In Preface of Peacock Flying Southeast, it is said that the story happened in the middle of Jian 'an period at the end of Han Dynasty. The article is selected from Volume I of Yu Tai Xin Yong edited by Xu Ling in Southern Dynasties, so it can be judged that the writing time of poetry is between Wei and Jin Dynasties. Wei and Jin Dynasties were a period of great changes in China's history, which experienced a turning point in politics, economy, military affairs, culture and even the whole ideology. This is a period of awakening. People began to doubt and deny the external authority, and the internal personality began to awaken and pursue. So there was the poem "Peacock Flying Southeast" with feudal rebellious consciousness. The legend of Liang Zhu originated in the Jin Dynasty. The earliest existing written material is Liang Zaiyan's Ten Ways and Four Stories in the Early Tang Dynasty. The composition of Xuanshizhi in the late Tang Dynasty is rendered, showing its general outline: "Yingtai, daughter of Zhujiajian in Shangyu, traveling as a pseudo-male, and studying in Huiji. Shan Bo, a benevolent character. Wish you come back first. Two years later, Shan Bo visited a friend's house and met his woman. He felt very lost. Tell his parents to apply for a job. I wish I had the word horse. After Shan Bo, Yin Ling died of illness and was buried in the west of the city. I hope Ma Shi's family has crossed the grave, but the wind and waves can't enter. I asked Shanbo's tomb, and I would like to climb it. Suddenly, the ground cracked and fell, and I wanted to be buried together. Xie An, the prime minister of Jin Dynasty, wished for his tomb, and wrote that the story of "Yi Fu's Tomb" was generally believed to have originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. How close it is to the time when peacocks fly southeast! It's just that Butterfly Lovers is a little later than Peacock Flying Southeast.
Second, the causes of the tragedy are similar.
The persistent love of two young men and women was interfered or obstructed by feudal parents. In Peacock Flying Southeast, Lan Zhi is beautiful, humble and hardworking, but Jiao Mu thinks that "this woman has no manners and makes her own decisions". Self-respecting Lan Zhi "sent" her family back. In the face of elder brother's persecution, Lan Zhi made a love oath that "you are a rock, my concubine is Pu Wei, and Pu Wei is as tough as silk, and the rock has no transfer". On the night of his wedding with the satrap's son, he "lifted himself to the pool". And Jiao Zhongqing begged her mother to meet Lan Zhi hopelessly. After hearing that Lan Zhi was double suicide, she also hanged herself in the southeast branch. "Butterfly Lovers" and "Peacock Flying Southeast" have different plots, but the causes of the tragedy are the same. On the way to school, Zhu Yingtai met Liang Shanbo disguised as a man and married Jin Lan at Caoqiao. I have been studying for three years, and I love Sambo deeply. After the teacher's mother pointed out the truth, Shan Boming went to propose to her family, but Yingtai was forced to marry by her father Ma Xu Cai Wen. Yingtai refused to marry until she died, and met Shan Boming in Xiulou to show her wish. This is the "balcony meeting". Shan Bo was suddenly hit by this, and he was flustered and died of illness. The British and Taiwan Province people heard the bad news and went to Liang's home to offer their condolences. This is "mourning". After Ma Jialai got married, Yingtai was dressed in mourning and asked to go through the tomb of Shanbo for sacrifice. I hope my father has no choice but to agree. When the sedan chair arrived at Shanbo's grave, Yingtai paid homage and wept bitterly. Suddenly, the grave cracked with a bang and Yingtai jumped into the grave. In an instant, the clouds cleared, the rain cleared, and a pair of beautiful butterflies danced freely in the blue sky. This is the embodiment of butterfly lovers, expressing the strong desire that life can't be married, but death should be in pairs.
Third, the tragic endings are similar and the expressions are the same.
They either turned into mandarin ducks or butterfly fly with me, playing among the flowers in the forest and indulging in Yaochi Paradise. From then on, it has nothing to do with ethics and marriage. This ending has a deep national psychological imprint of a happy ending. In fact, in terms of expression, the endings of the two love tragedies both adopt the combination of realism and romanticism. This technique gives people a strong sense of resistance. Although the protagonist's body disappeared, they achieved spiritual eternity with loyal and pure love and unyielding fighting spirit. It has strong artistic appeal.
