The full name of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was compiled by Luo Guanzhong, a writer in the Ming Dynasty. As can be seen from the title, this novel is based on the History of the Three Kingdoms, but it is not as solemn as the official history, but an ancient vernacular novel. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has become more artistic than the History of the Three Kingdoms. Below, I will comment on this 660,000-word masterpiece from several aspects.
I. Truth and fiction
The biggest difference between romance and official history is that romance is not true, but a novel. Everyone says that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a seven-point historical fact and three-point fiction, which is true. But fiction, using artistic methods to fiction, is not just that historical facts can be used for fiction. For example, Guan Gong killed Hua Xiong with warm wine, which is not recorded in the history books. Another example is about going to a meeting alone with Lu Su. History books say that Lu Su went to see Guan Yu alone. There are of course countless similar examples. After reading it, a little analysis shows that most of these fictional plots pave the way for the characters described in the novel. Because, if we only create real characters as the official history says, some characters are contrary to the author's political and ideological views. Moreover, while making fiction, the author also noticed the rationality and coherence of the plot, rather than making fiction stiffly, which is why he felt immersive after reading it. In a word, the author's writing in this respect is quite successful, and these plots also show part of the author's subjective wishes.
Second, deification and uglification.
The characters in The Romance of Three Kingdoms are not real characters, but processed characters in the official history, including deified characters and demonized characters.
The typical representatives of deified figures are Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu. Zhuge Liang was deified as an Oracle and Guan Yu was deified as a loyal man. Below, I want to briefly compare why the author focuses on deifying these two people.
Zhu was a famous Neo-Confucianist in the Southern Song Dynasty, and he thought he was the orthodoxy of the Three Kingdoms. Since Chen Shou, most of Zhu's previous views were based on Cao Wei. Since Zhu, kings, ministers and people began to accept Zhu's point of view, because it not only conforms to Confucianism but also can be accepted by the ruling class. Luo Guanzhong also agreed with Zhu. Therefore, most of his deified characters are loyal to the Han family. Among them, the author writes that Zhuge Liang is the embodiment of "wisdom" and Guan Yu is the embodiment of "loyalty" and "righteousness". This is why Daoguang ruler was influenced by The Romance of Three Kingdoms and gave Guan Yu posthumous title with more than 30 words.
As for uglification, it is basically apotheosis. For example, Zhou Yu, a hero in history, died young, but The Romance of the Three Kingdoms described him as a jealous man. Most uglification is set off by deification.
Third, people and clues
One of the great successes of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is that it has successfully created many distinctive characters, such as Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, Zhao Yun, Cao Cao, Zhou Yu and Mi Fei. The author uses detail description to embody the distinctive characteristics of the characters. For example, when writing Zhang Fei, in the seventieth chapter, the author made a detailed description and description of Zhang Fei's narrow-minded battles, and at the same time increased the dialogue between Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, showing Zhuge Liang's superb wisdom.
The reason why The Romance of the Three Kingdoms can properly handle many characters and their complicated relationships is that the author not only writes with the techniques of reality, emptiness, detail, omission, insertion and flashback, but also uses the literary techniques of narrative along clues. The main line of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the process of the establishment and demise of the Shu-Han regime until the three-point return to Jin, which is interspersed with clues. For example, during the period of Battle of Red Cliffs, the author began to narrate from three lines: Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao. These three lines are interrelated, and they will not only describe one or two clues in one chapter. If intertwined, readers will feel very coherent, rather than just looking at a clue.
Fourth, feudalism and kingship
One of the political ideas expressed in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is to advocate typical Confucianism-kingly way and benevolent government. A large part of the fictional stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms are to express this idea. In this way, the author boldly created a series of artistic images of "loyalty" and "righteousness" in his works.
The first one is Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang described in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the embodiment of loyalty and wisdom, especially the author's wisdom of Zhuge Liang, which is even more exaggerated.
Zhuge Liang, in the ruling group of the landlord class at that time, was a sensitive, courageous and resourceful person. However, he has these advantages because he attaches importance to practice. For example, Cao Cao captured Jingzhou and led his troops south. Zhuge Liang analyzed the situation to Sun Quan and predicted that Cao Cao would be defeated, precisely because Zhuge Liang compared the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and ourselves before the war. For another example, Zhuge Liang dared to come up with an "empty plan" because he analyzed the situation of the generals of both sides and knew that Sima Yi knew that he was "cautious all his life and would never take risks", so he took advantage of Sima Yi's long-term understanding of himself and adopted a very "dangerous" plan to solve the crisis. However, in more chapters, the author wrote Zhuge Liang as a "prophet". For example, Zhuge Liang's Watching the Sky at Night and Rolling Up His Sleeves several times. In "Sacrificing the Wind at the Seven Stars Altar", it is an absurd description. Similar problems are also found in Eight Arrays, Half Stone Sacrifice to Lushui, Wu Ganxing and Dingjun Mountain Show the Sage.
Guan Yu is also a character described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the author's pen, Guan Yu also became a heroic and loyal hero in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms from a military commander who was as famous as Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong in the Three Kingdoms. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms beautifies Guan Yu in this way, which is completely advocating the feudal thought of "loyalty" and "righteousness". After the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu became a figure completely in line with the ideals of the feudal ruling class, and Guan Yu's influence among the people became wider and wider. The rulers of Ming and Qing dynasties called him "the Great Emperor" several times and built temples for him everywhere. This clearly shows how the description of "loyalty" and "righteousness" advocated by Guan Yu suits the needs of feudal rulers.
In addition, in order to advocate serving the feudal masters, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms also created a series of so-called "loyal ministers" images, such as Dong Cheng, Wang Zifu and Ji. In order to be loyal to Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, they wiped out Cao Cao, a "national thief". "Although they wiped out the nine clans, they had no regrets". The author touted these people as immortal model figures. In addition, when writing characters such as Jiang Wei, he advocated feudal "filial piety" and when writing characters such as Mrs. Sun, he advocated feudal "festival". Therefore, the characters depicted in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms run through the author's social and political views.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) poetry and ode
Another great success of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the introduction of a large number of poems and songs. Although the number is less than that of A Dream of Red Mansions, there are many excellent works. Some poems are introduced to express feelings, while others appear in the singing or writing of characters. For example, "The sky is like a round cover and the earth is like a chess game ..." (Chapter 37), which was written by Zhuge Liang. Another example is, "Cao Cao is an adulterer, and Zhou Lang was cheated for a while ..." (45th time), which is the story that later generations lamented that Cao Cao was wrongly accused of killing Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. The first word "Linjiang Xian" is magnificent, which gives readers a sense of awe. After reading it, I have a feeling that I can't stop. At the end of the article, the poem "Antique" summarizes 660,000 words of the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms in a century into a long narrative poem with only over 300 words. Although there are no flowery words, it is like a rhyming postscript, which leads readers to relive the situation of the Three Kingdoms. Its last few words even triggered the author's thinking and understanding of history: "The succession of things is endless, and the number of days cannot be avoided. The three-legged leg has become a dream, and future generations will complain. " Leave readers with infinite reverie.
In a word, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the best of the four classical novels after A Dream of Red Mansions. Although some of these thoughts are worth discussing, they are of far-reaching significance to the Chinese nation.