Han Yuefu folk songs come from the mouth of the lower classes, expressing the people's own feelings, their love and hate, and are the representatives of realistic techniques. Throughout the existing Han Yuefu folk songs, there are many descriptions of female images, which can be roughly summarized into the following categories:
1. 1 image of abandoned wife
In the Han Dynasty, the oppression of women by feudal ethics was aggravated by the fact that Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty ousted hundreds of schools and respected Confucianism alone. Under the bondage of a series of feudal provisions such as "three obedience", "four virtues" and "seven outings", the fate of women is becoming increasingly tragic. Women are in a position of being hurt and humiliated. There are works describing the image of "abandoned wife" in Han Yuefu.
The images of "abandoned wives" are mostly kind and simple women, and they are mostly bound by feudal ethics. They only accept the fact that they were abandoned by Nuo Nuo, and do not resist or fight for it. They are very obedient. It can be said that such women have thoroughly implemented the "husband plan" in their lives. In "Going Up the Mountain to Pick Novels", the heroine is what we call a deserted wife. Even after the divorce, when she saw her ex-husband, she would kneel down and respectfully and sadly ask how the couple were. Such a woman has completely lost her self-awareness. "Fu Gang" was as deep as a mountain in the hearts of women at that time, and all the centers of women's life were reflected in their contributions to their husbands and in-laws.
1.2 image of poor women
In the Han dynasty, because of the harsh rule and exploitation, there was a great gap between the rich and the poor. It is a vivid portrayal of the society in the Han Dynasty that "the rich have fields and buildings, but the poor have no place to stand".
A trip to the East Gate is about such a poor woman. The husband who came back from the door saw that his wife and children had no food, hunger and cold, grief and indignation, and despair. The heroine tried to persuade. However, her heart is also struggling fiercely, and her sadness, helplessness and nostalgia make people cry. Such a woman is a dutiful housewife, who does not seek wealth, stability or poverty. The whole family is safe, poor and determined, and contains many virtues of ancient women.
It can be said that the women living in the lower classes described by Han Yuefu are a miniature of an era. This kind of woman has been working hard for her husband and children all her life, and has never seriously experienced her own pains and joys. The best gift that life returns to them is peace with their families, that's all, but this peace is such a luxury for them. Many people, after a lifetime, still can't overcome the cruel reality. Under the background of social reality, they are so small and helpless.
1.3 the innocent image of young women
The image of young women has always been admired in previous poems. Because most girls' images are innocent. There are also many such works in Han Yuefu.
People are familiar with the girl picking lotus in "Song of Picking Lotus". These women are often closely related to the activities in life in their poems, showing the situation and elegance of women's productive labor. Most of them are engaged in productive labor with peace of mind, and have friends and lovers around them, so they have a certain sense of security and satisfaction with their environment, and can experience human feelings, life or secular happiness in real life and live a simple and simple life. Although most of them are ordinary women, compared with those who abandon their wives or are poor, living with them can be said to be peaceful and pleasant. This kind of women is the mainstream of the times, living according to the mainstream values at that time, identifying with the traditional feudal concepts and social systems, and better observing and maintaining those concepts and systems.
1.4 Woman who bravely sticks to love
If you ask which is the most touching love poem in the world, Shang Yang in Han Yuefu must be one. "Mountains have no edges, rivers are endless, thunder and lightning in winter shake rain and snow in summer, and heaven and earth become one, but dare to separate from you." The heroine of Shang Zhouwang is such a woman, looking forward to love and faithfully guarding it. No matter what difficulties and obstacles, she can't separate herself from the person she loves. Take love as an important topic in life and bravely guard it. Gender characteristics determine that women pay more attention to emotions than men, especially love, especially in ancient times. Even though many women are subordinate to Nuo Nuo in marriage, there are still quite a few women who regard happy marriage or love as their own rights and interests and are desperate to pursue and protect them. This is the same as women today. It can be said that in the era when the social system is relatively feudal, women who bravely pursue the marriage destination and choose their loved ones according to their own wishes have been at the forefront of the times.
