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A Study On The Marriage Story Of Journey To The West

Posted on:2016-10-23Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:H MaFull Text:PDF
GTID:1105330470462886Subject:Comparative Literature and World Literature
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Based on the academic definition of stories of marriage by capture, the dissertation studies the stories of marriage by capture in drama and novel versions of Journey to the West. In the complicated cultural background, the stories of marriage by capture in the two versions have both homogeneity and a certain degree of heterogeneity. Based on the method of morphological analysis of the story, the main methods of thematic analysis and other related disciplines such as anthropology and folklore are used in the study to compare and analyze the structure, transformations and types of stories of marriage by capture in the two versions, then determine the story type and classification, analyze the evolution of the theme and explore its historical roots. This is not only an in-depth analysis of marriage stories in Journey to the West, but also a search for the significance of cultural history recourse of the stories.This dissertation is divided into three parts, namely introduction, main body and conclusion, and the main body is composed of four chapters.The introduction part introduces the study subjects, methods, previous researches, significance of the topic, and the academic definition of stories of marriage by capture, which is academically defined as stories that narrate those who perform robbery behaviors between different genders in order to conclude heterosexual relations. The stories of marriage by capture in the two versions are classified into three types, namely, the type of realism and fantasy, the type of the bride and the bridegroom by capture and the type of human’s marriage by capture, animals’marriage by capture and other species’marriage by capture. This is not only an establishment of the new academic subject, but also a foundation for the following research.The folklore characteristics and cultural backgrounds of the two versions are summarized in chapter one of the main body. The story of the Tang Priest’s journey for scriptures was passed down from generation to generation among the folk and shaped in Yuan dynasty. The two versions of Journey to the West have the distinctive characteristics of the folk literature. The genres of drama and serial novels are rooted, active in the folk and get life from the folk, which are from the story of Journey to the West in the folk and shown in the novel style of folk foundation, and its characteristics become more obvious in folk literature. The characteristics of the folk literature are the key points to study the stories of marriage by capture in the two versions of Journey to the West.Besides, the two versions have the similar geographical and cultural backgrounds. For example, the novel has cultural homogeneity of the traditional Confucian culture and the drama contains cultural heterogeneity of the yuan mongolian nomadic culture. Therefore, the narration of theirs shows different variation characteristics in the succession history of traditional culture.In chapter two, according to the classification in the introduction, stories of marriage by capture are divided into four series, namely the series of marriages by capture in the Women’s Country, the series of water thieves’marriages by capture, the series of the female demons’ marriages by capture and the series of the male demons’ marriages by capture. Then their structures are analyzed in diagrams, and meanwhile, the similarities and differences of the same series of marriage by capture in two texts are pointed out and the specific function is emphasized. Through the analysis of the structure form, the view of classification is introduced, which will reveal the story into two types of victim and seeker hero and heroine according to the protagonist role function. The view of classification can be combined with the other three views of classification to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the research object.In chapter three, themes and their evolution and the reasons of four series of marriages by capture are expounded.The theme of the series of marriages by capture in Women’s Country is female self-consciousness. From the specific function, the female self-consciousness is a kind of female self handicapping independent consciousness which is the inevitable reflection of the female in the patriarchal society consciousness. From the drama to the novel of Journey to the West, female self-consciousness is weakened and the reason for this trend is that the moral principles of Confucianism in the late of Ming dynasty is more rigor than that of the end of yuan dynasty and the beginning of ming.The theme of the series of water thieves’ marriages by capture is tolerance and revenge. The theme is heavy and serious. The woman who suffers from bad luck in reality will face a very difficult choice, which is the result of chastity and filial piety advocated in the feudal ethics. In comparison, the chastity filial piety novel is stronger than that in the drama. The main cause of this development is that ethics are relatively relaxed at the turning of yuan and ming dynasty, but in the late ming dynasty ethical constraints are very strict. The series of the female demons’ marriages by capture exist in the novel not in the drama, and the four stories reflect the multiple needs of women from different sides. It deepens the theme of the story of Women’s Country.The series of the female demons’ marriages by capture don’t exist in the drama but are very important in the novel, which reflect two authors’ different views of females. The author’s view of females in the novel is relatively complicated but is distinctive in the drama. The author’s view of females is related with the different social and cultural backgrounds.The series of the male demons’ marriages by capture demonize males’ desire. They are the inheritance and transformation of the series of the male demons’ marriages by capture in the drama, embodied in the story of the monkey king’s marriage by capture in the novel, which are completely rejected and Pigsy’s story which is dealt with weakening, the general silver forehead’s story is extended to the yellow monster’s and Tai Sui’s stories. The transformation of the novel reflects the shackles of ethical tradition of humanity in the ming dynasty---that is making the course of nature existent and desire of human extinct, so men’s normal desires cannot be satisfied. There is a big difference between the series of the male demons’ marriages by capture and the local traditional ones, but they have many similarities with those in Indian literature. It is helpful to contribute to the researches on revealing the historical roots of the stories by comparing them.The fourth chapter explores the historical origins of the four series of stories. This chapter mainly uses Propp’s theory and method and other related methods of anthropology, folklore to explore the roots of religious consciousness, social system and ceremony.The conclusion part summarizes the implications and the missing in this study and future research plans. Through this study, the academic definition of stories of marriage by capture is defined for the first time and forms its independent status. The analysis of the stories of marriage by capture in the drama and the novel versions of Journey to the West is rich in the study on Journey to the West, and realizes the docking of adhering to the "literature" and "imagination". But due to the limited conditions and writing ability, certain problems, such as comparative studies on the stories of marriage by capture in different versions of Journey to the West and comparative study on those in ethnic minorities Journey to the West and so on, can be addressed in the future.
Keywords/Search Tags:Journey to the West, stories of marriage by capture, structure, transformation, theme, drama
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