: "I just hate that I am stuck at home every day, and I can't make any decisions, so no one knows about my actions. This pull is the persuasion. Although I have money, it is not up to me." (9) The dull life of the feudal aristocracy filled his heart with loneliness, loneliness and sorrow, and also stimulated Jia Baoyu to demand to be freed from bondage. His character development led him to doubt and deny a series of decadent feudal systems and doctrines in his thoughts and actions. He deeply detested the eight-part essay and believed that it was just "a bait for future generations to gain fame and fortune" and "a way to gain fame and gain a living."

Supervisor Jia Zheng forced him to "memorize the four books together". After several years of reading, he still failed to memorize most of them and "could never memorize them." But he was very fond of the "obscene novels" at that time, "The Peony Pavilion" and "The Romance of the West Chamber". He was unwilling to follow the path of "become an official and become a eunuch" which was followed by ordinary aristocratic children at that time. He was even more unwilling to socialize with official figures. He called those who were keen on fame and fortune "thieves of the country and ghosts of wealth". , "a man who seeks fame and reputation"; but he has deep sympathy and friendship for the artists and slaves at the lowest level of feudal society. He calls himself brothers and sisters with Qin Zhong, a commoner, Liu Xianglian, a poor family, and artist Jiang Yuhan. The maids are gentle and considerate and take care of them in every possible way. He boldly challenged the concept of male superiority and female inferiority, placing all his enthusiasm and ideals on those pure girls. It is particularly worth pointing out that Jia Baoyu's rebellious character has the consistency and continuity in development, as well as the seriousness and uncompromisingness in thought. The closeness and distance between him and his sisters are based on the closeness and distance in thought. In Chapter 32, he announced in public: "Has Miss Lin ever said these bastard words? If she had said these bastard words, I would have been separated from her long ago." (10) This passage tells us, There is an insurmountable ideological gap between Baoyu, Xiangyun and Baochai, and only Daiyu is truly close to Baoyu. So "Daiyu was overjoyed and surprised when she heard this. The person who was delighted really had good eyesight, and she had always regarded him as a confidant, and indeed he was a confidant." It is precisely because the love between Baoyu and Daiyu came after a long period of understanding. , is firmly established on the basis of ideological unity, and the love between Bao and Dai has the color of modern love, which is incompatible with feudal marriage.

3. The inevitability and social roots of the love tragedy in "A Dream of Red Mansions"

(1) The inevitability caused by family environment and background

Bao and Dai*** Their rebellious character and life ideals were not suitable for the society at that time, and their sharp conflict with the feudal forces led to this tragedy, thus writing about the profoundness and inevitability of this tragedy in the times. The love between Baodai and Baodai was destined to be a tragedy from the beginning, because in Baodai's era, if the two people had a bright future, they must not only find a land that could accommodate free love and free marriage, but also a land that could accommodate free love and free marriage. Find a land that can accommodate Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu's life ideals and life paths, and find a place that can accommodate their rebellion. However, this was impossible at the time, which revealed the inevitability of the development of Baodai's love tragedy, and revealed that this was not an ordinary tragedy, but a tragedy of an era. In such a large Jia family, no one from Jia's mother to the maids supported their love, and no one stood up to speak for them.

It is not simply because of the wrong marriage, nor simply because free love violates the feudal marriage system, but because the anti-feudal color contained in this love itself is not tolerated by society. Tragedy, this is where Cao Xueqin is superior to his predecessors, and it is also where his writing is more profound.

The theme of love, in the hands of Cao Xueqin, has been enriched and improved with social and political content as never before, thus making a comprehensive and profound criticism of feudal society. This is What makes "Dream of Red Mansions" different from novels about gifted men and beauties, and different from previous human love novels, is why "Dream of Red Mansions" is so influential and shocking.

(2) The social environment at that time was the root cause of the tragedy

While unfolding the love tragedy, "A Dream of Red Mansions" also revealed the turmoil of Jia, Xue, Wang, Shi and other feudal families. Decay and sin have their typical significance in the late period of feudal society. They are the portrayal of the entire feudal ruling class that is about to decline. The fourth chapter of the novel tells the story of Xue Pan, the son of the Xue family. He beat someone to death for taking possession of a girl, and then walked away. He committed the crime for a year, and the government did not dare to investigate. Yin Jia Yucun of Jinling Yingtian Prefecture did not know the inside story when he first took office. He wanted to handle it according to the law, but a doorman stopped him and introduced him to the reason for the "official protection amulet": "Nowadays, all local officials have a private list, which is It is written about the name of the most powerful and wealthy gentry in the province, and it is the same in all provinces: If you don't know, if you offend such a family, not only your official title, but also your life will be difficult to protect!" (11) So Jia Yucun "played favoritism and bent the law and judged the case indiscriminately." Afterwards, he quickly wrote two letters to Xue Pan's uncle Jia Zheng, and his uncle Wang Ziteng asked them to rest assured. The "Guardian Talisman" not only profoundly exposed the dark corruption of the officialdom and government at that time, but also showed how powerful the four major families were politically in that feudal society.

It is under this social relationship that from the perspective of the Jia family, if Jia Baoyu and Baochai are combined, he will win the envy of the world and a bright future. If Jia Baoyu were to marry Daiyu, he would have nothing. In this case, the world can only allow Jia Baoyu and Baochai to marry, and the love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu can only end in tragedy.

To sum up, the novel "A Dream of Red Mansions" is of great research value and it contains huge social significance. On the one hand, through the tragic love story of Bao and Dai, it reflects the aristocratic rebels' opposition to imperial examinations, ethics, and the life path prescribed for them by the feudal ruling class. They demand freedom of marriage, equality between men and women, and respect for individuality. On the other hand, it is the dream of the ups and downs of all living beings that makes people alert. Bao Dai's love tragedy also illustrates this point.

"Dream of Red Mansions", a great literary masterpiece, will shine forever in human history.