In Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin is adept at using symbolism to enrich the artistic expression of her works. In particular, in the fifth episode, he clarified the theme of the whole work from the perspective of the overall situation by depicting Jia Baoyu's sleepwalking in too illusory realm, and the development trend of the plot.
This time, the author's skillful use of symbolism and the deep meaning contained in it play an extremely important role in the reader's understanding of "Dream of Red Chambers" and grasping the theme of the book.
Dream of Red Mansions is a long tome, and each chapter in it is like a slowly unfolding picture, with exquisite and rich details. Reading "Dream of Red Mansions" is not simple, and it is necessary to understand the author's creative skills, including the construction of story clues and the hints of themes.
In particular, the fifth chapter of the book plays a key role in the construction of the framework of the whole text and the allusion of the theme. In Dream of Red Mansions, the author Cao Xueqin successfully created an unprecedented way of creation through symbolism.
He has repeatedly used the mouths of characters to express his disgust and dislike of clichéd writing, which also reflects his determination to innovate in creative methods. The author made it clear that he wanted to hint at a certain concept through a story of the spiritual stone descending to the mortal world, so as to achieve the creative goal of "making the boudoir known".
As Hegel said, symbols have an original meaning and a hidden meaning, and only the implicit meaning is important.
The creative principle of Dream of Red Mansions is "fake village dialect", which literally means fake words and rural language, but in fact, the focus is on "fake language". Among them, the names "Jia Yucun" and "Zhen Shiyin" are the embodiment of this principle.
The names of these two are not only meant to hide the real events, but also imply some abstract thoughts, concepts, and emotions that the author wants to express. The most direct embodiment of Cao Xueqin's symbolist creative method is the couplet on both sides of the Dashi memorial arch in the first and fifth chapters: "When the fake is true, the truth is also false, and there is nowhere and there is nothing to do."
The appearance of this couplet implies that readers can only truly understand the theme and deep meaning of ** by starting from the relationship between the appearance and the essence of whether there is truth or falsehood. In the first self-titled quatrain, Cao Xueqin declared that "The Story of the Stone" is "full of absurd words", and the "absurdity" here contains both romantic and symbolic methods.
Because from the perspective of traditional concepts, these creative methods full of imagination and suggestion do seem very absurd. However, this is a key step for Cao Xueqin to expand the artistic capacity of her works, enhance the depth of thought, and improve the artistic concentration.
Therefore, he repeatedly stresses that readers should pay attention to the truth behind his seemingly absurd stories.
Dream of Red Mansions, the fifth chapter"Sleepwalking is too illusory"is a key chapter of the book. Baoyu traveled through the fantasy realm in a dream and met the police fairy fairy. In this dream, the author uses Qin's bedroom to symbolize the theme of **.
At the same time, the fairy aunt's accusation of the police fairy reveals Baoyu's character traits. Baoyu is the hope of Ning Guofu and Rongguofu, but he has a perverse personality and is difficult to discipline, so his parents asked the police fairy to help him and change him through ** voice and other means.
Eventually, the police fairy performs for Baoyu"Twelve Songs of the Red Chamber", but Baoyu still hasn't woken up. This dream symbolizes the impermanence of life and the joys and sorrows of life.
In a desperate gamble, the police fairy agrees to Baoyu's entry into lustful indulgence and gives him her sister Ji Mei Xu. On the happy night, Baoyu immediately held a wedding. Although the police hope that Baoyu will awaken from the illusion, the result is the opposite, Baoyu is more obsessed with lust and pleasure, and it is difficult to separate from Kanami.
In the end, because Baoyu did not heed the warnings of the police, when he approached the abyss of "Maze Crossing", he was pulled down by the Yaksha sea ghost from the abyss ......This dream leads Baoyu to Qin Keqing, the sister of the police illusion fairy girl, who guides Baoyu to see the fate of the twelve hairpins of Jinling.
The location of this dream is very important, it must be Qin Keqing's bedroom. After Baoyu fell asleep, he met the police illusion fairy girl who was located above the hated sky, in the sea of sorrow, and in the illusory realm of the Xiangxiang Cave in the Spring Mountain.
The police illusion fairy Gu invited Baoyu to taste the fragrance of the "group of aromatic marrow", drink the tea of "Thousand Red Caves", drink the "Wanyan same cup" wine, and invited the four fairy aunts of the Dream Immortal, the Loving Master, the Sorrowful Golden Girl and the Four Immortal Aunts of Bodhi.
These words constitute an illusory realm, symbolizing the ideal state of equality and freedom, but in fact they depict the human condition. Leaving hatred, instilling sorrow, releasing spring, sending incense, warning illusions, dreams, love, sorrow, and hatred are all human emotional experiences.
In contrast to the illusion of freedom and the turbidity of reality, Cao Xueqin uses the extremely fragrant and luxurious words of "a thousand red holes" and "ten thousand flowers in the same cup" to depict an extremely bleak and tragic world.
Therefore, the couplet of the too illusory realm is "when the fake is true, the truth is also false, and there is no place for inaction". In the dream, the "police situation" and "rumor" of the police fairy reveal the author's inner pain and his thoughts on that era.
As the ruler of the "too illusory realm", the police fantasy fairy is in charge of the book of the fate of the beauties in the world, and is the goddess in charge of the fate of the beauties in the world. The setting of this role is a subversion of the traditional "old man under the moon" in charge of marriage and love between men and women, and also reflects Cao Xueqin's idea of respecting women.
The image of the police fairy is profound and complex, she is both Baoyu's guide and his enlightener. On the surface, she conveys the feudal ideas of the second prince of Rongning and carries out their intentions, but in fact, she guides Baoyu to jump out of the enchanting circle and go on the right path.
At the same time, she is also Baoyu's enlightenment teacher about **, not only understanding his infatuation, but also warning him not to fall into the sea of evil. She once boldly said to Baoyu: "You are the most lascivious person, because you have a nature, that is, **."
"Lust" here refers to the pure and noble emotional consciousness of women, which is a kind of moral sentiment that is contrary to the way of the world. The innocent love between Baoyu and Daiyu is a concrete manifestation of "obscenity".
Therefore, the police fairy is not only Baoyu's love mentor, but also his guide for his moral growth.
The so-called "amorous" and "infatuated" actually refer to Baoyu's "love" and "affection" for beautiful women. This kind of affection has reached a pure and noble spiritual realm.
The words of the police illusion fairy aunt contain rebellious thoughts, which deeply inspired Baoyu, who has always been "amorous". Under the guidance of the police illusion fairy girl, Baoyu finally embarked on the road of anti-feudal orthodoxy and embarked on the rebellious road of "destroying the principles of heaven and preserving human desires".
This rebellion is actually a desecration of the sacrosanct "Tao of Confucius and Mencius" and a challenge to feudal orthodoxy. At the same time, Baoyu also browsed the judgments of a total of 36 women on the first three floors of the 12 hairpins of Jinling in the Bo Ming Division, which revealed the fate of their "thin lives" in their lives.
In addition, Baoyu also listened to a total of 14 songs of the "Dream of Red Mansions" divine comedy, which seemed to indicate the future of the twelve hairpins.
"Dream of Red Mansions" begins with a song and ends with a song to summarize the fate of the entire family. In these ten songs, "Hate Impermanence" and "The End of Good Things" are the main ones, which profoundly reveal the ups and downs of the family and its final destination.
What the author wants to convey is that although countries and families ("country" and "government") generally pursue stability and prosperity, the end result is often "a white land and a clean land".
This is the deep meaning that "Dream of Red Mansions" wants to convey.