In Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'er Grievances", Dou E died unjustly on the charge of "drugging the father-in-law", and after his death, Dou E's ghost told his father, Liang Huai, that Dou Tianzhang's grievances could be revealed.
In the later adaptation of Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance", most of the choreographers followed the plot and ending of Guan Opera, but there were also adaptations that made Dou E immortal, the so-called "good has good retribution, evil has evil retribution".
<h1>1 Ming Dynasty Ye Xianzu's "Golden Lock": Husband and wife, mother and son, father and daughter reunion</h1>
"The Book of Golden Locks" is a 33-out legendary play, the first draft of which was written by the late Ming dynasty playwright Ye Xianzu, modified by Yuan Yuling. It is based on Guan Hanqing's miscellaneous drama "Dou E'er Grievance".
The plot synopsis is: Cai Changzong of Shanyang County, Chuzhou, lost his father in his early years, because of the golden lock, the milk name of the golden locker. When he was sixteen years old, he gave the golden lock to his mother for safekeeping and went abroad to study on his own. Soon, Dou Tianzhang, a poor xiucai, wanted to go to Beijing for the exam, so he sent his orphan daughter Duanyun to the Cai family as a child bride. When Cai Changzong crossed the river on the way, the river god suddenly made waves, overturned his boat, and was sent to the East China Sea Dragon Palace to become a relative. Cai Po heard that her son was buried at the bottom of the river and was in pain. Duan Yun changed his name to Dou E, determined to live as a widow and keep the festival for life, and Cai Po paid the golden lock to keep dou E.
Cai Po collected a debt from Sai Lu Doctor, who deceived him to the suburbs to do harm, and was saved by Zhang Donkey's mother and son, and Cai Po left the two to live in her own home. Zhang Donkey flirted with Dou'e, and in the panic, Dou'e left behind a golden lock and was snatched away by Zhang. Zhang Zhijinsuo went to The Doctor Of Sailu to change a pair of arsenic cream, put it in the lamb tripe soup, and poisoned his mother by mistake. Zhang Donkey forced Dou'e to be private, but was refused, so he falsely accused him to go to Shanyang County. Shanyang County beat Dou E into a confession.
When he was about to cut, Tiancao led the wind and snow to suddenly fall heavy snow. The sentencing officer believed that "if snow falls on a hot day, there will be a strange injustice", so he took Dou E back to prison. Just when Dou Tianzhang was promoted to the position of envoy of lianghuai lian to visit here privately, his deceased wife dreamed of him. Dou Tianzhang re-examined the case, and Dr. Sai Lu handed over the golden lock to confirm the ins and outs of arsenic, and the grievances were revealed. At the same time, Cai Changzong's marriage to the Dragon Daughter expired and he went to Beijing to take the exam. In the end, the husband and wife, mother and son, father and daughter were reunited, and Zhang Donkey was killed by lightning.
Comparing Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance" with "The Book of golden locks", there are mainly the following differences:
First, in terms of structure and system, the original one-line plot structure with Dou E's fate as the main line was changed to the "Shengdan two-line system structure" common in the Ming and Qing legends, that is, Cai Changzong was used as a line to weave the plots of going out to study, crossing the river and overturning boats, becoming relatives in the dragon palace, taking the exam, and the first plot, and Dou E as a line to describe Dou E's separation from her father, privately sacrificing her deceased husband, being framed by Zhang Donkey's flirtation, being beaten into a confession by Shanyang County, suing for injustice in the prison room, suing for injustice in the court, being taken back to prison, and having a grievance. And the golden lock is used as an object that connects two plot lines to make it appear repeatedly.
Second, in terms of the fate of the characters, the tragic ending of Dou E's unjust death was changed to a happy comedy ending in which Dou E and Cai Changzong were reunited after suffering, Dou E and Dou Tianzhang's father and daughter were reunited, and Cai Po and Cai Changzong's mother and son were reunited.
Third, in terms of plot setting, because of the need to take care of the "two-line structure of Shengdan" and the final reunion ending, many absurd plots have been set up, such as the river god overturning the boat, the dragon palace becoming a relative, the heavenly god snowfall and other plots, as if the heavens deliberately set up disasters for the heroes and heroines, and then rescued them out of the sea of suffering.
In addition, because Dou'e is not dead, the plot of letting her mother dream to her father is not reasonable enough. The plot of Zhang Donkey's final death of lightning strike is also absurd. In Dou'e's plot line, adding plots such as private sacrifices, being flirted with by Zhang Donkey, and Cai's visit to prison helps to show Dou E's filial and kind character, the quality of chastity and self-preservation, and highlight Zhang Donkey's rogue and shameless face.
Fourth, in the portrayal of the main characters, dou'e's ethical qualities such as chastity and filial piety were strengthened, and dou'e's strong character and spirit of resistance were weakened. For example, Dou E issued three vows in the original work of Changguan Hanqing, summoning June Feixue to suddenly drop heavy snow for Tiancao to lead the wind and snow, and the sentencing officer believed that "if snow falls on a hot day, there will be strange injustices", he took Dou E back to prison. In the original work, the dramatic action arising from Dou E's strong desire to reveal her innocence and grievances became the active observation and manifestation of human grievances by the "heavens".
The plot of Ye Xianzu's "The Golden Lock" is more tortuous and detailed than that of Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance", but its fate of "bitter and willing" is greatly reversed, although it caters to the audience's psychological expectations, it greatly dissolves the tragic spirit of Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance". In addition, the absurdity of some plots and the mistakes in the portrayal of Dou E's character are all shortcomings.
