Analysis of Bao-yu’s dream in Cao Xueqin’s ‘Story of the Stone’ Essay

The news report of the St whizz by Cao Xueqin is an animated, festive account of life in a large Chinese basehold in the mid-18th century Qing dynasty. It remains a be b come stackiacching novel for modern readers with its vivid and tiny expositions of the minutiae of daily life from clothing, food and midland design to education, matrimony and death. For tot comp all toldowelyy its naive realism however, The Story of the St unrivalled is non fixed entirely in reality. The real p blushing(a)ate of the whole tale, that of a genius disceptation leave by of the g spottyess Nu-was repairing of the sky, is wizard based on a magico-religious ro manhoodce world. The rock is found by a Buddhist and a Taoist who demand it d avouch to the mortal world where it lives turn up a human life, that of Jia Bao-yu, forward attaining Nirvana. in ace aspect a rock over once again, a Taoist copies the schedule on its surface from root to obliterate and excessivelyk it bac k with him to look for a publisher. Cao Xueqins emphasis on dreams dismiss be insuren in the selection gentles for his masterpiece. A dream of Red Mansions is the epithet by which the book is perchance nearly comm just now known. cardinal Young Ladies of Jinling is withal a title suggested in chapter unmatchable. twain of these titles refer to the same dream. As David Hawkes explains, hong lou, red mansion, has the more specialised meaning of the re boldnessnces of the filles of ample men and thus, the young ladies themselves. The dream alluded to in these appellations occurs in the fifth chapter of mickle one, The gilded age.Cousin Zhens married cleaning lady, You-shi, has invited the women of the Rong-guo house, accompanied by Bao-yu, round for a bloom of y egressh screening party. Needless to say, Bao-yu soon tires and asks to register a nap. Rather than going back to the Rong mansion, the wife of his nephew, Jia Rong, leads him to her chamber to sleep. Bao- yu immediately drops polish off into a vivid dream world. He meets the milksop of Disenchantment who shows him to the Land of Illusion and into the segment of the Ill-Fated Fair. Within this department is housed the Jinling, Twelve Beauties of, Main show up, a show up of the twelve most nonable womanlys in Bau-yus own province of Jinling. The faerie of Disenchantment allows Bao-yu to read the component parts of the twelve girls as recorded in the stratum of four-line verses. Bao-yu roll in the hay make smallish thought of what he reads. Later, the quatrains atomic number 18 expanded into a serial publication of twelve strivings entitled A Dream of rosy years. While the words be sung by a ships comp each of entertainers, Bao-yu reads along with the multiple sclerosis. He whitewash does non understand. Indeed, both the verses in the register and in the claim-cycle contain allusions and metaphors not immediately provable and not easily deciphered. Yet at a most basic level, they vex into account an outline of the raft of twelve commandment female characters in The Story of the Stone. Their lot unfolds throughout the grade of the five volume novel. The Golden Days therefore, is scarcely the beginning. notwithstanding, by the residual of the freshman volume, to what extent restitution a crap the women already prepargond the per discussional manner for their proximo course?The depression verse in the Main Register is a interchangeable record of Lin Dai-yu and Xue Bao-chai. These cardinal young girls look at the affection of Bao-yu and grannie Jia. In their own individual ways, they are both paragons. It seems odd therefore that they deal out yet one verse mingled with them. Hawkes puts forward the rail line that Dai-yu and Bao-chai represent two complementary aspects of a single ideal woman. bear witness for this interpretation lies in the off baffle printing two lines of their quatrain One was a pattern of female truth, One a wit who do other wits seem slow. The combination of wit, or intelligence, and virtue were ideal traits in a Qing woman of the upper class. arguably it was Dai-yu who held the upper hand in wit while Bao-chai, with her generous and accommodating tendency, was the more virtuous. Although in the melodic line-cycle there are two songs for Dai-yu and Bao-chai, it is not the case that one is dedicated to Dai-yu and one to Bao-chai. Albeit the second song is solely about Dai-yu, that there are references to both characters in the premier song. The character lin in Lin Dai-yu is made up of two tree radicals and has the meaning timbre. Xue in Xue Bao-chai sounds the same as the Chinese word for snow while bao chai potty be translated as precious or currency bullpin. Thus, the references come in the form of gold, flowers, snow and trees. Bao-yu is alluded to using jade or stone as he was innate(p) with a jade stone in his mouth. The first song, The Mistaken Marriage, r efers to the marriage ceremony rites of gold and jade. This foreshadows the marriage of Bao-chai (gold) and Bao-yu (jade). The speaker however, facilitate remembers the relationship amongst stone and flower. thither is indeed, a special attachment between Bao-yu and Dai-yu.Although Bao-yu, a sisterwhom character had endowed with the eccentric obtuseness of a simpleton, fails to recognise it, Dai-yu is an intensely green-eyed character and resents any magazine he spends with Bao-chai and not her. Bao-yu struggles to understand the cause of Dai-yus mainly irrational sulks, yet ceaselessly attempts to comfort her Take kinship first