Chinese classical tragedies are generally a mixture of sorrow and joy, and a blend of joy and sorrow. As Li Yu, a famous opera theorist in the Qing Dynasty, said: "When talking about sorrow and sorrow, we should also suppress the saints into madness and contain the crying. "Laughter" ⑹ The Western view of tragedy believes: "If the poet aims to arouse terror and pity, and one of the actions he describes is comic and the other is tragic, then the former will please the audience and completely defeat his main intention. "⑺"A script starts out serious and ends up being funny, or it starts out relaxed and ends up tragic, so what does that count?"⑻Obviously, Western tragedy does not advocate the intersection of sadness and joy.
The characteristic of Chinese tragedy is that it is mainly sad, with a mixture of sadness and joy. In fact, the blending and penetration of two emotional colors is not limited to tragedy, but also exists in comedy. The difference is: Tragedy adheres to the principle of mainly sadness, with joy complementing the sadness, while comedy adheres to the principle of mainly joy, with sadness complementing the joy. Therefore, when talking about the characteristics of Chinese tragedy, we cannot regard the uniqueness of the blending and penetration of two emotions, that is, the intersection of sorrow and joy, and the alternation of bitterness and joy, as the particularity of Chinese tragedy. Only like Li Yu, who emphasizes "expressing sorrow and sorrow" and proposes "suppressing the saints into madness and blending tears with laughter" can the characteristics of Chinese tragedies be mainly sadness and a mixture of sadness and joy. Guan Hanqing's tragic style is exactly like this.
First, gags are used to aggravate the tragic mood. For example, in the first episode of "The Injustice of Dou E", Dr. Lu's opening words: "Practice medicine with discretion, and prescribe medicine according to herbal medicine. The dead will not be revived by the doctor, and the living will be killed by the doctor." In the second episode, the opening words of Taoqi Prefect: "I If you are an official who is better than others, you will be punished with gold and silver; if you are a boss, you will be treated at home and you will not go out. "In the third chapter of "Butterfly Dream", Wang San heard that the punishment he received was "hanging in a pot, thirty years old." "Throw it over the wall", and then said to Zhang Qian: "Brother, be careful when you throw it at me, I have a boil on my stomach." He even sang unexpectedly. All these are obviously funny and teasing interludes. Here, Guan Hanqing's role is not just to make people laugh, but also to enlighten the cause of the tragedy or to aggravate the atmosphere of the tragedy. In the self-confession of Dr. Sailu and Taishou Taoqi, the audience not only understands the nature of these characters' evil behavior, corruption and bending the law, but also deepens their understanding of the social roots of Dou E's tragic fate. It was really "laughing for no reason and bursting into tears".
Second, the tragic atmosphere is enhanced with a festive atmosphere. This is a more shocking tragic technique than gags used in Guan Hanqing's "Dream of Western Shu". The author arranges the time when Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's soul returns to Western Shu and asks Liu Bei to take revenge in his dream on the Double Ninth Festival, Liu Bei's birthday. Thinking back to the time when the three of us were sworn brothers in Taoyuan, we could "send loud greetings to the dragon bed" on my brother's birthday and have fun together; seeing the ghosts and humans separated in front of us, we couldn't rejoice together, we could only "pause in fear and hide in the shadow of the lamp" Look at the king, walking backwards", it is really sad. Mr. Zheng Zhenduo thinks so: ""The Dream of Guan and Zhang Shuang Going to Western Shu" describes Zhang Fei's ghost coming to the old palace, and when talking to his eldest brother, he wanted to go forward and back, want to go and stay again, and he was shocked. The sight of him being a different Yin Ling was really amazing... When he saw Liu Bei, he greeted him happily, but he just avoided it and hesitated to move forward. The palace shouted greetings to the dragon bed. , I bowed my head in panic to the shadow of the lamp. Such a situation made even the readers feel sad. I am afraid it was even more likely to cause tears in the theater at that time." ⑼ The important reason for producing such a sad and weeping effect. , the author uses a "happy" background to write about the "sad" reality.
