也谈袭人告密一事

Is Xiren an Informant?

长期以来,很多读者都把晴雯等的被撵归咎于袭人的告密。但在《红楼梦》中,袭人并不是唯一有条件告密的人,她也没有陷害晴雯等的主观动机。从原文中袭人作为"金陵十二钗"又副册第二名的位次和"贤"字的定评来看,作者也没有把她当作一个告密者。宝玉挨打后袭人与王夫人的单独谈话,完全是就宝玉的前途而言的,与告密无关。至于晴雯、芳官、四儿的被逐,真正的元凶应该是大观园中的婆子们,袭人是清白的。

Many readers have attributed the expelling of Qingwen and other people to Xiren＇ s secret report, but she is not the only one who has the opportunity to inform against them and she does not have the motive to frame them. It can be deduced from the second position on the auxiliary list to the Twelve Beauties of Jinling and the ap-praisal as a virtuous person that the author of A Dream of Red Mansions does not intend to regard her asan irrform-ant. The secret conversation between Xiren and Madam Wang after Bao Yu was beaten by his father is in terms of Baoyu＇ s future. As for the tragedy of Qingwen, Fangguan and Si＇er, the real culprits should be the old biddies in the Grand View Garden. Xiren is innocent.