The play Dou E Yuan was written by Guan Hanqing, a playwright in Yuan Dynasty.
Dou, a poor scholar, went to Beijing to seek fame and borrowed money from the widow Cai Po. Cai Po had already taken a fancy to her daughter Ruiyun and took the opportunity to ask Ruiyun to be a child bride. Duanyun lost his mother at the age of 3, went to Cai's mother's house at the age of 7, changed his name to Dou E, 17, and married Cai's son. A year later, her husband died and her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law lived alone. One day, Cai Po asked Dr. Sailu for money. Dr. Sailu earned her money and went to a secluded place to strangle her. Fortunately, Zhang Lver and his son saved her. Because of saving his life this time, Zhang Lver and his son wanted to occupy their mother-in-law. Dou E insisted on not following. Zhang Lver put poison in the mutton soup, trying to kill Cai Po and catch Dou E. Unexpectedly, his father died after drinking the bowl of mutton soup. Zhang Lver falsely accused Dou E of poisoning her father-in-law, and threatened Dou E to marry him, otherwise she would report the matter to the court. With a clear conscience, I took a donkey to see an official. Tao Xun, the satrap, was a faint official, and tortured him to extract a confession, but Dou E was indomitable. Tao Xun turned to torture Cai Po, and Dou E was sentenced to death for saving her mother-in-law. During the execution, Dou E was filled with grief and indignation, calling for heaven and grabbing the land: "Being good and poor means short life, while being evil means long life. Heaven and earth, too, are afraid of bullying, but the result is so natural. Land, what are you, good or bad? God, you are wrong! " Dou E made three vows before her death: if she died unexpectedly, her blood would fly in vain, it would snow in June and there would be drought for three years, all of which were proved to be effective. Dou came to Chuzhou to pay his respects to Huai and Huai. Dou E's ghost dreamed of her father and told her grievances. Dou retried the case and killed a donkey. Dou E's grievances can stretch the snow.
Dou E Yuan is a famous tragedy that profoundly reflects the social reality of the Yuan Dynasty.
/kloc-in the middle of the 0/3rd century, usury prevailed due to the destruction of agricultural production by predatory wars and the abnormal development of urban economy. In the play, Dou borrowed twenty taels of silver from Cai Popo. One year later, the principal and interest were 420, and she was forced to take her daughter to pay her debts, which reflected the cruelty of usury exploitation at that time. The Yuan Dynasty was also the most cruel period of political oppression and the darkest period of bureaucracy in China's history. When Dou E entered the court, she was tortured by officials. Confused officials listened to the rogue's false accusation, decided the case only by confession, and once approved, they would not retry it, indicating that the law at that time was very barbaric and unreasonable. Dou E's innocent massacre is an artistic summary of the darkness of bureaucracy and unfair imprisonment at that time. However, the tragic element not only exposes the darkness of the Yuan society, but also endows the protagonist with an uncompromising character. It concentrated on her earth-shattering and sobbing resentment, turned this unknown child bride into a radiant comet, cut through the dark night that enveloped the sky, brought people a ray of light, and sprinkled a magnificent romantic color on the realistic trunk of the work. With superb artistic skills, the author also described in detail Dou E's inner contradictions and different aspects of her personality, making her a sympathetic and revered artistic image.
Yuan has profound social significance.
First of all, Yuan exposed the dark reality of graft and unjust imprisonment. At the expense of young life, Dou E let people know a poor but true truth: "From ancient times to the south, yamen has no meaning." This is a profound summary of the feudal bureaucracy for thousands of years and fully exposes the darkness and cruelty of the judicial system in the Yuan Dynasty.
Secondly, through Dou E's experience, it reflects the darkness, strength and moral corruption of the Yuan society. The forced marriage, bullying, murder and false accusation of Zhang Luer's father and son are a true portrayal of the evil forces that hooligans killed the people in the Yuan Dynasty. Dark and corrupt politics will inevitably shield the dark forces of society. The basic plot of Dou Eyuan was produced in such a special social environment, and Dou Eyuan fully exposed the social foundation of the reactionary rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Thirdly, it reveals that Dou E's experience is the product of usury exploitation. Usury is one of the characteristics of feudal exploitation, which reached its peak in Yuan Dynasty. Yuan deeply reflected on the deep suffering brought by usury to the people. The criminal activities of usury and its terrible consequences have always dominated the fate of each character and the development of the story.
