Guan Hanqing is a typical representative of the literati who fell into the lower end of society during the transition from Jin to Yuan.To fight against authority and wickedness,he pretended to be cynical and unconvent...Guan Hanqing is a typical representative of the literati who fell into the lower end of society during the transition from Jin to Yuan.To fight against authority and wickedness,he pretended to be cynical and unconventional and created a series of plays in a wild and humorous manner,demonstrating his distinct and independent character.The social,historical,and romantic dramas he crafted with dedication and passion reflect the spirit of his time,which reviled darkness and yearned for enlightenment.The women in real-world life and historical heroes in his dramas are imbued with a spirit of upholding justice,a reverence for freedom,and a readiness to take bold action,shining with the radiance of cultural transformation and even humanistic liberation in recent antiquity.展开更多
In classical Chinese literature,employing the literary motif of the ghost represents both the writers'desire to escape the pattern of didactic literature promoted by Confucianism and their attempt to revolt agains...In classical Chinese literature,employing the literary motif of the ghost represents both the writers'desire to escape the pattern of didactic literature promoted by Confucianism and their attempt to revolt against the rigidity of the Confucian dogma that is far too entrenched in reality and inhibits their creativity.Written during the Yuan Dynasty(1279-1368)by Guan Hanqing(1225-1302),Snow in Midsummer presents the injustice of Dou'E who dies for a crime she did not commit,with the girl returning to the world of the living in the form of a ghost to obtain her justice.The motif of the vengeful ghost also appears in Shakespeare's(1564-1616)play,Hamlet.In this essay,I will investigate comparatively the dramatic aesthetics through which the spirits are outlined in the two plays,the comedy used by Guan Hanqing and Shakespeare,respectively,in the scenes of the appearance of spirits,and last but not least,the religious substratum contained in the symbolism of these ghosts.After a contrastive analysis of the dramaturgical and aesthetic construction of the two spirits in these plays,I argue that,despite their belonging to two different cultural spaces,both authors question through the supernatural the moral values of the societies in which they lived.展开更多
文摘Guan Hanqing is a typical representative of the literati who fell into the lower end of society during the transition from Jin to Yuan.To fight against authority and wickedness,he pretended to be cynical and unconventional and created a series of plays in a wild and humorous manner,demonstrating his distinct and independent character.The social,historical,and romantic dramas he crafted with dedication and passion reflect the spirit of his time,which reviled darkness and yearned for enlightenment.The women in real-world life and historical heroes in his dramas are imbued with a spirit of upholding justice,a reverence for freedom,and a readiness to take bold action,shining with the radiance of cultural transformation and even humanistic liberation in recent antiquity.
文摘In classical Chinese literature,employing the literary motif of the ghost represents both the writers'desire to escape the pattern of didactic literature promoted by Confucianism and their attempt to revolt against the rigidity of the Confucian dogma that is far too entrenched in reality and inhibits their creativity.Written during the Yuan Dynasty(1279-1368)by Guan Hanqing(1225-1302),Snow in Midsummer presents the injustice of Dou'E who dies for a crime she did not commit,with the girl returning to the world of the living in the form of a ghost to obtain her justice.The motif of the vengeful ghost also appears in Shakespeare's(1564-1616)play,Hamlet.In this essay,I will investigate comparatively the dramatic aesthetics through which the spirits are outlined in the two plays,the comedy used by Guan Hanqing and Shakespeare,respectively,in the scenes of the appearance of spirits,and last but not least,the religious substratum contained in the symbolism of these ghosts.After a contrastive analysis of the dramaturgical and aesthetic construction of the two spirits in these plays,I argue that,despite their belonging to two different cultural spaces,both authors question through the supernatural the moral values of the societies in which they lived.
