文學としての「董西廂」(下)

Abstract

In Part I of his study, the author pointed out how the Tung-hsi-hsiang 董西廂 excels its antecedents in sophistication of plot. In this continuation, he calls attention to another characteristic of the play, its liveliness of expression This arises, he believes, from the playwright's desire to draw as faithful a picture of his age as possible, and from his unusually free and skillful use of colloquial words and expressions in the medium of rhymed lines. A third characteristic, its effective delineation of character, marks this work as an advance over its predecessors. Emphasizing the contrast between the pretensions of his characters and their actual personalities as they reveal themselves in the play, the playwright has effected a subtle satire of the inside of feudal society.