In short, in The Injustice of Dou E, the author reveals all aspects of social darkness in Yuan Dynasty with high realism and amazing art, telling people that Dou E's Injustice is a personal tragedy, a tragedy of the times and a tragedy of society. Its profound social significance also lies in the fact that the works shaped the typical example of Dou E, and her death summed up countless unjust prisons in feudal society. Her tragic experience is a concentrated reflection of the people's suffering, and her struggle is a concentrated expression of the people's struggle consciousness and rebellious spirit.
Guan Hanqing (about 1224- 1300), the author of Dou Eyuan, was originally from China. He has been engaged in the creation and performance of zaju all his life, and created more than 60 kinds of zaju. He was the leader of a zaju creation group "Yujing Bookstore" at that time, and later generations praised him as "the leader and editor-in-chief of Quliyuan". Because of his low social status and bumpy life path, it is possible for him to observe and experience the sufferings of the lower class and burst into a clank of iron. In the Sanqu entitled "Don't be old", there is a confession that best shows his personality characteristics: "I am a copper pea that can't be steamed, boiled, beaten or fried." The writer's experience gained in his long life and his unyielding character are cast on the hero of this most mature tragic work in his later years. Dou E's strong resistance to the dark forces and persistent pursuit of truth and justice actually reflect the thoughts and wishes of Guan Hanqing and the social forces he represents. It is no exaggeration to say that Yuan is a famous tragedy in ancient China, but a typical successful tragedy in which the oppressed class began to awaken in feudal society. In this regard, Mr. Tian Han, a famous modern playwright, has a vivid description in his play Guan Hanqing, which truly reproduces the process of Guan Hanqing's brewing and creation of Dou Eyuan, which is a very useful material for us to study this tragedy.
Second, the artistic characteristics of Yuan
(A) Yuan's language characteristics
Yuan has a high artistic achievement. The artistic features of the language in Dou E Yuan Lie lie in its concise and clear words, beautiful and rhythmic lyrics, which profoundly show the inner world of the characters and concentrate on Dou E's resentment and anger. Many ancient vernacular Chinese, such as "only harmony" (only response) and "how to live" (how to live), are very vivid. Ke Bai and other auxiliary means are also well used, and the lyrics vividly show the complex mood of the characters and promote the development of the plot.
1, a popular and vivid drama language
Guan Hanqing is a representative figure of Yuan Zaju's "True Color School". Wang Guowei, a famous modern drama theorist, praised him for "having nothing to rely on, casting big words by himself, and his lyrics are full of human feelings, so Yuan comes first." (History of Traditional Chinese Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties) The so-called song is full of human feelings, and every word should be true. This is the natural, accurate and refined language of Guan Hanqing's drama. "Nothing for nothing", "Rolling hydrangea" and "Talking" and other "Nothing for nothing" are all based on the vivid spoken language of the people in their daily lives, simple and lively, full of the beauty of musical rhythm. There are more dialogues than monologues in the plain part, and narrative reasoning is emphasized in the plain part. This stack of lyrics is "intense but not so unforgettable" (Ming? He Liang Jun's Qu Lun), the author does not indirectly express the inner world of the characters, but directly and passionately expresses the characters' thoughts and feelings, so that the characters' thoughts and personalities can be vividly expressed.
For example, the third peak of the whole drama, Dou Eyuan, is singing opera. The first few songs, such as "Gong Zhi Hao" and "Rolling Hydrangea", poured out Dou E's anger like a volcanic eruption. The anger in Dou E's chest is surging, just like a tsunami summoned by a mountain, shocking people!
"The main palace, well make the king, don't be wary of being punished, crying earth-shattering. In a blink of an eye, the wandering soul went to the Rosen Hall first, so why not complain about heaven and earth?
Rolling hydrangea is hung by the sun and the moon, and ghosts and gods hold the right to life and death. Heaven and earth only distinguish between turbidity and turbidity. How can a thief get Yan Yuansheng? The poor who do good will be short-lived, and the evil will be rich and long-lived. Heaven and earth, too, are afraid of hard bullying, but Yuan Lai is so logical. Land, you are good or bad. God, you are both smart and stupid! Alas, only two tears fell. "
2, with personalized characteristics.
