本文主要略论的是孔雀东南飞中男女主角的历史爱情悲剧范文。文章主要从写作，主题，英语论文题目，导致悲剧以及作者的观点进行略论总结，进一步抨击封建社会家长的专制统治，也关于封建家族中妇女地位卑微的同情，英语论文题目，也进一步对焦仲卿的懦弱进行评判。
Southeast the Peacock Flies is a music bureau ballad written by a poet in the ancient times, specifically, the late Eastern of the Han Dynasty. It has been recognized as a cornerstone in the history of Chinese music bureau ballad. Generally speaking, Southeast the Peacock Flies is a story concerned with a couple named Lan-chih Liu and Chung-ching Chiao who loved each other profoundly but ended up with their tragedy fate since they both committed suicide due to a number of subjective and objective reasons. To some extents, Southeast the Peacock Flies can be seen as a Chinese counterpart of the western love tragedy of Romeo and Juliet created by the great master William Shakespeare. Besides the feeling of pity aroused by this story, we need to go further into the causes of this love tragedy. What is the reason behind the story that such a tragedy story can be passed down from one generation to generations without being kicked out by the fierce competition? Partially, it is due to the factor that the tragic love between the heroine Lan-chih Liu and the hero Chung-ching Chiao moved all the people who have read it at the first time. The other reasons can be attributed to the writing techniques and rhetoric used by the author in the process of depicting the story that made it catchy and conversational. What is more, the couple’s courage in the pursuit of happiness is highly admired by common lovers, which can be another reason. Since Southeast the Peacock Flies has been passed down as a classical work for nearly 1800 years, different scholars both in China and abroad have conducted a great number of literary researches. So this is a brief background of the introduction I want to share to my readers.
To make a classification, these scholars have studied it from several perspectives, such as from the art of writing, the theme, the reason that causes the tragedy and etc. Most researchers ascribed the tragedy to paternalism in feudal society and marriage customs. In my point of view, the causes include in more than those mentioned above. This will cover all causes that have come into my mind at present. For the convenience of the analysis, the author divides the story into three parts: the first part concerns with Lan-chih’s being sent back, the second part concerns with Lan-chih’s being forced to get remarry and the last part concerns with Lan-chih’s and Chiao’s death for love. What matters most is that the root causes of the tragedy will be explained from one part to another. As far as I am concerned, although it seems that there are so many Chinese poetries describe the women in a positive view, there are also some potential view such as prejudice against women, generalize them. And at this point, these causes come naturally: the abnormal psychology of Chiao’s mother, paternalism, the social conventions of filial piety, the marriage customs in feudal society and their faithful love for each other.
The causes of the tragedy in the first part of the tragic story are the role of abnormal psychology, Freud psychology theory, filial piety and paternalism. The tragedy starts right from the moment when Lan-chih was being sent back home. Why was she being sent back home? As is known to all readers, Lan-chih was a hundred percent qualified wife, she is a beautiful, intelligent, diligent, knowledgeable and kindness lady. All these qualities can be found in the textbook. For instance, “at thirteen, I knew how to weave plain silk, at fourteen I learned to cut clothes; at fifteen I played many-stringed lute, at sixteen recited from the Odes and Documents”(Anonymity, P.82) and “ At cockcrow I began my work at the loom, night after night never resting.”(Anonymity, P.82) Abilities to wave plain silk and cut clothes show that she can take care of her husband well. And the capability of playing lute and reciting literature works presents that she could bring up her child well enough. A wife who can take care of her husband and children well is of course a qualified one. Since objectively no bad behaviors or quality was associated with Lan-chih, the reason must be related with Chiao’s mother, as there is no possibility that Chiao would send his wife back home. There are several verses in the textbook, “How can you be so foolish and doting! This wife knows nothing of propriety, her actions are selfish and willful” (Anonymity, P.83) How can a woman with so many talents and protocol be foolish and selfish? Evidently, these narrations are not credible as it is contradicted with the former narration about Lan-chih. A lady who had access to so many years of education behaves, as what the mother said is not persuasive. Therefore, what is the root cause of the dislike? As far as I am concerned, it is her mother-in-law who dislikes her that results in her being sent back. Why did Chiao’s mother dislike her? The answer can be explained in line with the abnormal psychology and Freud psychology theory. According to a famous master of aesthetics Guangqian Zhu, the original power that drives one to act is instinct and emotion, other than ideas. Obviously, it is in vain to analyze the motivation of the mother form her ideas as idea itself does not have any direct influence on the development of one’s personality, nor can it cause personality splitting. That is to say, the mother’s behavior originates from her instinctive impulse; even she herself did not realize it. According to Freud, the human beings hold two types of instincts, sexual desire and ego instinct. The mother, a widow, was experiencing severe sexual depression due to sexual hunger. To put the mind into the feudal society, any instinct, as a common well-behaved lady, must abide by the social conventions. Therefore, there are two ways for her to get the instinct and emotion off her chest, to extricate herself as a Buddhist nun, the same as the heroine in The New Year’s Sacrifice, or to live and die alone as one who surrendered to the strong feudal social conventions.
