Xue Baochai is an important figure in China's famous classical novel A Dream of Red Mansions. Her importance lies not only in the fact that she is one of the protagonists in the love tragedy of Bao, Dai and Chai, but also in the rich connotation and innovation of this artistic image. There have always been different views on the image of Xue Baochai. Some people think Baochai is dignified, gentle and generous; Some people think that Baochai is ruthless, hypocritical and treacherous, and she is a "female Cao Cao". Have diametrically opposite views on the same character. One is that different people have different views, but it also shows the complexity, richness and objectivity of this image. So, what do you think of this picture? First of all, we should abandon personal prejudice and love-hate relationship, and make a concrete analysis from the description of the works.
From the description of Xue Baochai in A Dream of Red Mansions, we can see that the image of Xue Baochai created by Cao Xueqin is a typical standard lady in feudal society. The basic feature of this image is that she is a loyal believer in feudal ethics, a conscious executor and a sad martyr. However, the image of this feudal lady is complex and colorful. As soon as Xue Baochai appeared, her appearance was beautiful and her manners were refined. At that time, she looked like a model of an orthodox lady, but there was a cynical personality factor in her bones. She has a strong critical spirit to the society at that time. The 38th Ode to a Crab sharply satirizes Jia Yucun and other tyrannical officialdom figures. And her favorite lyrics and songs are actually "Parasitic Grass at the Gate", a lonely, angry and rebellious rich man! Misguided by Cheng Gaoben, the understanding of Xue Baochai's thought and character in the Red Chamber has long deviated from the actual situation. According to the traditional view, Xue Baochai is "extremely shrewd, can win the hearts of the people and be praised by the Jia family." In fact, in Cao Xueqin's pen, she just offended her parents because of her personality!
In the twenty-second novel, Baochai once wrote a poem "More Fragrant Mystery", which caused Jia Zheng to be greatly disappointed: "The words of villains are even more ominous, and no one will live forever." On the 40th trip, when Grandmother Jia visited the Grand View Garden with Granny Liu, the interior furnishings of Baochai Garden were simple, which caused great dissatisfaction of Grandmother Jia, who thought it was a disgrace to her relatives. As for Baochai, Grandmother Jia said, "Stop fooling around", "Don't look like it", "Don't be too detached" and "We old women are going to live a stable life more and more".
Negative evaluation. At the "Guo Rongfu Lantern Festival" at that time, the grandmother ordered her beloved four people, Baoqin, Xiangyun, Daiyu and Baoyu, to sit at the main table with her, but only pushed Baochai out of the main table and sat with Wen Li and Li Qi. This was an important sign that Baochai changed from "favored" to "out of favor" in front of the grandmother. If she is really "shrewd and popular", why did she end up like this? It can be seen that in Cao Xueqin's original work, Baochai is just a person who disdains to play with any "talent" to please his parents! Coincidentally, Zhi Yanzhai's comments on Chai and Dai's poems are also: "Don't care now, don't do it in Daiqing." Really sympathize with the weak, but "despise" the strong, which is the keynote of Baochai's behavior.
Xue Baochai (Figure 4_ Feng Qiyong Painting)
Another outstanding feature of Xue Baochai is that she is very sophisticated, that is, she is good at being a person and dealing with the world. In Jiafu, a big family with complicated factions and many contradictions, on the one hand, she adopted the philosophy of "keeping silent when something happens, shaking her head and not knowing" to protect herself; On the other hand, she is good at dealing with interpersonal relationships and maintains a cordial, natural and appropriate relationship with people in all aspects; As the fat comment said: "When people are indifferent, not far away, not close, disgusting people can't see the cold state at last, and will form various sounds;" The gratifying people have not seen intimate feelings and all kinds of voices. " In this seemingly impartial attitude towards life, she paid special attention to trying to figure out and cater to the wishes of the Jia rulers in order to win their favor, but she never showed indifference and contempt for Aunt Zhao and others, so she was praised by all kinds of people in the Jia family. Jia Mu praised her as "stable and peaceful"; Aunt Zhao, who never praises others, also calls herself "generous". Even the little girl is close to her. Many people think Baochai is hypocritical and say that she likes to please and flatter others. Jia Mu is going to celebrate her birthday and ask her what she likes to listen to and eat. Knowing that old people like lively operas and sweet and rotten food, she answered according to Jia Mu's usual hobbies. She also flatters Jia's face. She said, "I've been here for so many years, and it seems that Girl Feng is smarter than the old lady." As a result, Grandmother Jia praised: "Speaking of sisters", "Four girls in our family are not as good as Baoyu. We can't just accuse Xue Baochai of hypocrisy and say that she is an apple polisher. Baochai won the happiness of the elderly, which is also a reflection of the traditional virtue of respecting and loving the elderly. It is essential for Baochai to observe carefully. Baochai is passionate about helping others, such as Xiangyun, Xing Xiuyan, Daiyu and even Xiangling. Even Jia Huan, who is extremely poor, never forgets his share of gifts. Her approach is in line with her consistent attitude towards life, mellow, comprehensive, not missing a place, nor favoring one side over another, attracting people's hearts. She can be very jealous. "I wish you ate me, I ate you" is widely circulated and received rave reviews, which is also very admirable. We should also notice that when Grandmother Jia showed Granny Liu around the Grand View Garden, she saw that her house was "like a snow cave" and she was furious and said, "It's time for our old lady to live in a stable. According to the grandmother, the sisters' rooms can't be worse than this, and we don't have to get used to the old lady's habits. "。 