Romance of the Three Kingdoms, whose full name is Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was compiled by Luo Guanzhong, a writer in the Ming Dynasty. As can be seen from the title, this novel is based on the History of the Three Kingdoms, but it is not as solemn as the official history, but an ancient vernacular novel. Compared with the History of the Three Kingdoms, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has become more artistic. Below, I will comment on this 66,-word masterpiece from several aspects.
1. Truth and fiction
The biggest difference between romance and official history is that romance is not all true, but a novel. Everyone says that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is seven points of historical facts and three points of fiction, which is true. But fiction, using artistic methods to make fiction, rather than just that historical fact can be used to make fiction. For example, Guan Gong killed Hua Xiong with warm wine, which was not written in the history books. Another example is about going to the meeting with Lu Su alone. The history book says that Lu Su went to the meeting with Guan Yu alone. There are of course countless similar examples. After reading it, a little analysis shows that most of these fictional plots pave the way for the characters described in the novel. Because, if we just create real characters as the official history says, some characters are contrary to the author's political and ideological views. Moreover, while making fiction, the author also noticed the rationality and coherence of the plot, rather than stiffly making fiction, which is why after reading it, he will feel immersive. In a word, the author's writing in this respect is quite successful, and these plots also show part of the author's subjective wishes.
second, deification and uglification
The characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms are not completely real characters, but processed characters in the official history, including deified characters and demonized characters.
The typical representatives of deified figures are Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu. The place where Zhuge Liang was deified was "prophecy", and the place where Guan Yu was deified was "loyalty" and "righteousness". Below, I would like to briefly compare why the author focuses on deifying these two people.
Zhu Xi, a famous Neo-Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, believed that Shu Han was orthodox among the Three Kingdoms. Most of Zhu Xi's previous views, starting from Chen Shou, were based on Cao Wei as orthodoxy. Since Zhu Xi, kings, ministers and people have begun to accept Zhu Xi's viewpoint, because it is in line with Confucianism and can be accepted by the ruling class. Luo Guanzhong also agreed with Zhu Xi. Therefore, most of his deified characters are loyal to the "Han family." Among them, the author wrote Zhuge Liang as the embodiment of "wisdom" and Guan Yu as the embodiment of "loyalty" and "righteousness" That's why, influenced by the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the ruler of Daoguang gave Guan Yu more than 3 words of posthumous title.
as for uglification, it is basically about deification. For example, Zhou Yu, a hero died young in history, but The Romance of the Three Kingdoms described him as a jealous person. Most of the uglification is set off by deification.
III. Characters and Clues
One of the great successes of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that it has successfully created many characters with distinctive personalities, such as Zhuge Liang, who is resourceful, Guan Yu, who is courageous and loyal, Zhang Fei, who is crude and refined, Liu Bei, who is loyal and honest, Zhao Yun, who is both brave and resourceful, Cao Cao, who is cunning and suspicious, Zhou Yu, who is jealous of his talents, and Mi Heng, who is arrogant and arrogant. And the author uses the description of details to reflect the distinctive characteristics of the characters. For example, when writing about Zhang Fei, in the seventieth chapter, the author made a detailed description and description of Zhang Fei's narrow-minded battle case, and at the same time added a dialogue between Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, which showed Zhuge Liang's superb ingenuity.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms can properly handle the numerous characters and the complicated relationships between them, because the author not only writes in real, imaginary, detailed, abbreviated, interpolated and flashback, but also uses the literary technique of narrative along clues. The main clue of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is the process of the establishment and demise of the Shu-Han regime until the three-point return to Jin, among which there are interspersed clues. For example, during the period of Battle of Red Cliffs, the author started his narrative from three lines: Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao. These three lines are interrelated, and they will not only describe one or two clues in a chapter. If they are interwoven, readers will feel very coherent, instead of reading only one clue.
iv. feudalism and kingliness
One of the political ideas expressed in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is to advocate typical Confucianism-kingliness and benevolent governance. A large part of the fictional stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms are designed to express this idea. Just like this, the author boldly created a series of artistic images of "loyalty" and "righteousness" in his works.
first of all, Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang described in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the embodiment of "loyalty" and "wisdom", especially the author's "wisdom" to Zhuge Liang, which is even more exaggerated.