The above two ways at least cannot result in the Liu’s tragedy. What role is it that the abnormal psychology plays on the mother? According to the textbook, the mother is tyrannical, how can she be well behaved? Hence, her instinct would transfer to other maybe unrelated aspects, such as working, taking meal, or family administration. And most of the target would be the widow’s son. Situations like this can be seen in Lawrence’s work, Son and Lover. The mother brought up Chiao with trails and hardships at nearly 20 years. Once a lady was occupying him with no ties of kin, she must be resentful at some different times. Where can she pour her such feelings instead of her son? The answer is quite obvious, pouring it towards Lan-chih. And she was so intelligent and beautiful and her own son fell in with this daughter-in-law. Their love for each other is still firm. The mother experienced all those emotions as an unhappy witness, and found she was being far away from her son day after day. And she ascribed all this to Lan-chih. In addition, she has been lived without a husband for several years, and love affection in her mind is as wild as a desert. Therefore, her transferring those feelings of hatred to the daughter-in-law is reasonable since she secretly believed that it was Lan-chih who has robbed Chiao’s love that should belong to her herself. Finally, Lan-chih’s being sent back for no reason on the surface is fully explained in this above analysis. As a consequence of the mother’s prejudice and complex psychological feelings that cannot be expressed towards her son Chiao, Chiao’s wife Lan-chih became the scape-goat.
Lan-chih’s compromise to the decision of being sent back can partially cause the tragedy. In facing of the decision to be sent back, if the couple resisted against the mother’s force, the result may be different. However, can that be real in a feudal society? Before the follow discussion, I would like to explain what kind of society is called feudal society. This story is concerned with marriage. Therefore, this discusses it from this aspect. To begin with, the story happened in feudal society where paternalism was prevailing. Under such circumstance, father in the family has the final say of everything, including marriages of their son and daughter. If the father passed away, then the one with rights to make decisions on everything passed to the oldest son’s shoulder. Secondly, this is a society that ethics were spoken higher of than emotion and reason and people deal with social issues in accordance with the conventions strictly, even regardless of one’s emotion and/or argument. Last but not the least, filial piety, the one the society attaches importance to it greatly.
In the Han Dynasty, the thoughts of Confucius were widely spread out and other similar thoughts were abolished, therefore, people were deeply influenced by it. The filial piety was extensively promoted and one who behaves to be not dutiful or responsible will be punished by the most severe way. is a weak husband in both appearance and spirit, therefore, the one with the final say in that family must be the mother. And due to the filial piety and paternalism that prevail in the society, the son must follow any idea from the mother with no rejection. His attitude towards her mother’s decision can be reflected in the book, “The clerk was silent, unspeaking; he bowed once more, then returned to his room.”(Anonymity, P.83) From this perspective, we can see clearly that Chiao has given up his right to gain personal happiness though he actually loved Lan-chih very much because he was so weak in spirit that he rejected to rebel against his mother to protect the woman he loved though this woman was his dear wife. Since Chiao has refused to rebel, Lan-chih as the wife had no right of resistance against the decision of being sent. More importantly, the filial piety and paternalism of the society became two obstacles for Lan-chih to pursue real happiness, after all, woman of that society is weak and not importantly without the support of her family and the society.
The cause of the tragedy in the second part can be attributed to the role of filial piety and paternalism. It is obvious that returning back to home cannot lead to the final tragedy. So, this section below discusses their contradicted emotion was forced to get remarry. When Lan-chih returned back to home, she has to get marry with the other official’s son by her hot-tempered brother, the one with the final say in her family as her father has passed away. These can be inferred from the book, “If you do not marry this fine gentleman, how do you intend to get along?” and “your wishes should rule in this matter-how could I hope to have my way”. (Anonymity, P.83) Generally speaking, sister’s marriage has no such big influence on the brother unless the brother acts as the parent and supporting the whole family. The arrangement of a second marriage for Lan-chih by her brother set her into a dangerous situation. On one hand, Lan-chih was rejected by her husband and mother-in-law. On the other hand, she was further forced by her own brother. Under this condition, she became a woman of no power and no freedom in will. The continuing hurts fiercely shocked Lan-chih and life for such a woman at that age was obviously hard and unbearable. Not only Lan-chih, but also Chiao was forced to get his second marriage. Since they both love each other, how can they still agree to get remarried with their true lovers as witnesses of their second marriage? The pain of being separated from the loved ones is unbearable; what’s even worse, they were further forced to hurt their love ones by getting remarried. Under these combined pressures, both of them mentally broke down so that they committed suicide. It is the role of paternalism and filial piety that worked. Specifically, paternalism refers that father makes the decision of the family or the oldest son, here refers to the mother and Liu’s brother. And with the prevailing custom of filial piety, the one with lower position will follow the decision maker unconditionally. Hence, the couple painfully agreed to remarry or they will be punished by the society, not even to mention the loss of reputation for their family and themselves. They are all-knowledgeable and surely know the best way to face it. It is all these factors that finally caused them to agree with the thought of remarriage.