Fourth, the theme is consistent.
The spoony lovers both defended their faithful love with death. They all exposed the evils of feudal paternalism and praised pure and free love. It has both the spirit of realism and the brilliance of positive romanticism. Because the creation background, causes and endings of butterfly lovers and Peacock Flying Southeast are highly similar, the themes of the two love tragedies must be the same.
Fifth, the characters have distinct personalities.
Liu Lanzhi, who is kind, beautiful and intelligent in Peacock Flying Southeast, has a rebellious rigidity in his character. From "self-delivery" with dignity, to pretending to get married in the face of my brother's coercion, and then to calmly go to Qingchi. She never demeans herself to adapt to the environment. She showed the most beautiful side of the weak and the oppressed under the historical conditions at that time. Butterfly lovers positively shaped the rebellious image of women in boudoir in feudal society of China. There is a sharp contradiction at the beginning of the story-"Women disguised as men to study", which shows Zhu Yingtai's strong personality and rebellious spirit. Later, I met Liang Shanbo halfway and fell in love at first sight. The Grass Bridge Becoming sworn also describes Zhu Yingtai's contempt for ethics. In particular, the story ends with crying, enters the coffin and becomes a butterfly, which makes her resistance reach its climax and the characters are vivid, noble and beautiful. It can be said that Zhu Yingtai and Liu Lanzhi have become the model figures of beauty, kindness, resisting oppression and defending pure love to the death for thousands of years.
More similarly, the men in the tragedy, Liang Shanbo and Jiao Zhongqing, are weaker in character and resistance than the heroines Zhu Yingtai and Liu Lanzhi. Liang Shanbo's proposal was frustrated. Although he was infatuated, there was nothing he could do and he died of illness. Jiao Zhongqing couldn't protect Liu Lanzhi from his mother. Although it is useless to defend his wife, it is difficult to achieve the best of both worlds in the face of filial piety and love. Only Hang the Southeast Branch followed Lan Zhi.
Because feudal society is a patriarchal society after all, women are oppressed 1000 times more than men. The so-called greater the pressure, the stronger the resistance, so the characters of the two protagonists are sincere and a bit too rigid, affectionate and weak.
Butterfly lovers and Peacock Flying Southeast have similarities in the above five aspects, but there are still some differences between them, mainly in the following aspects:
1. Different styles
Peacock Flying Southeast in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the longest narrative poem in ancient China. It is not only long in length, but also has great achievements in artistic description, characterization and structural arrangement, and its influence on later generations can be said to have a long history. The appearance of Peacock Flying Southeast marks the development of narrative poetry in Han Yuefu. As a tragic love poem, it is widely circulated among literati. The style of butterfly lovers is a folk story, which has been circulated among the people for more than 1,460 years and is a household name in China.
There are differences between the content and the plot.
Peacock flies southeast reflects the frustration of the hero and heroine's love after marriage. It involves the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the concept of family status, feudal paternalism, feudal ethics and other social problems, as well as people's psychological factors and personality problems. Butterfly lovers reflects the efforts and struggles of the hero and heroine for freedom of marriage before marriage. As a poem, Peacock Flying Southeast is more literary in content and language.
3. Different influences
As a folk story, Butterfly Lovers has far-reaching influence. It was not only adapted into Yue Opera, but also created into various musical forms, such as guzheng music, songs and violin concerto. Liangzhu culture has become a national intangible cultural heritage. When the story of Romeo and Juliet appeared in the west, Liang Zhu had already been widely circulated in China. Romeo and Juliet, which is called the East by the west, has become a part of the cultural exchange between China and the West, and its influence has already surpassed the peacock's southeast flight and extended to the world.
In a word, Peacock Flying Southeast and Butterfly Lovers have both similarities and differences in tragic colors. Liang Zhu and Peacock Flying Southeast are two classic love tragedies, which are two wonderful flowers in our national culture. Their high aesthetic and literary values have amazed future generations, and they also have extensive social and far-reaching historical significance in real life. They will shine forever in the history of China literature!