Zhuge Liang, in the ruling clique of the landlord class at that time, was a man with a keen eye for problems, courage and resourcefulness. However, he has these advantages because he attaches importance to practice. For example, when Cao Cao captured Jingzhou and led his troops south, Zhuge Liang analyzed the situation to Sun Quan and predicted that Cao Cao would be defeated, precisely because Zhuge Liang had compared the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and our side before the war. Another example is that Zhuge Liang dared to make an "empty plan" because he analyzed the situation of the enemy and our generals, knowing that Sima Yi knew that he was "cautious all his life and would never take risks", so he took advantage of Sima Yi's long-term understanding of himself and adopted a very "dangerous" plan to solve the crisis. However, in more chapters, the author has written Zhuge Liang as a "prophet". For example, Zhuge Liang's "watching the sky at night" and "sleeve up his sleeve" several times. And in the "seven-star altar offering sacrifices to the wind", it is an absurd description. Similar problems can also be seen in "The Eight Arrays of Skillful Arrangement", "Banshi Sacrifice to Lushui", "Wu Zhangyuan Ganxing" and "Dingjun Mountain Revealing the Sage".
Guan Yu is also a figure in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the author's pen, Guan Yu also changed from a military commander with the same status as Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong in The Three Kingdoms to a brave and loyal hero in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms beautifies Guan Yu in this way, which is entirely to advocate the feudal thought of "loyalty" and "righteousness". After the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu became a figure completely in line with the ideals of the feudal ruling class, and Guan Yu's influence among the people became wider and wider. The rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties once called him the "Great Emperor" several times and built temples for him everywhere. This clearly shows how the description of "loyalty" and "righteousness" advocated by Guan Yu is suitable for the needs of feudal rulers.
In addition, in order to advocate working for the feudal masters, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms also created a series of so-called "loyal ministers" images, such as Dong Cheng, Wang Zifu, Ji Pingping, etc. In order to be loyal to the Han Emperor, they wiped out the "national thief" Cao Cao, "although they wiped out nine families, they had no regrets". The author touts these people as immortal model figures. In addition, when writing characters such as Jiang Wei, he advocated feudal "filial piety" and when writing characters such as Mrs. Sun, he advocated feudal "chastity". Therefore, the characters portrayed in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms run through the author's social and political views.
v. Poetry and Songs
Another great success of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the introduction of a large number of poems and songs. Although the number is less than that in A Dream of Red Mansions, there are many masterpieces among them. Some poems are introduced to express feelings, while others appear in the singing or writing of characters. For example, "The sky is like a round cover, and the land is like a chess game ..." (the 37th chapter), which was written by Zhuge Liang. Another example is, "Cao Cao was an adulterer, and Zhou Lang was tricked at the moment ..." (45th time), which was the story that later generations lamented that Cao Cao had been recruited to kill Cai Mao and Zhang Yun by mistake. The first word "Linjiang Xian" is magnificent, which makes readers feel a sense of awe. After reading it, there is a feeling of wanting more and being fascinating. The poem "Antique" at the end of the article sums up the 66,-word words of the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms in a century into a long narrative poem of only over 3 words. Although there are no flowery words, it is like a rhyming postscript, which leads readers to relive the situation of the Three Kingdoms. The last few words of it have even triggered the author's thinking and understanding of history: "There are endless things in succession, and the number of days is inescapable. Three-thirds of the legs have become a dream, and future generations will complain about it. " Leave readers with infinite reverie.
In a word, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be said to be the best novel in Four Great Classical Novels after A Dream of Red Mansions. Although some of these ideas are worth exploring, their significance to the Chinese nation is far-reaching.