Conflict And Harmony: A Study Of Tragedy In Chinese Classical Drama

The collision between Chinese classical opera and the western "tragedy" is full of controversy from the beginning.Whether it could be used in Chinese classical drama in the Western "tragedy" perspective and whether there is a docking condition and bridge between the two is always a problem that the Chinese classical Opera researchers still cannot skip.Since the time of ancient Greece,Western tragedy theory gradually constitute a fusion of other disciplines,such as the theory of psychology,history and other complex systems after two thousand years of development.The concept of tragedy was first used as a noun,referring to the tragedy that occurred in the ancient Greek period,mainly referring to the tragedy of Aeschylus,Sophocles and Euripides.Later,through the creation of Shakespeare and others,these works began to attention to the enrichment and development of this kind of drama,the works of tragedy begin to enter the field of literary theory,the aesthetic form of including drama tragedy.The development of the theory of tragedy since Aristotle's "poetics,evolution toward a variety of dimensions.Over the overall features of western tragedy theory,in addition to studying the national cultural characteristics of national literaure and regional literature,the western tragedy theory also explains the emotional absorption and factual feedback of human's aesthetic experience of "sadness".The role of promoting and exhorting is always existing,not limited by time and region.When the study of tragic theory is recovered from the West to the ancient Chinese culture,it is easy for Chinese scholars to think that ancient China lacks the "tragedy",because before the translation of Western tragedy theory to China in the 19th century,there is no words like "tragedy" in western theory.This point,almost become a enduring research topic modern since modem times and with the development of the times,continuing to add new theoretical basis,or to support or opposition.But in fact,although the ancient Chinese theory does not have a theoretical system which is similar to the Western tragedy of theoretical system,but as early as many years ago,the ancient Chinese composers have been noted that the tragedy have different features from the comedy and drama and these "drunk is nose" Chinese classical tragedies have been active in the opera stage.Although the tragedy of west and Chinese have a diversity performance in tragic characters,the tragic situation and the tragic collisions that are due to the cultural heterogeneity of the tragic culture,the tragic spirit of its implication is the same,that is,the performance of the human suffering and misfortune,expressed the sadness,sadness or grief of the emotions,pries the suffering Noble spirit and the spirit of struggle in the suffering,promote the good and the beautiful universal values.Therefore,it is logical and reasonable to recognize to use the Western tragedy theory to analyze and discuss the Chinese classical tragedy that under the premise of recognizing that the Chinese and Western tragedies have something in common.Although the most Western scholars always criticized the "Happy ending" in Chinese tragedy,but it is also the most unique characteristics of national literature,which contains a wealth of social and historical reasons,aesthetic psychological reasons,the traditional creation culture and opera development background.Therefore,it is of great significance to understand the traditional cultural that under the "happy ending" tragedy "Understand it,know why it",understanding the cause will help us understand the unique charm of Chinese classical tragedy.In his preface in a book named the top ten Chinese classical tragedies,Wang Jisi,a famous modernist scholar,has clearly stated that the opera works that can be called the Chinese classical "tragedy" must have:tragedy collision,tragedy characteristic,tragedy performance and tragic feeling.These four elements are in contrast to the Western tragedy theory,where Aristotle,Hegel,Bradley and other Western theorists have had similar expressions.Based on the above conclusion,this paper chooses the three tragic works named"Zhao Orphans","Pipa" and "Chang sheng Hall",which are widely recognized by the academy,and try to analyze the legitimacy of the Chinese classical tragedy through the Western tragedy theory.This paper discusses the tragedy spirit and expression of ancient opera in deep level,and makes a dynamic study on the happy ending in the Chinese classical opera,and explores the relationship between this characteristic and the tragic spirit.Try to prove the existence of Western classical drama tragedy in Chinese classical drama,and the "happy ending" is the most characteristic of Chinese classical sad tragedy.