In the book "Journey to the West", although there are not many love stories, there are hidden intrigues and tricks behind each paragraph. Do you know what kind of person the Cowherd and Weaver Girl are?
Every year on the Qixi Festival, countless couples regard this day as Valentine's Day in China, commemorating the romantic story of the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl Magpie Bridge. If you look closely at the ancient books, you will find that the story is not as beautiful as we imagined. In fact, many ancient love stories are not as simple as simple love, they often contain more human considerations and complex social backgrounds.
Let's start with "Journey to the West". There are not many descriptions of love in this ancient masterpiece, but every time it is mentioned, it is always thought-provoking. For example, Zhu Bajie and Miss Gao, this bestiality not only shows the peculiar form of love, but also exposes all kinds of social intolerance. Zhu Bajie, a pig spirit with a bold personality, and Miss Gao's love is full of twists and turns and misunderstandings, and finally failed to come together, which can't help but make people think more about the so-called "love".
Let's look at the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. Everyone knows that every year on Qixi Festival, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet on the Magpie Bridge, which seems to be a beautiful legend about loyal love. If you dig deeper into it, you will find that it is actually a tragedy. It turns out that when the Cowherd first met the Weaver Girl in the story, he took extraordinary measures to steal the clothes of the Weaver Girl and her sisters, so that they could not return to the Heavenly Realm, which is undoubtedly extremely immoral in today's view.
What's more, the Cowherd used the Weaver Girl's clothes as a threat to force her to agree to marry him. Although they later lived together and gave birth to two children, the Weaver Girl never forgot her hometown and relatives. This kind of relationship is more like a bondage than free love. In the end, the Weaver Girl found an opportunity, took back her clothes, and returned to the heavenly realm, leaving the Cowherd to wait in the world. In this way, is it really love?
In addition, there are many similar plots in "Journey to the West", such as Tang Seng and the king of the daughter country, which is also full of complex battles between people's hearts and power. Tang Seng's encounter in the daughter country is a romantic encounter on the surface, but in fact, it hides the needs of the king of the daughter country for power and blood. She needs Tang Seng, not only because of her love, but also because Tang Seng's various qualities can help her consolidate the rule of the country. The use and use of this kind of relationship makes people feel that ancient love stories are often closely related to power and conspiracy.
Similarly, in Zhu Ziguo, the love between the king and the lady of the Golden Sacred Palace seems to be happy, but it is actually a game of imperial power. The appearance of the Golden Shenggong Niangniang is not only for love, but also to seek a place in Zhu Ziguo. Behind this kind of love, it is full of power and exchange of interests, which makes people question the romantic packaging of traditional love stories.
Moreover, even the love between Zhu Bajie and Princess Baihuasha is not a simple emotional exchange. From the very beginning, Zhu Bajie's pursuit of Princess Baihuasha had a strong purpose, and his love was more based on the desire for beauty and power. This kind of love based on selfish desires will inevitably come to naught in the end, leaving only the helplessness and bitterness of both parties.
These stories teach us that love in ancient times was rarely pure. They are wrapped in layers of socio-cultural and personal desires, and the emotions of each character are inevitably mixed with the imprint of the times. In "Journey to the West", although these love stories provide us with rich imagination, they also reflect a more complex real world.
Through this interpretation, "Journey to the West" is no longer just a book about Tang monks' scriptures, it has become a mirror, reflecting the multifaceted and complex nature of human nature. The intrigue behind these stories forces us to revisit those mythologized love stories and think about the true meaning behind them.
Through today's exploration, it is not difficult for us to find that even in classic literary works such as "Journey to the West", what seems to be a beautiful love story on the surface actually hides complex human nature and social reality. These stories make us realize that true love is far more complex than superficial romance. When we read classical literature in the future, we may be able to think more deeply about whether the beauty that has been sung by history is just an illusion, and whether there is a truth hidden behind it that we have not noticed.