The cause of the tragedy in the crucial part can be the marriage custom and their faithful love. What kind of story can be regarded as a tragedy story? Of course, the hero and/or heroine died at the end of the story. As is known to all readers, the couple loves each others. And their love affection can be reflected from the book, “If this wife of mine is sent away, till death I will never have another.” (Anonymity, P.83) and “I swear I will never leave you, only go home for a little while. I must be off to the government office but before long I will be back, I swear to Heaven I won’t be untrue.”(Anonymity, P.86) their love should have a happy ending, not as the one on the book, what is the barrier? Why did they choose to die instead of remarry and live a satisfying life? In all, there are two reasons I considered the main causes. So in the next paragraph I will introduce and analysis it.
Firstly, the historical background does not allow them to betray his mother and her brother. They were living in the feudal society; a period when the landlord class is superior and the feudal system is increasingly prevailing. Their fight against them is reasonable in terms of present situation but not advisable with the role of those conventions. Therefore, it is inevitable that they will choose to die. Secondly, marriage custom determines their death partially. At that ancient age, the couple is usually from two families that their social positions are of equal. And their wisdom, age and marital status also match to a large degree. The first matchmaker came to her family and introduced the would-be bridegroom and it says like this in the book, “it concerns the magistrate’s third son, a handsome young man nowhere in the world, just eighteen or nineteen, clever in speech, a boy of many talents.”(Anonymity, P.87) These verses show that the would-be bridegroom has not married yet, but with very enviable qualities. If he really looks like what the matchmaker said, the bridegroom’s father must be out of mind, because she was married and being sent back home, though she was bright, talented in music and with good temperament.
Secondly, how can a magistrate be willing to accept a daughter-in-law who has got married already? This is abnormal, and Lan-chih, as an intelligent woman, must have discovered the fact the matchmaker hides that there must be something wrong with the remarriage. She may be forced to be the concubine of the magistrate instead of his son’s wife. With this reason, she surely is not willing to agree with the remarriage. Then, an aide came to her family. This time, the potential bridegroom was the governor’s son, as it described in the textbook, “that the governor’s fifth son, a favorite child, was as yet unmarried” and “In the governor’s family, there’s this fine gentleman.”(Anonymity, P.87) If there is really a fine gentleman yet unmarried, will the governor agree Lan-chih to be his daughter-in-law? Of course, the answer is no. Lan-chih is so wise that she discovered it and determined to throw herself into the clear pond, as there is no alternative choice for her. Chiao loves Lan-chih so much, and he certainly will not live on in degradation. Hence, he hanged himself from the southeast limb.
To make a conclusion for this story, with the above analysis, the love tragedy of Chiao and Lan-chih is a consequence resulted by combined reasons. The widespread of the story can be seen as a suggestion to all the readers that the love tragedy is a complicated question that we need to analyze it from different perspectives so that all the readers can learn something from it since love is a forever theme of literary creation and the everlasting issue of life.
Besides the above lessons we can learn from Southeast the Peacock Flies, another brief conclusion can also be drawed for this . Taking into all the above discussion, the root causes of this tragedy can be either subjective or objective. As for those objective reasons, they are the influence of filial piety and paternalism, which are the factors controlling the characters Chiao and Lan-chih since it is impossible for them to get rid of these setbacks in that society. And the objective reason is the abnormal psychology of the mother and it can be promoted because faithful love between the couple is what the society speaks highly of. Just imagine the difficulties that Chiao and Lan-chih must face to get their happy ending, on one hand, both of them are deprived of their inborn freedom to choose the one that they really love due to the fierce social conditions of that time; on the other hand, they are true lovers that cannot stand the pain of replacing their true lovers with those they do not love for some economic and other practical reasons. With this background, it is naturally for this couple to immortal their love by committing suicide, and these are just the reasons for the author of this to hold the view that their tragedy is a result of combined reasons and everyone can learn a lesson from Southeast the Peacock Flies.
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