A New Interpretation on the Lady Wang in the Dream of the Red Chamber
Resource
臺大中文學報, 29, 316-360
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
29
Pages
316-360
Date Issued
2008-12
Date
2008-12
Author(s)
Abstract
A common interpretation of the Lady Wang in the Dream of the Red Chamber is to view her as supporting the marriage between Chia Baoyu and Xue Baochai and opposing the love/marriage between Chia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. In a word, Lady Wang is deemed as an embodiment of traditional Confucian ritual-ethical force(傳統禮教勢力）that persecuted young women. Such interpretation is typically based upon a restrictive reading on one single episode of the novel, namely, the rummaging of the Prospect Garden(抄檢大觀園）. This paper carefully examines all the plots about Lady Wang and tries to provide a comprehensive characterization of her role, incorporating, among others, the perspectives of parent-child relationship, uterine family, and maternity. I focus on delineating Lady Wang’s “double mother”(雙重母親）figure: simple-minded and yet prudent, attentive to natural feelings while adhering to traditionally-derived power. This “double mother” characterization echoes the familiar theme of “of second birth”(二度出生）in mythology. I argue that Lady Wang embodies exactly this double image: on the one hand, she is kind, life-giving, and warm; on the other, she is inscrutable, capable of destruction, and has a terrifying persona. The episode of rummaging the Prospect Garden is reexamined and analyzed accordingly under this perspective.
Subjects
紅樓夢
王夫人
子宮家庭
雙重母親
母性
母神
The dream of the red chamber
Lady Wang
Uterine family
Shuangchong muqin
The double mother
Maternity
Mother-goddess
Type
journal article
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
0029_200812_9.pdf
Size
24.23 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):b461bbcfd3c4453252a7061d0f52c9f1