Throughout the ages, countless heroic legends have been compiled into mythological figures, and many controversial details have been exaggerated. For example, the famous legend of "Guan Gong beheading Diao Chan under the moon" has shaped Guan Yu, a martial saint figure in the Three Kingdoms period, into a female insulated sage image. But what about the truth, is Guan Gong really desireless for beauties? Perhaps we should revisit the context of this story.
The so-called "Guan Gongyue Chopping Diao Chan" comes from the commentary novel "Three Kingdoms Zhipinghua" in the Yuan Dynasty. This work vividly describes a legendary plot: Cao Cao, in order to divide the relationship between Liu Bei and Guan Yu, gave the late Lu Bu's wife and concubine Diao Chan to Guan Yu as a concubine. Overnight, Diao Chan appeared in Guan Yu's bedroom with a peerless appearance, trying to use beauty tricks to tempt the general. Unexpectedly, Guan Yudu was indifferent to Diao Chan's delicate and desireless, and was not confused at all, but severely reprimanded her for "red face and trouble". Faced with Guan Yu's ignorance of what was going on in the window, Diao Chan fell into disappointment and self-doubt, and finally committed suicide by hanging himself in shame.
This story about Guan Yu's broken sleeves and his indifference to a stunning woman has undoubtedly created a noble character like a martial saint. However, Guan Yu recorded in the history books is actually not so "sitting still". In fact, when Cao Cao and Liu Bei jointly fought against Lü Bu, Guan Yu twice asked Cao Cao to marry the wife of Lü Bu's general Qin Yilu. Because Qin Yilu's wife was good-looking, she was known as "Alluring the country and the city" at that time, so Cao Cao was suspicious and kept her by his side first, but did not approve Guan Yu's request. According to this, it can be seen that Guan Yu is also a person with strong blood and energy, and he is not 100% immune to beauty.
However, as recorded in the history books, although Guan Yu has a thirst for beauty, he has maintained his integrity after all and has not indulged his selfish desires. Afterwards, he was even more resentful of Cao Cao's forcible acceptance of other people's wives and concubines, and since then he has been strangers to him. It can be seen that although Guan Yu has the desires of ordinary people, he can be cautious and self-disciplined, which is the embodiment of valuable willpower and noble quality. As a generation of famous generals said, "food and color, sex also", this is a reasonable human demand, but the key is whether you can self-restraint.
Therefore, the "Guan Gong Moon Cutting Diao Chan" in the Yuan song is actually too far-fetched, beautifying Guan Yu as a "female insulation" character, which is different from historical facts. However, if we think about it from another angle, this kind of beautification can also show the lofty expectations of the ancients for heroic figures. In the traditional society, in the ideal of scholars, a true man should put loyalty and filial piety first, and pay attention to festivals, and avoid being confused by women and cutting his feet into selfish desires. It is the history books that omit Guan Yu's affection for beauties, emphasizing his steadfastness in rejecting beauties and standing tall.
Since we have examined the origin and meaning of the legend "Guan Gongyue beheaded Diao Chan" from a historical perspective, we might as well make more comments from the literary level. After all, this story of erotic encounters first came out of folk storytelling and miscellaneous dramas, and it should belong to the category of literary and artistic creation. In terms of literary and artistic techniques, it is undoubtedly a meaningful artistic expression.
Playing closely, it is not difficult for us to find that this story actually hides a tragic color. As a beautiful and extraordinary woman, Diao Chan is destined to have a bumpy fate. Born in poverty, she was originally sold as a singer, but later she was caught up in the whirlpool of turbulent power struggles. Beauty beckons trouble, and in the end she has to use her appearance to do a "beauty trick". This is undoubtedly a satire of women's status and reflects their miserable situation in traditional society.
Diao Chan, who seems frivolous but is actually helpless, may be the epitome of ancient women. They have to live according to the rules of a patriarchal society, and subjugate themselves in a patriarchal environment. When you can't help yourself, you can only manipulate your own unique weapon of "hue" in exchange for living space and resources. In this sense, the image of Diao Chan is full of pathetic helplessness and passivity.
Once this peerless beauty was disdained and despised by the Martial Saint Guan Yu, she would naturally doubt herself whether she really had the qualifications worthy of being poured. So in the end, she chose the way out of self-severance, which undoubtedly reflects her insistence on the dignity of existence. Therefore, from the perspective of literary and artistic expression, the contradiction and conflict between Guan Yu and Diao Chan actually projects a social conflict of values: the supremacy of force or the supremacy of beauty? The sage values righteousness over lust or is the philistine greedy for lust?
It can be seen that this seemingly simple story of sexual encounters actually contains quite rich cultural connotations and value criticism. It reflects the tragic fate of women in ancient societies, and also reflects the thinking of people at that time about the importance of hue and martial virtue. The structure of the story also cleverly arranges a dramatic conflict of human nature, making the plot ups and downs, full of tension, and tragic beauty. It can be seen that although the ancients were in the "world of carving insects", they also had quite wise aesthetic thinking in their bones, so that this kind of miscellaneous drama in later generations could be so widely spread.
In the final analysis, legends always come from reality, but they also need to be based on the aesthetic imagination of the people in order to become popular and become classics. So how to sublimate the artistic expression of "Guan Gong's slaying of the sable cicada under the moon" into a higher-level value allegory? This remains to be reinterpreted and given a new cultural connotation. As the ancients did, it is the responsibility of each of us to spread the good qualities of humanity and reflect our values. #头条首发大赛#