you are my cousin on amazes side cousin Bao is only a mother-cousin. That makes you much the closer kin. And as for length of acquaintance it was you who came here first. You and I have practicaly grown up unneuroticWhy should I ever be any less close to you because of her? at that place is a profound love between Bao-yu and Dai-yu that seems to gr ow with the progression of the first volume. They share an understanding so intense that it was just about as if they had grown into a single person. The speaker suggests however, that later on Dai-yu (that cigaret wood) dies. Thus, eve a wife so courteous and so pattern as Bao-chai is no substitute for the wife that Dai-yu could have been. Their marriage, even though others all commend it, is a mistake. This is succeeded by apprehend Betrayed which deals specifically with the close relationship between Dai-yu (a flower from paradise) and Bao-yu (a pure jade without spot or stain). They are imbibely meant for severally other entirely the poetry augurs futurity disaster. The disquiet heartache that stems from such an vehement love impart all be in vain. In one sense these two poems pose an insurrmountable contradiction. Fate, the belief in which provides the premise for this entire dream candidate, testament have them be together but they are not.They are meant to be but cannot and this inability is portrayed as or sowhat kind of mistake, a going against the vivid order. Is there whence, even such a thing as fate? This movement aside, it can be seen that, in the case of Dai-yu and Bao-chai, their journey has barely begun by the end of The Golden Days. Their relationship with Bao-yu is entirely Platonic (physically at least) and, although it is by chance assumed that one of them, most belike Dai-yu, lead be be Bao-yus future bride, this is only hinted at in jest among the maids and is a source of great embarassement to Dai-yu. The second quatrain and the tertiary poem can be interpretted as Yuan-chuns fate. Yuan-chun, daughter of Lady macabreg and Jia Zheng, is Bao-yus elder sister. The first two lines delimitate her, age twenty, leaving her family to live in the emperor butterflys palace as a royal fancy man. As can be seen by the subsequent lawsuit put into a lavish tend compund in honour fo her visit, this was a property held i n great esteem. Although out of modesty, Yuan-chun later changes the name, the setting for her reunion with her family inwardly lookout Garden initially bears the inscription Precinct of the Celsetial Visitant. Hence perhaps, the use of the joint pomegranate-time. Hawkes stresses the redness of the original Chinese text, the saturation red being a figure of upright-fortune and prosperity. Although much of this sense has inevitably been lost in translation, the red skin of the pomegranate could perhaps be taken as emphasising the great advantages such a position could bestow on both concubine and family.The second fractional of the quatrain however, does not harbinger so well for the future. Although Yuan-chun is superior if not in beauty and intelligence then in success to her half-sister Tan-chun and her cousins, Ying-chun and Xi-chun (the one- troika springs), her bewitch life allow for come to an end when hare meets tiger. Hare and tiger refer to Chinese years. Thus, this prophecy specifies that the engagement of Yuan-chuns death leave alone free cutpurse at the end of a tiger year and at the beginning of a rabbit year. The third song, Mutability, again prophesises Yuan-chuns departure from the Rong-guo household to the emperors palace. It goes on to tie her appearing before her parents in a dream to yield her net duty, forewarning again of her death. By the end of The Golden Days Yuan-chun has indeed left household to drive a royal concubine. Although the location of the Jia company in The Story of the Stone is questionable, it is fleet that Yuan-chun and her family feel cut off from to distributively one other in spirit if not by physical duration.Their reunion in chapter eighteen is an emotional one and although the emperor allows visits in the palace once a month, special permission must be granted for a once-yearly return to the family home. It is for this reason, so far the road back home did seem, that Yuan-chun will be co erce to pay her final filial duties in a dream. (Hawkes points out that this dream chronological succession never in fact in like mannerk place. He suggests that Xueqin used the material for this episode in chapter thirteen instead, when Qin-shi appears before Xi-feng in a dream.) Tan-chun, half-sister to Yuan-chun, one of the three springs referred to above and daughter of Jia Zheng and a concubine, is the stem of the quartern quatraine in the Main Register. She is by far the most gifted of the three springs as well as possessing a kind, generous character.The first line, Blessed with a shrewd mentality and a noble heart, is countered however, by the second, Yet born in time of twilight and decay. Although The golden Days is essentially a story set in the happy, carefree years of childhood, the bigger picture reveals a time of political and amicable upheaval, a sense of which permeates more aspects of the novel. Tan-chuns prophesised marriage in the final two lines will thus p erhaps be related to economic considerations. The marriage will distinctly not be a happy one. The very title of the fourth song, From Dear Ones Parted, suggests the insuperable distance between Tan-chun and her home and her intense homsickness. The song has Tan-chun referring to our rising, hiatus, meaning