The Redefinition Of Sequels Of "the West Chamber" And The Analysis Of The Themes And Figures

With the extraordinary influence of "the West Chamber", its sequels emerged in large numbers, which are valuable with their own historical backgrounds, cultural factors and literary achievements. In this thesis, the sequels of "the West Chamber" are systemized and analyzed as a whole and this paper is divided into three chapters.The first chapter redefine the general situation of sequels of "the West Chamber". First of all, the scope of the sequels of "the West Chamber" has been defined and the object of study in this thesis has been determined on the basis of the previous definition of the concept of "sequel", considering the specific circumstances of the subsequent creation of "the West Chamber". Secondly, four types of sequels are redefined in this thesis, including the renovated, the continuous, the supplemented and the doubtful texts. The author catalogues the introduction of different writers, the recording, and the status, style and evaluation of the works, and so on.The second chapter analyzed the themes of sequels of "the West Chamber". The authors of these sequels build the themes by conveying their own ideas and presenting their purposes, on the basis of understanding the original work. The emotional themes inherit from the original work by weakening or strengthening to a certain extent. The feudal ethics themes are against the original work by being adapted in different ways. There are other themes, such as the dream topics, recreational themes, and so on. Themes of the sequels are complicated and various, and they have obvious tendencies of emotion and reason, which distribute unevenly in quantity and time because of many factors. There are many different approaches to prominent theme, especially the widespread using of Buddhism and Taoism. Different themes suffer various evaluations, which should be viewed objectively.The third chapter analyzed the figures of sequels of "the West Chamber". The primary figures in the original work are developed in the following ways:Yingying tends to be inherited or strengthened individually and mainly weakened and advocate Chinese feudal ethics and rites; Zhangsheng is royal to love, or tend to comply with Chinese feudal ethics and rites, or be uglified extremely; Hongniang keeps resistance or defend Chinese feudal ethics and rites. The secondary figures in the original work are developed like this:The old lady mainly keeps putting interest first, and Zhengheng is constantly beautified. In addition, the marginal characters in the original work are differentiated and evolved in the way of enlargement, slight, beautification, uglification and so on. Some new figures are added in the story of the west chamber. Some of them are gradually highlighted by playing important roles. The features of these figures are various, which include robber, model of etiquette, stander of Taoism, and so on. In short, These added images enrich the characters in the original. Overall, the figures in the sequels have been changed greatly, compared with those ones in the original. Many series of figures and new figures have new characteristics and laws. Some new images are shaped thin. The group of characters is complex in a single work.