The lyrics of Bao accurately express the painful feelings of parting from the only relative's mother-in-law, which not only reflects the bitter life of two generations of widows living together for several years, but also writes the deep memory of their late husband. Only this kind of life and this kind of mood can we understand that we would rather die than marry a donkey and be willing to bear all the hardships for our mother-in-law. Guan Hanqing's dramatic language, "The true colors should be followed, and the works are truly touching", in which those who are quick lift their temples, those who are angry lament their wrists, those who are sad hide their tears, and those who admire them fly (Preface to Zang Maoxun's Yuan Qu) well expresses the ideological content of the works.
"If the scholar is my cangue buckle, people hold me before and after. My Dou E has something to say to my brother.
Speaking makes me feel sorry for myself, and I have no relatives, so I just submit to humiliation and complain.
Happy three times, thinking of Dou E's gourd as a sin, thinking of Dou E's broken head, thinking of Dou E's past career; Mother-in-law, you only look at Master Dou E's shameless face.
I am mindful of my service to my mother-in-law in recent years and offer a bowl of cold paste this season. You go there and burn some paper money on the remains of the criminal law. You should only recommend your dead children. "The sudden change in the mood of equality songs shows Dou E's deep, delicate, simple and kind character from another side.
Through the lyrics of "Happy Third Child", the play describes her mother-in-law. Her mood is low and the scene is sad, which deeply touches people's hearts. And "[Zheng Dan sings] grandma, don't cry, don't worry, don't be angry." This is all because I am Dou E, who has no time or luck, which reflects Dou E's unwilling and helpless resentment and paves the way for making three wishes in the end.
The development of classical opera in the Yuan Dynasty can be said to have reached a peak. As we all know, Yuan Qu, like Tang Poetry and Song Poetry, is a treasure representing a dynasty, which is inseparable from Yuan Qu's achievements in language and art. Yuan Zaju can be divided into two schools: natural school and literary school. Naturalism is characterized by simplicity and fluency; Literary school is characterized by gorgeous writing, brilliant literary talent, great emphasis on modifying words, and good rhetorical skills.
(B) Yuan's theater effect
1, a natural and distinctive artistic structure.
In the arrangement of rhythm, Dou Eyuan is compact, concentrated, ingenious and natural. Although it is only a short 40% drama, because of the author's ingenuity, ingenious conception, concise and appropriate plot organization and alternating density, people feel that two peaks are sandwiched between a valley, with no gap to strike, vivid rhythm and swaying posture. In cutting, the short place is precious gold, such as a bucket. Many plots are simply explained in the first fold, from the wedge to the first fold, spanning thirteen years. When the pen is extremely concise and needs to highlight the key points, the author is not stingy with pen and ink. For example, for the arrangement of the third discount, the author did not follow the general law of trial and judgment, and did not put the court trial in the third discount, but explained all the events such as Zhang Maolv's complaint and Dou E's punishment in the first two discounts.
2. Romanticism against realism.
Guan Hanqing "is not a crawling realist, but a realist with ideas and ideals". In order to express the earth-shattering grievances of the oppressed women and show the indomitable character and unyielding ideal of the oppressed people, and according to their profound understanding of the Yuan Dynasty and the inevitable trend of Dou E's character development, he used romantic methods to make Dou E make three vows before his death, namely, snow in June, blood in vain and three years of drought. Although this is impossible in real life and a product of fantasy, it reflects people's resentment. The realization of the three vows is not God's pity for Dou E, but a great victory of the people's strength. Through these three shocking vows, people's hearts are burning with anger, their spirits are uplifting and their fighting spirit is high. Finally, the arrangement of "God's will is in line with people's wishes" indicates the victory of Dou's struggle after marriage, which is an obvious injustice, a great extension of justice and a great mind. It also tells people that it is not the feudal theocracy of heaven and earth that dominates people's destiny, but the unyielding struggle spirit of the people who dominate the will of heaven and earth. Finally, Dou E made three wishes, which is the author's bold artistic treatment and its spirit is romantic. This is of great help to show the profound ideological content of this tragedy and convey the author's strong dissatisfaction and rebellious spirit against the dark reality. The appearance of Dou at the end of the play and Dou's retrial of the case show the author's deep sympathy and the ancient people's good wishes for good and evil. This romantic technique shows the psychology of punishing evil and promoting good in the lower class, gives people spiritual comfort to some extent, and reflects the people's determination to take revenge.