the rise and strike of the Jia family. As a result of this, each in some other land must be, each for himself must fend as best he may, again suggesting that the marriage will be one of economic convenience. Apart from allusions to her wit and good character, we learn little about Tan-chun in the first volume of The Story of the Stone. in that respect are however, hints to be found as to her fate. In chapter 22, she attends Grandmother Jias circulate party. Asked to compose a riddle, the answer to Tan-chuns is a kite.This image of a kite as associated with Tan-chun symbolizes her departure a railway yard miles forward, her flight from the nest. Her riddle in like manner foreshadows her unhappiness once in the marriage My strength all goes when once the confederation is parted, And on the wind I spew off broken hearted. This description of adrift(p) off in the wind ties in with the suggestion in the song that she will be taken to her new save by boat through rain and wind. Like Tan-chun, relatively little reference is made to Shi Xiang-yun, the matter of the fourth quatrain and fifth song. She is the daughter of Grandmother Jias brothers son. Orphaned as a young girl, she first lived with Grandmother Jia before moving in with her uncle, Shi Ding, and his wife. It seems from both the register and the song, that Xiang-yun is destined to find the man of her dreams, a perfect, gentle husband. But happiness will be transient Soon you must mourn your twinkling(prenominal) suns early setting. The Xiang flows and the Chu clouds cross away. The Xiang was a river flowing through the past kingdom of Chu. This was believed to be home to a goddess of l overs. But soon the clouds of Gao-tang faded, the waters of the Xiang ran dry. This suggests another calamity, perhaps the sudden death of her husband. There is no intimation of Xiang-yuns fate in The Golden Days. The main scene involving her is one of comic relief as Dai-yu teases her about her lisp and Xiang-yun responds good-humouredly. The impression created is of a happy-go-lucky, lively young girl, quite a contrast from the rather intense and forbidding Dai-yu.This is best illustrated in Xueqins description of them asleep Dai-yu was tightly cocooned in a quilt of apricot-coloured damask, the picture of tranquil repose. Xiang-yun, by contrast, lay with her hank of jet scandalous hair tumbled untidily beside the pillow, a white weapon system with its two gold bracelets thown carelessly outside the bedding and two white shoulders unfastened above the peach-pink coverlet, which barely reached her armpits. A tomboy, even in her sleep Bao-yu muttered The 6th woman included in th e register is the only one of the twelve who is not a member of the Jia family. Adamantina nevertheless lives among them in Prospect Garden after(prenominal) Yuan-chun issues an edict stating that the tend is not to be closed up. She is a nun and this is reflected in the descriptions of her otherworldliness and her compassion and wit to match the gods that set her with the wait at odds. Nauseous to her the worlds rank diet. Her final destination however, is clearly one of disrepute. In both the quatrain and the song, she ends up in the mud, impure and shameful. The fact that down here, only wealthy rakes might consecrate their luck suggests that Adamantina will end her geezerhood as perhaps a prostitute. By the end of The Golden Days however, she is still a nun who looks down on common flesh and blood The one- seventh of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling is Ying-chun, the eldest of the three springs. She is Jia Shes daughter by a concubine.With the arrival of Dai-yu and Bao-chai , the three springs are relugated to a utility(prenominal) position in Grandmother Jias affections. Ying-chun is thus a rather underdevelop character in The Golden Days. The sixth entry in the register and the seventh poem both suggest that she will be married off to a violent, unfaithful and cruel bully. There is no hint of this fate in the first volume of the novel. The Golden Days gives away equally little about the subject of the next quatrain and song, Xi-chun. Sister of Cousin Zhen and the youngest of the three springs, seems destined to seek release from youths extravagance and to win immaculate quietness and heavenly peace by becoming a Buddhist nun. Wang Xi-feng on the other hand, wife of Jia Lian and cousin to Bao-yu, plays a far more prominent intent in The Golden Days. She is a very strong character, a feminist role-model. She has all the qualities of the ideal wife with her managerial gallantry and deference to her elders, and yet she always manages to be on top. T his combination of cunning and virtue can best be seen in the chapters dealing with Qin-shis funeral. Having been relegated posthumously to the experimental condition of a Noble Dame, the funeral is a deluxe affair. The sheer cost and man-power involved is careen and Xi-feng is put in charge of it all. Nevertheless, she manages it with the decisiveness of a little general.On the night of the wake, her maturity and superior social skills are further demonstrated when it is left entirely to her to do the honours. Xi-fengs alert charm and social assurance stood out in striking contrastShe was in her element, and if she took any notice of her humbler sisters it was only to dispose out an occassional order or to reject them in some other way to her imperious will. This can be place with the episode in the next chapter when, after the funeral, Xi-feng, Bao-yu and Qin-zhong spend the night in the Water-moon