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From ‘Dream of Red Chamber’ to Explore the Marriage System

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From ‘Dream of Red Chamber’ to Explore the Marriage System
From ‘Dream of Red Chamber’ to explore the marriage system in imperial China ‘Dream of Red Chamber’, written by Cao Xueqin in the eighteenth century, is the first Chinese novel which used a love tragedy to convey the message of the miserable marriage life of the Chinese. It was a common practice for author to turn a love tragedy into a happy ending instead. For example: in ‘The palace of eternal youth’, despite troubles in the present life, the two main characters, Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan, were able to be with each other in their future lives after death, with the help of heavenly Emperor. Since ‘Dream of Red Chamber’ made such a breakthrough in Chinese literature, this paper will focus on how he love tragedy between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai reflects the rigid marriage system in imperial China.
Baoyu’s relationship with Daiyu is totally different to the one with Baochai. This difference lies in the fact that love is not the same as marriage. Marriages in imperial China were not the result of love. Love is the nature feeling that cannot be controlled by anyone whereas marriage, especially in imperial China, was nothing more than a ceremony. Marriage with no love can never bring goodness between the couples hence Baochai became a virtual widow after marrying Baoyu.
Marriage was the most important thing that could have happened to everyone in imperial China. One of Mencius quotations: ‘When a son is born, what is desired for him is that he may have a wife; when a daughter is born, what is desired for her is that she may have a husband’ From this, it is clear that marriage is a must do item for all Chinese. Base on this view on marriage, if one did not get married due to no specific reasons, then one will be treated as an outcast by the society. The motive for getting married, especially women, is incredibly strong can also be related back to the Chinese’s ancestor worship. For every woman, it is vital for her to have a husband so that after death,
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