3. Strong tragic atmosphere.
Dou Eyuan is a famous tragedy in China's zaju. The work depicts Dou E's tragic character, shows tragic contradictions and conflicts, and describes the social tragedy caused by the feudal system to the oppressed people. Mr. Lu Xun once said: "Tragedy tore up the valuable things in life for people to see" (on the collapse of Leifeng Tower). Dou E's noble character and tragic fate constitute her personality characteristics. Her experience is bitter, and her resistance is strong. Dou E has a beautiful and noble quality, which is first manifested in her indomitable character. However, due to the strong feudal forces and relatively weak resistance forces, this constitutes a tragic conflict between the inevitable requirement of history and the fact that this requirement cannot be realized. (Engles' Letter to ferdinand lassalle) This contradiction could not be solved under the historical conditions at that time. The author is unwilling to let the oppressed people die silently and refuses to let the truth, goodness and beauty be destroyed innocently. This drama uses a unique conception and creates a unique tragic beauty. When Dou E speaks, the evil wind bursts and the atmosphere is tragic, which makes Dou E's image more radiant and constitutes a tragic beauty. Finally realized the three wishes and rehabilitated the unjust case. Tragic contradictions everywhere turn into comedy endings, which embodies the characteristics of China's classical tragedies. As the protagonist of tragedy, the real significance of Dou E's image lies in revealing the real social causes of millions of tragedies through Dou E's tragic experience and inspiring people to fight for truth and justice. Dou E was not only a crooked ghost killed by corrupt officials, but also a accuser and protester in feudal society. Dou E's tragedy is not only the tragedy of a good man being destroyed, but also the tragedy of a protester being destroyed. It not only makes people feel sad, but also evokes the tragic spirit. Therefore, this is a tragedy of victory, a tragedy of China, and Yuan is included in the world's classical tragedy.
Third, Yuan's inheritance and development of art
Dou Eyuan is a work based on the social reality of Yuan Dynasty, but it has obvious inheritance relationship with the previous generation literature. Dou E made three vows before executing the death penalty: the first one is blood flying exercise, which comes from the story of Donghai filial wife Zhou Qing. The second snow in June came from the legend that Zou Yan was imprisoned in the unjust prison recorded in "Magnolia at Peace". The third pile has been dry for three years. See the biography of Han Yuding. These three legendary stories are either coincidences or fabrications of writers. Their authenticity is doubtful, but they meet the people's wishes. People would rather believe in it than believe in it, so it is widely circulated among the people. When Guan Hanqing wrote about how Dou E's grievances touched the earth, he connected these legends and rendered them, which strongly infected the audience. This shows that Guan Hanqing is familiar with the thoughts and feelings of the oppressed people and has rich stage experience. It is no accident that his "Regret for the Past" was popular at that time and was called a "capable" writer.
The earliest edition of Dou E Yuan is an ancient famous drama edited by Chen and Jiao, which was engraved in the 16th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1588). Secondly, Zang Maoxun's Selected Songs of Yuan Dynasty (Zang Ben for short) was engraved in the forty-fourth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (16 16). The latest is Meng Chengshun's "Juanjiang Collection" (hereinafter referred to as Meng Ben), which was engraved in the sixth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1633).
For more than 700 years, Dou Eyuan has not only become a repertoire on the stage of China traditional opera, but also been translated into many languages and spread abroad. Because the aria and oral dialogue of zaju have the characteristics of the times and local colors, most of the operas in different regions have been adapted in the future. In the Ming Dynasty, Xianzu Ye adapted it into the legendary The Golden Lock, and Peking Opera was adapted into a passbook drama according to The Golden Lock. Among them, Visit to Prison and Gift Book, also known as Six Poems in the Snow, are often performed by Cheng, a famous Peking Opera performer in modern times. These plays have made some changes to Yuan's characters and plots. Because the arranger failed to observe the original author's intention, he deleted the essence and added the dross, and rarely saw those that sublimated the original work. For example, in The Golden Lock, it is written that Dou E's husband Cai Changzong did not die young, but unfortunately drowned in the Yellow River on his way to Beijing and was recruited by the Dragon King as a scapegoat. Three years later, he took the exam in Beijing and won the first place in one fell swoop. Dou E was frightened by the executioner because of the heavy snow, so he gave an urgent order to let people live with swords. Finally, Dou rehabilitated the unjust imprisonment, met Cai Changzong on the boat, and the father and daughter celebrated the reunion. A tragedy accusing the feudal rulers of persecuting ordinary people has turned into a comedy praising gods, being honest and vulgar, and the realistic spirit of the original work has been castrated.