Generally, a young lady's embroidery room should be exquisitely decorated and energetic, so as to reflect a young girl's youth life. Baochai never liked these "flowers and powder". Although she likes to cater to others' wishes in behavior, she has her own opinions in her heart and will not change her preferences because of others' opinions. She also returned the gifts to Feng, indicating that she insisted on her own personality and opinions in her private territory, although it made her feel humiliated. This can't be completely explained by feudal thoughts. When holding high the anti-feudal banner, we should at least respect our own personality and freedom. Baochai has the right not to like "flowers and powder" and to decorate her room at will. Therefore, when using Baochai's room decoration as evidence that Baochai was poisoned by feudal thoughts, we should first fully respect our personality and choices, instead of giving up the theory to prove our point of view. Baochai's room is in harmony with her heart, setting off her cold-eyed attitude towards the world, and echoing her poem "Never change after all, get together with him", so it is not difficult for us to understand why Xue Baochai, who is always popular, will make such a cynical poem "Ode to a Crab". Although she can tolerate all kinds of irrationality in the world, it doesn't mean that she agrees with her heart. She has her persistence and principles. Of course, it is particularly worth pointing out that she consciously or unconsciously maintains the goodwill of the core figures, which is also her worldly strategy. What she often goes to is Mrs. Wang's room. No matter what the elder did wrong, or she felt sad, she should make a speech and actively eliminate the concerns of the elder. After Jin Chuaner committed suicide by jumping into a well, Mrs. Wang felt uneasy. She comforted Mrs. Wang and said: Kim will not commit suicide; If it's suicide, it's just a fool It's not a pity to die. Just give me a few taels of silver. Mrs. Wang said that Lin Daiyu's birthday clothes could not be used to make up for her death, so Xue Baochai took them automatically for fear that she would be jealous.
Slowly take out your new clothes and give them to Mrs. Wang. This passage is extremely controversial, and many people lambaste Baochai for being ruthless, regardless of the lives of others, and just want to spend money. But first, Jinchuan committed suicide because of shame. Secondly, Jinchuan's death has nothing to do with Baochai. As domestic slaves, Jinchuan family, Jia Baoyu and Mrs. Wang, who are responsible for this tragedy, are unable to sanction or even condemn it. Then Yuchuan continued to be a slave in front of Mrs. Wang. As a relative of Jinchuan, that's the attitude. What position do you have to accuse an irrelevant Baochai? Baochai is a cold person, not against Jinchuan, but against everyone, including herself. For her, what she can do is to try to resolve conflicts and really solve problems. We should also note that Baochai didn't know the real reason why Jin Chong threw himself into the well at that time, but Mrs. Wang told her that Jin Chong was driven away because of throwing things and died in a rage. Baochai was suspected of asking Mrs. Wang for help, but in ancient China, it was emphasized that "filial piety begins when parents are covered with skins.". Baochai, a feudal moral believer, abandoned her parents because of a little thing, which she could not understand. In her position, this is extremely irresponsible behavior. Even in western Christianity, suicide is a very serious crime, while suicide in modern society. But Baochai didn't dislike Jin Chuaner, a poor woman, and suggested to Mrs. Wang to give her parents more money and take out her clothes. This is the best thing she can do for the Jinchuan family who lost their daughter, not to mention the feudal moral requirement: "Children don't talk about their fathers." Baochai could not criticize Mrs. Wang as an elder. This is the best she can do. While blaming Baochai, think about whether you can do better than her if you are in her position. Instead of crying, lamenting and being sad in vain, it is better to let the living people really get compensation; It is better to pay attention to the living than to the dead. This is Baochai's consistent philosophy. On the issue of Liu Xianglian's disappearance, Baochai has the same performance, because she clearly knows that this is Liu Xianglian's personal choice, and only he can untie the knot. Even if he finds it, his heart will never come back. If he figured it out by himself, don't persuade him, don't look for it, he will come back by himself. Then why not pay more attention to those guys who have been tired for months? They're people, too. They expect to support their families with their own money after the business trip is settled. Aren't these people human? Can't so many families compare with one Liu Xianglian? Just because Liu Xianglian has disappeared, should they be ignored and can't eat? It can be seen that Baochai, a heartless person, is biased. On the occasion of the "Shouyihong Banquet", someone wrote that peony was painted on the toothpick she took to drink, and there was a poem on it: "Being ruthless and moving". According