What are the female images in Cao Yu's works?

With his unique understanding and feeling of social reality, Cao Yu created excellent plays and created vivid characters. In particular, he paid great attention to the tragic fate of women and showed great enthusiasm. The female images in Cao Yu's works are mostly based on the real life of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in China, and on this basis, they reproduce the tragic fate of women from all walks of life. The female images in Cao Yu's works can be roughly divided into the following three categories: first, the new bourgeois women who are influenced by the new ideological trend, inspired by the times, have the courage to pursue individual liberation and begin to wake up, such as Fan Yi, Chen Bailu, Su Fang, Rui Zhen and so on. Second, the enslaved and abused working women in old China, such as Shi Ping, Sifeng, Xiaoxi, Tracy and Hua Jin. Third, the image of a jealous woman in a fierce, treacherous and selfish old family, such as Zeng Siyi. In these images, the author deliberately explores the awakening of women's self-awareness and their bold resistance to old ideas and traditions, as well as the resulting depression and hesitation; Or focus on revealing the miserable life of working women; Or uncover the mystery of the seemingly powerful women in the old family, expose the cruelty and evil of the old ethics, and shout for the insulted and damaged people with deep sympathy and serious social responsibility.

Most of the bourgeois intellectual women described by Cao Yu are smart and beautiful, with high cultural accomplishment. Influenced by the May 4th Movement, they have a new trend of thought of the times. They pursue freedom and equality, individual liberation, full of hope for the future and yearning for happy love. However, due to the specific historical environment and many complicated factors, they were imprisoned in different cages and became men's playthings and spiritual slaves. Fan Yi is such a typical example. She is Zhou Puyuan's official wife. 18 years ago, she was tricked into Zhou's house by deception. From 65438 to 2008, the lively canary was trapped alive in the cage in Zhou Puyuan. Cruel mental torture, she "gradually grinds into a stone-like dead person." From 65438 to 2008, she saw through the hypocrite's face, and she also knew that "the air in Zhou's house was full of evil", so she had to "wait for death quietly". According to Cao Yu, Fan Yi is a woman who is "passionate, strong in heart, dares to break through all the shackles" and "has a beautiful heart". In fact, Fan Yi's requirements are not high. All he longs for is the warmth and freedom that a normal person should have. Because of this, when Zhou Ping appeared as an equal and confided to her, she felt infinite joy and warmth, thus igniting the spark of hope in her heart and reawakening her desire and yearning for life. Fan Yi's ideal is also very pitiful. She once said to Zhou Ping, "If you can't see the new world, just run alone." Her so-called "new world" is just to escape from this sinful family. In the cruel reality, Fan Yi can't escape like his drought-striken fields. She said bitterly, "I can't escape!" " Zhou Puyuan's tyrannical and barbaric rule forbids all normal opinions and actions and all reasonable and just demands of Fan Yi. It is this environment that makes her surly, gloomy and even extreme. Thus, in this deformed family, there is such a deformed incest relationship-the incest of stepmother and stepson. Although Fan Yi and his drought-striken fields know each other and love each other under the same ideal and pursuit, on the battlefield of anti-feudalism, Fan Yi lost his spiritual support because of his cowardice, and was forced to become a crazy woman under the blow of his son Zhou Chong's electrocuting and his drought-striken fields' suicide. In The Zhou Family, there is a flavor of the times, which shows that the ideological trend of demanding individual liberation has also infiltrated into dark kingdom since the May 4th Movement, impacting the feudal fortress dormant in the bourgeois family. Fan Yi is the spark of her life, reflecting the evil of that family and the darkness of society. Her oppression destroyed the traditional order and promoted the collapse of evil families. She has a thunderstorm character.