1.5 brave and determined female image
There are not many such women in Han Yuefu, and Mulan in Mulan Poetry is the typical one. We don't know whether Mulan really exists, but as a heroine image that has been passed down through the ages, she has already been deeply rooted in people's hearts. People used to turn her into a heroine. Indeed, she joined the army for her father, took responsibility at home, was brave and fearless on the battlefield, and made contributions to the country. Compared with those women who are in love, Mulan-style women are much more atmospheric.
Perhaps influenced by the martial spirit, these women are different from the traditional weak female images. Their appearance, influenced by the strong martial spirit of the Han Dynasty, reflects the national psychology and times style of being vigorous, enterprising, confident and self-respecting, and shows us that real women don't lose their beards.
2 social roots
2. 1 Cruel social reality
First of all, the Han Dynasty frequently launched wars and requisitioned a large number of foot soldiers, resulting in a large number of deaths. Like many women, they lived alone in an empty boudoir and suffered a lot.
Secondly, the exploitation and oppression of the rulers in the Han dynasty were extremely harsh, which caused the disparity between the rich and the poor in society and aggravated the misfortune of women. The sick woman is still worried about her children when she is dying.
In addition, the ruling class also uses its power to harm the people. Folk women are often harassed by powerful people. Even Luo Fu, who is resourceful and courageous, can only be a sparrow living on the roof. Only by relying on men's shelter and boasting can we get rid of the satrap's dalliance.
2.2 harsh feudal ethics
After Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism gradually became the official orthodoxy of China. The moral and etiquette norms advocated by Confucianism are increasingly influential and gradually become the mainstream moral norms and behavioral norms in society. Confucians and bureaucrats in Han Dynasty gave full play to the expression of the idea that men are superior to women in pre-Qin classics, and gave further negative moral evaluation to women's remarriage.
2.3 Self-awareness of obedience
Women's own obedience and acceptance of the Confucian enlightenment thought of "thinking innocence" further deepened their unfortunate fate. The Han Dynasty emphasized poetry teaching, and the focus of poetry teaching was rationality, emphasizing the moderation and purification of emotions. Long-term restraint and rational oppression make women hide their deep grief and resentment, make them gradually get used to and accept this oppression, and further deepen their misfortune.
3 the evolution of female consciousness in Han Yuefu
The society of Han Dynasty was in the early stage of feudal society, and the whole landlord class was in the period of rising and enterprising. The production relations in feudal society adapted to the development of productive forces. In this environment, the economy is developing rapidly, and women's labor is not limited to the family, but also involves other fields of social and economic life, which plays an important role in social and economic life and labor life. The social status is relatively open, and the status of women has improved. Women can choose their husbands, run for the post of Marquis, and let their children take their mother's surname.
Women begin to realize that they can live and work according to their own wishes like men, and realize that they can also create value for family and society, and even surpass men in some aspects. They suffered from bondage and oppression, experienced great pain in love, experienced the spiritual process of obedience, hesitation, determination and bold rebellion, and completed the evolution of their personality, marking their awakening of subjective consciousness.
4 conclusion
Han Yuefu folk songs are works of "feeling sadness and joy". This poem with flying emotions and flying words vividly depicts the typical female group in the society at that time. These rich aesthetic connotations contained in the poems about women in Han Yuefu not only express the rich emotional experience and specific psychology of women in the realistic relationship with men, but also exude the strong vitality of women in Han Dynasty in forbearance. It is precisely because of shaping such a group of amiable, respectable, gratifying and lovely female images that later generations learned about the living conditions of women in the society at that time, and were even more infected and inspired by their stories, connecting ancient and modern times with the same feelings, which played a positive role in honing and enlightening the questioning and shaping of the meaning of women's life in contemporary culture.