Yuan Water Margin Play "feminist Consciousness

As is well know, The Water Margin Plays (水�'戏)in Yuan Dynasty are series of works about Water Margin heroes (水�'英雄). However, in the description of those heroes, the authors of the The Water Margin Plays neglected or even obliterated the real existing condition of the women figures. Therefore, nowadays it is quite important for us to pay enough attention to those women figures, just as Karl Marx once said: The freedom of women is a essential mark of the whole humanity.Based on the text close reading and the theoretical illustration, the first chapter of this thesis try to analyze those women figures from three aspects, that is virtuous women(贤妇), sleeping beauty(睡美人) and immoral women(荡妇) in men's imaginary construction. Following the first chapter, chapter two discusses the nostalgia of the traditional ethics and the devotion of the family. From this discussion, we can clearly see that, the authors of The Water Margin Plays treated the immoral women as the source of every social problem. And in their minds, a virtuous woman can make her husband honorable but an immoral woman would bring problems to her husband, her family and the whole society. The third chapter involves the relationship between the Water Margin heroes and the immoral women. Constructed as immoral, those women figures, in the authors opinion, can do nothing to highlight the ethics of the heroes. At the same time, this chapter also provides a vivid clue development of woman narration from Xuanhe Anecdotes In Song Dynasty(《大宋宣�'�遗事》) to The Water Margin Plays in Yuan Dynasty and then to The Tales About Water Margin Heroes (《水�'传》)in the early Ming Dynasty.In a word, this thesis intends to analyze the women figures in The Water Margin Plays in Yuan Dynasty from the perspective of feminism. In order to be more persuasive and convenient, this thesis brings Marital Plays(婚恋剧) as a contrast. And in the process of the exposition and argumentation, this thesis also deals with historical records, cultural viewpoints and social backgrounds in Yuan Dynasty.