The earliest name of "Water Margin" is "Loyal and Righteous Water Margin", which describes a group of "powerful and virtuous people who are loyal and righteous", who failed to "kill all the cool officials and stolen officials, and faithfully repay the Zhao official family", but **ministers** forced to go to Liangshan and became "robbers";After accepting Zhao'an, these heroes who "coexist and are loyal to their hearts and make meritorious contributions to the country together" were still forced to a dead end one by one by the ministers of the misguided country and the unscrupulous king. The author was deeply upset and angry at such a reality, and composed this songA tragic song of loyalty。The image of Song Jiang that best reflects the author's main purpose is Song Jiang. Song Jiang, as the first protagonist in **, is the embodiment of "loyalty". His character develops zigzagically under the dominance of "loyalty" and "righteousness" that are both contradictory and unified.
"Water Margin" praised Song Jiang and other Liangshan heroes for their "loyalty and righteousness", while profoundly exposing the "disloyalty and injustice" of batches of ** corrupt officials and bullies and gentry from the imperial court to the local government. "Water Margin", as a long story, is the first time to expose the darkness of feudal society so extensively and profoundly, and reveal the truth of "rape and rebellion", which is very meaningful.
But what the author wants to emphasize here is such a tragedy: the hero of "total loyalty and righteousness" cannot be "in the court" and "on the side of the king", but "in the water margin";The heroes who "do the right thing for heaven" can't change the paradoxical reality, and in the end they are swallowed up by this "disloyal and unjust" society. When the author criticized this immoral world with "loyalty" as the **, he felt great pain and sorrow for the inability of traditional morality to reverse the upside-down situation, so that the criticism of "loyalty" itself also showed oneDeep confusion.
"Loyalty" and "righteousness" have always been important categories in ancient Chinese Confucian ethics, and they have been particularly popular in society since the Song and Yuan dynasties. Obviously, there is a side of "loyalty" that is in line with the interests of the feudal ruling class because of "loyalty", so "scholars and doctors are not deposed", but the word "loyalty" also contains patriotic spirit and people-oriented ideas such as "protecting the territory and securing the people" and "killing all the people";The emphasis on the word "righteousness" reflects the changes in social moral norms, and for those citizens and merchants who have left the land, it is very important to maintain the basic norm of "righteousness" in the relationship between different surnames. Therefore, the Acura of "fighting righteousness and squandering wealth, helping the needy" not only reflects in a general sense the "help each other" of the lower-class masses in order to safeguard their own interests, but also more profoundly reflects the continuous expansion of the ranks of urban residents and vagrantsSocietal ethics are quietly changing
In short, the connotation of "loyalty" itself is very complexBased on Confucian ethics and morality, but also blended withThe aspirations and will of the general public, including city dwellers and nomads, it is not a protective color of moral justice outside "Water Margin", but the basic spirit that can be widely accepted by all levels of society at that time.
[Li Fan keywords:The tragedy of loyalty and deep confusion is based on Confucian ethics
[Li Fan said:The idea of "loyalty" is the key content of "Water Margin", and this theme runs through the book. By composing such a tragic song of loyalty, the author exposes the darkness of society and shows the confusion of the powerlessness of the idea of "loyalty" in reality. However, it should be noted that the "loyalty" in "Water Margin" is not only the "loyalty" in the Confucian ethical concept, but also embodies the idea of "helping each other" of the lower classes, which is the basic spirit that can be generally accepted by all levels of society.