to the standards of feudal society, Xue Baochai is called the crown of beauty. The meaning of this sentence is that although Baochai has a cold personality, her moral character is still touching. Maru said Leng Xiang, probably implying that she is not enthusiastic. But "ruthlessness" and indifference do not mean adultery. Didi Cuiting's butterflies are flying, so it is natural to see that she has a plan. But its purpose is to make Xiaohong and Zhui Er think that she didn't see this relationship and didn't mean to frame Lin Daiyu. Borrowing clothes to win gold did not consciously make Mrs. Wang dislike Lin Daiyu. In doing so, she completely followed the feudal philosophy of preserving our sanity and naturally showed her selfishness. However, people in the Grand View Garden are not selfish. Daiyu is selfish for love, Tanchun is selfish for birth, Yingchun is selfish for self-protection, and Baochai is not a saint. She has a selfish view of the people around her. Baochai's mind is permeated with feudal thoughts. She is a lady who faithfully believes in feudal morality and feudal ethics. She believes that it is the most moral thing to do according to feudal ethics; So she naturally achieved the "four virtues". Some people say that Xue Baochai is a "villain and thief", and fear of "Bo" refers to her faithful belief and implementation of feudal morality; Because this morality itself is most in line with the form of feudal society, she won the favor of the Jia family and was finally chosen as Baoyu's wife, which is mainly the natural result of her personality and environment, and should not be simply regarded as the victory of her or Aunt Xue's intrigue. The view that all Xue Baochai's activities are consciously and planned to serve Baoyu is not consistent with the description in the book, and it also narrows the ideological significance of this character. In fact, her character is not treacherous, nor is she always scheming everywhere, but she acts according to feudal orthodoxy, and she is so unaware that she is like a duck to water. She is sincere and does it according to feudal ethics. So when she advised Daiyu, she earnestly thought that these morals were the most correct and incomparable. Xue Baochai's scheming and Xi Feng's duplicity are completely different.
The complexity and richness of Xue Baochai's character are also reflected in some beautiful characters she has. For example, she is considerate, fair, caring, considerate and helpful. Once, xiren wanted to ask Xiangyun to do some needlework for her. When Baochai knew this, she immediately explained to her the difficulties of Shi Xiangyun's "not being in charge at home", "working in the middle of the night" and "being tired when she came", and accused her of being "inconsiderate for a while" and took the initiative to undertake the work that Shi Xiangyun wanted to do. On another occasion, Xiangyun wanted to open a cooperative as the host, and Baochai gave her a crab feast, because her expenses caused complaints from menstruation. Therefore, this outspoken and generous young lady once sincerely praised Baochai: "None of these sisters can compare with Sister Bao. It's a pity that we don't have maternal love-I don't care if I have such a sister, even if I lose my parents. We also gave various kinds of help to the benefactor Lin Daiyu and Xing Xiuyan, whose family was poor. Even the servants in the Grand View Garden, she can understand their hard work by getting up early and staying up late all year round and plan some extra benefits for them. Before we look at Baochai, we should first look at feudal morality dialectically. In China's 5,000-year-old culture, feudal morality is backward and hinders social progress. At the same time, it is also beneficial to the country and the people and positive. Although it oppresses people and imprisons ideas, it also has the function of stabilizing society and inheriting culture.
In the 19th episode of A Dream of Red Mansions, Aron was taken home by her mother and brother for New Year's tea, and her mother and brother negotiated with her to redeem her. Aaron refused to go back and cried, "You didn't eat that day, and I was still worth a few taels of silver. If I don't ask you to sell it, there is no reason to watch my mother starve to death. " Fortunately, I have sold it to this place now, and I am as well-fed as my master, and I don't always scold you. Besides, although dad is gone now, you have finished your housework and regained your vitality. If it is really difficult, it is not difficult to redeem me and pay a few more money. What are you going to redeem me with now? I don't have to think about saving me when I'm dead! "From this record, we know the hardships that Xiren experienced in his life. At an early age, we should bear the burden of the family, make contributions to the family, go to other people's homes to look into others' eyes, and learn to be cautious and docile in a complex growing environment.
Xiren is kind, steady and conscientious, and everyone in the Grand View Garden praises her only after they are seniors. Even the subordinates Xiaohong and Jiahui are convinced that they are famous sages. She also has some stupid places in her heart. There is only one person in her heart who the master orders her to serve. She fell in love with Baoyu and was the only woman in A Dream of Red Mansions who had sex with Baoyu. She advised Baoyu to study hard from time to time. Baoyu had an affair, teased and killed Jin Chuaner, and was framed by Jia Huan. His father beat him up, and he advised Lady Wang to discipline him and ask him to move out of the garden. Mrs. Wang thinks that the attacker knows Dali very well and trusts him. She was not only rewarded with two bowls of vegetables, but also given a half salary increase, ready to upgrade her to a "prospective aunt".