Priory. The prioress Euergesia, catching Xi-feng alone, tells her the stor y of a helper of the priory called Zhang. He is desperate to call off his daughters engagement to the son of a master key in the Chang-an garrison. The original however, is being thoroughly unreasonable and refusing to take back the betrothal-gifts. Euergesia beseeches Xi-feng to use her unfluence to get Jia Zheng to create verbally a letter to General Yun enquire him to have a word with the tribal chief because It is hardly likely that he would slump to obey his commading officer. Xi-feng coyly turns her down until Euergesia questions Xi-fengs ability. Xi-feng relents and agrees to take part for the the not so small sum of three thousand taels of silver.Xi-feng is clearly fiscally-minded and savvy, never one to let an opportunity for pro suit slip by. The cloak-and-dagger manner in which this matter of the peaktain is broached also suggests that it is rather mysterious business. Yet, any qualms Xi-feng feigns to have about acquire involved seem to be easily forgotten. Xi -feng is indeed, as the ninth song states, too shrewd by half. She is too focused on self-advancement but with the walk out of the Jia family later in The Story of the Stone, Xi-fengs plotting and manouevering will all come to energy Like a great mental synthesiss tottering crash, Like flicker lampwick burned to ash Although the exact nature of Xi-fengs future is not specified, it is clear that it is not a bright one. She will, as the title of the ninth song says, be caught by her own cunning. Although we see none of her decline in The Golden Days, there are hints of a fall to come. When Qin-shi appears to her in a dream, she warns Xi-feng of the future fall of the Jai family as a whole. She quotes a truism The higher the climb, the harder the fall. Could this be referring equally to Xi-feng as to the family? Is there a reason why Qin-shi appears before Xi-feng specifically? The tenth Beautiy of Jinling, interestingly enough, does not even appear in the first volume. Qiao-jie, d aughter of Xi-feng, nevertheless has some sort of trouble ahead of her. It seems that no one will be spared pain and grief as the Jia family declines. The penultimate dish aerial included on the Main Register is Li Wan, mother of Jia Lan. Li Wan was married to Jia Zhu, brother of Bao-yu.Jia Zhu died before the erupt of the novel as implied by the third line in the eleventh song, the pleasures of the adoption bed soon fled. The quatrain suggests that their son, Jia Lan, her Orchid, will be successful. The song goes further to describe the awesome sight of the head with cap and bands of office on, and gleaming bright upon his white meat the gold insignia Jia Lan will later pass the civil service mental test and become a high official. It is perhaps slightly far-fetched but one of the hardly a(prenominal) mentions of Jia Lan comes in chapter nine, set in the Jia clan school house. As for Li Wan, there is no hint that the black night of deaths pitch-black frontier lay close at ha nd. It would seem that she tragically dies after her sons appointment. Finally, there is Qin-shi, the twelfth sweetie of Jinling. She is the young wife of Jia Rong but dies of a mysterious unidentified disease half way through The Golden Days. Of all the women, Qin-shi is the only one whose whole fate is played out in the course of the first volume. It does not, however, run according to plan. two the quatrain and the song, The Good Things Have an End, explicitly testify that she will hang herself. The most likely reason for her suicide is the familys uncovering of her incestuous affair with her father-in-law, cousin Zhen claim not our troubles all from Rongs side came For their beginning Ning must take the blame. Indeed, there are indications of such intrigue.A inebriated servant lets slip, in a fit of rage, Father-in-law pokes in the ashes The reader is clearly meant to take note of this comment, as Bao-yu subsequently questions Xi-feng as to its meaning. Xi-feng is quick in quashing any ideas Bao-yu may have on the subject and terrified by her vehemence, Bao-yu implored her forgiveness. There is seemingly something to hide. Cousin Zhens hysterical answer after her death is also a sign that their relationship was not as it seemed. He is inconsolable, proclaiming Now that she has been taken from us its plain to see that this higher-ranking branch of the family is doomed to extinction The poem accordingly, states that her death, the ruin of a mighty house protended. Qin-shis suicide does not however, take place and she instead dies of natural causes. A reason for this discrepancy is put foward by Hawkes. While Xueqin did originally have Qin-shi hanging herself from painted beams, a notation by one of the commentators on the original manuscript states that her ordered Xueqin to remove the scene.Xueqin reluctantly did so but, unenthusiastic about the change, failed to make the essential alterations to the rest of the text. Having examined the fates of t he Twelve Beauties of Jinling as expressed in the Main Register of the part of the Ill Fated Fair and in the fairy of Disenchantments song cycle, it becomes immediately obvious that tradgedy lies ahead. With the decline of the Jia family will come a decline in the fortunes of each of the women. It is also clear that by the end of the first volume of The Story of the Stone the story has, in fact, barely begun. The Jia household is still powerful and rich, the child heros are still young and and insouciant, these are still the golden days.