<h1>2 Chi Xiaoqiu's version of "Dou E'e Grievance": Mother and son, husband and wife reunion</h1>
Cheng Pai Tsing Yi Chi Xiaoqiu: 360 Encyclopedia
Hai Rui defended Dou E
Mother and child, husband and wife reunion
Chi Xiaoqiu is a disciple of the Cheng School, and is described by the famous playwright Weng Yihong as the "standard descendant of the Cheng School", and the leading figure in the art of the Cheng School of Peking Opera today. Chi Xiaoqiu has profound stage skills, and is currently the head of the Beijing Peking Opera Youth Troupe, affectionately known as "Chi Troupe" by opera fans. Her representative works "Suolin Capsule", "Jasper Hairpin", "Tears of the Barren Mountain", "Peacock Southeast Flying", "Dou E'er", "Wen ji Guihan", etc., she has led the troupe to all parts of the country and Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, the United States, Canada, Switzerland and other countries and regions to perform, which has been warmly welcomed and widely praised, and has been quite influential in the theater circles at home and abroad, and has made great contributions to the inheritance and promotion of the art of the Peking Opera Cheng School.
In 2014, the Peking Opera circle held the "Peking Opera Cheng Pai Classic Concert to Commemorate the 110th Anniversary of Mr. Cheng Yanqiu's Birth", including "Dou E'e Grievance" starring Chi Xiaoqiu. In 2015, when Chi Xiaoqiu's "Dou E'e Grievance" was broadcast in the "CCTV Air Theater", there was an interview with the host to director Sun Yuanxi and the lead actor Chi Xiaoqiu, Sun Yuanxi mentioned one thing in the adaptation of "Dou E'e", after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Premier Zhou Enlai watched Mr. Cheng Yanqiu's performance of "Dou E'e Grievance", and said to Mr. Cheng, "The audience saw that Dou E was dead, it was too depressing, can you let Dou E not die?" ”
Therefore, later in the performance of Cheng Pai's "Dou E'e Grievance", Dou E met the Qing official Hai Rui, and the unjust case was clarified, and she did not die. Not only did Dou E not die, Dou E's husband Cai Changzong did not die, he was pushed into the river by Zhang Donkey, he was rescued, and later passed the examination, and the final result was the reunion of mother and son and husband and wife.
From the perspective of Cheng Pai's performing arts, there is nothing wrong with "Dou E'e Grievance" starring Chi Xiaoqiu, but from the perspective of dramatic literature, the plot of the reunion of mother and son and husband and wife in the end is still a bit blunt, which weakens the tragic spirit of Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance" to a certain extent.
<h1>3 The tragic spirit of Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance"</h1>
"Tragedy" is a theatrical aesthetic form derived from the West, in which a whole set of tragedy theories represented by Aristotle have been formed. However, due to the origin and formation of ancient Chinese opera, it has its own particularity, in the ancient Chinese opera theory works, there is no concept of "tragedy", and it is the first time that Wang Guowei uses the yardstick of "tragedy" to measure the value of northern opera in the Yuan Dynasty.
In the History of Song and Yuan Opera, he said in an appreciative tone:
"After the Ming Dynasty, legend is nothing more than comedy, and Yuan has tragedy in it. As far as its survivors are concerned, such as "Han Palace Autumn", "Wutong Rain", "Western Shu Dream", "Burning Jiezi Tui", "Zhang Qianti Killing Wife", etc., at first there is no such thing as 'first separated and then joined, first trapped and finally enjoyed'. Its most tragic nature is guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance" and Ji Junxiang's "Zhao's Orphans". Although there are evil people in the play, and its soup to the fire, it is still out of the will of its master, that is, listed in the world's great tragedy, there is no shame. ”
It can be said that Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance" is the earliest and most tragic aesthetic work in the history of Chinese literature.
In Guan Hanqing's pen, Dou E's life ended in the field of death, and although the final unjust case was revealed, Dou E's real life was ultimately destroyed by filthy and powerful social forces.
Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievances" does not conform to the social and psychological expectations of Chinese," "good people have good rewards," and "good people have a peaceful life." It exposes the bloody fact that "good people do not live long, and disasters are left behind for a thousand years." It tells people that as long as there is a bullying mentality and behavior of "skillfully taking advantage of arrogance" and "bullying the weak, as long as there is a corrupt mentality and behavior in this society that "regards human life as a straw" and "regards money as God," it cannot be "a peaceful world, a clean and clean world," and a good person cannot be safe.
"Dou E'e Grievances" reveals to the greatest extent the imperfection of the social environment in which Dou E lives, it clearly shows the fact that a good person is bullied, wronged, and killed, and is a typical social problem drama and a very realistic work.
In Guan Hanqing's pen, Dou E's youth and loneliness, youth and widowhood is a kind of misery, Dou E's being bullied, framed, and wronged is a kind of misfortune, but this is not the focus of performance, Guan Hanqing focuses on the attitude of Dou E, a woman living at the bottom of society, facing an unfortunate fate, the misery of fate does not eliminate Dou E's kindness, the bullying and framing of the rogues, the government's work for the tiger does not make Dou E bow down to orders, she "prefers to be crushed for jade, not for the whole" to fight against the rogues, fight against corrupt officials, Fight against the unjust "heaven and earth, sun, moon, ghost gods" and maintain their upright personality.
Therefore, guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance" brings us an aesthetic experience of "tragic" rather than "tragic", "tragic" can only make people feel "pity", "tragic" can make people understand the nobility and solemnity of human nature.