Third, deepen the tragic effect with the joy of reunion. This is another important means for Guan Hanqing to deal with the relationship between joy and sorrow. "The Injustice of Dou E" writes about the soul of the wronged who fought hard in the underworld and finally fulfilled his great wish; "Dream of Western Shu" writes about the soul of Guan Zhang expressing his wish for revenge while crying sadly; "Crying to Preserve Filial Piety" writes about Mrs. Deng crying bitterly to preserve filial piety. And the traitor was sacrificed by "cracking the car" to maintain filial piety; "Butterfly Dream" tells the story of Wang's mother and son looking for Wang San's body. When they cried bitterly, they found that the deceased was not Wang San. Because the whole family was virtuous, they were finally rewarded. The endings of the four works, except "Butterfly Dream", the other three can have the effect of deepening the tragedy.
Guan Hanqing's "A Branch of Flower·Building on the Old" is distinctive in language
The biggest feature of this Sanqu is the large number of lining words and the skillful use of parallel sentences and connected sentences. Create a kind of artistic appeal. For example, in the sentence "You just dropped my teeth" in the song [End], the groups of words flowing forward naturally cause an emotionally exciting rhythm, which is rapid, rough, sonorous, and extremely powerfully expresses the poet's desire to express his emotions. The tenacious determination to "walk on the road of fireworks". The whole song goes straight down, but there are a few twists and turns. The emotional contemplation points such as "temporary rest" and "everything rests" in the three tunes are often the places where the writing fluctuates and the energy darkens. Reading it is like seeing the waves of the Three Gorges. , it has a vigorous, bold and rhythmic beauty.
The artistic characteristics of Guan Hanqing's "Moon Worship Pavilion"
The story of "Moon Worship Pavilion" takes place in the background of an era when "the world is turned upside down and the people are despised". The fate of the protagonist is quite tragic; The beautiful sentiments, strong will, full confidence and hope in life make the work intertwined with tragedy and comedy, with lyrical comedy as the keynote of the whole play. "Walking in the Rain" (also known as "Snatching an Umbrella" and "Stepping on an Umbrella"), "Inviting Merchants to Get Married", "Worshipping the Moon in the Boudoir" and other episodes are full of humor and comedy. Kunqu opera and high-pitched operas are still frequently performed today. , deeply loved by the audience.
In "Moon Worship Pavilion", a legendary story of joys and sorrows, the themes of love and ethics are combined. Wang Ruilan and Jiang Shilong got married during the war. There was no order from their parents, no words from a matchmaker, and they were not a good match. They were not tolerated by the society at that time, so they were opposed by Wang Zhen. However, the work affirms the behavior of the young man and woman and denounces Wang Zhen as ungrateful for "relying on power and breaking up the couple." Through the conflicts between the characters, it reveals the absurdity of feudal ethics and morals, and praises Wang Ruilan for not forgetting the past and being loyal to love. The play also describes the beautiful feelings of people supporting each other in times of crisis from many aspects, such as the deep friendship between Mrs. Wang and Jiang Ruilian, Wang Ruilan and Jiang Ruilian, and Jiang Shilong and Tuoman Xingfu, the honest and warm-hearted innkeepers Huang Gong and his wife. The image is also quite moving. Since the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, wars have been frequent, and people have suffered from displacement and separation of wives and children. They have increasingly felt the value of loyal love and pure friendship.
The image creation reveals the simple wishes and requirements of the ancient people. Wang Ruilan's artistic image entrusts the playwright's ideals, and the portrayal is real and moving. She was born in the Shangshu mansion, but the war suddenly pushed her out of her comfortable family. In panic, she received help and protection from Jiang Shilong, and she developed love out of deep gratitude. But after all, she is a noble lady, deeply bound by feudal upbringing, etiquette and honor concepts, which caused inner conflicts. An important development of her character is her resistance to Wang Zhen's brutality in breaking up their marriage.
The harsh reality pushed her to further break with feudal ethics. The second half of the work focuses on depicting Wang Ruilan's persistent longing for Jiang Shilong, dissatisfaction with his father, and deep pity for his adopted sister Ruilian who had a similar fate to her own. She is a beautiful and kind-hearted woman in the gallery of opera characters.