Chen Bailu is another intellectual woman in Cao Yu's works. She struggled in the mud and couldn't extricate herself. She was once influenced by the May 4th Movement, passionate and full of fantasy. In pursuit of personality liberation, she broke into the bizarre society alone and became a social butterfly, surrounded by dark forces such as Pan Yueting. Her unique life experience makes her personality extremely complicated. Materially, she lived a life of drunkenness and dreaminess. She smokes, drinks, plays cards, fooling around and is cynical. Seemingly stubborn, shameless, but in fact, inner pain, spiritual emptiness. Unwilling to degenerate, she has a kind side and a certain sense of justice. When the orphan "Little Thing" was persecuted by the triad society, she took risks to save the "Little Thing", so she kept a certain emotional connection with the honest and upright Fang. She hates people like Pan Yueting, especially saving "little things", which shows her kindness and strong sense of justice. Fang once aroused some of her yearning for life, but she didn't want to live a poor life with him. She craves the generous material enjoyment and comfortable life of "going out by car, dressing and socializing" and hangs out with scum such as Pan Yueting, Zhang George and Gu Ba. George Zhang is rich, so he is willing to make friends with her. Pan Yueting has a lot of money, so she is willing to give her a young and beautiful body. Pan Yueting's bankruptcy cut off her financial resources. Finally, under the pressure of mental breakdown and debt, she felt desperate and finally committed suicide by taking medicine before sunrise with contradictory and painful despair. Chen Bailu's tragedy was caused by the dark society in old China, especially by the evil prostitution system, which plunged her into the abyss of tragedy step by step, and her life was swallowed up by the old world ruled by money.

The working women in Cao Yu's works are simple and kind, and all have miserable lives and experiences. Shi Ping, Sifeng, Xiaoxi, Tracy and Huajin are typical examples. Thirty years ago, Shi Ping, a beautiful and energetic young maid, fell in love with Mr. Zhou and wanted to have a happy future. Who knows that in order to marry a suitable young lady, on the snowy New Year's Eve, Shi Ping was driven out of the house with her second son, who had just been born for three days. It's really called not doing it every day, ineffective and desperate, being forced to throw himself into the river, but fortunately being rescued. For more than 30 years, she has experienced many pains and setbacks, and still insists on fighting and never gives in. She has no illusions about Zhou Puyuan. She refused to accept Zhou Puyuan's charity, tore up a check for 5,000 yuan, and denounced Zhou Puyuan and others as "a group of robbers", showing the lofty aspirations and simple class consciousness of the working people. Thirty years later, her daughter Sifeng made the same mistake. Both mother and daughter were put on heavy mental shackles, each bearing the weight of tragedy. The exposure of Shi Ping's identity exposed the half-brother relationship between Sifeng and Zhou Ping. Sifeng was frightened, rushed out of the door and was electrocuted. From then on, Shi Ping became crazy and stupid.

Tracy is a low-level prostitute in the play Sunrise. She has a kind heart. She supports her blind husband, elderly mother-in-law and young son with the money she sells. She silently suffered physical and mental abuse and great pain alone, struggling to support this unfortunate family and difficult life. She has a heart of gold. Cao Yu spoke highly of it: "In this pile of scum, I found a heart of gold with infinite surprises, that is, a woman named Tracy. She is kind-hearted ... even in life, she has her fairness. What is touching is her loyalty to the owner's dog and her warm care for those who are more helpless ... This is the darkest corner of this' society that can't afford enough harm' and needs sunshine most. " (1) and trish gave others warmth and love selflessly. When the little thing complained to Tracy that "I really can't pass", Tracy comforted her with her struggling spirit: "What's this called? What's the problem? " Today the sun sets in the west, but tomorrow it will come out in the east. ..... I'm afraid of suffering, but I still want to live. Can you say that I can't live for a day? "Little thing is another victim. Although she is only fifteen or sixteen years old, she has a heart unwilling to be humiliated. Have a proud and upright attitude. She refused to give in to the hooligan Ba Jin, and dared to slap Ba Jin and Wang Fusheng, a dog slave. She was sold to a third-class brothel in Baohe, and inhuman torture eventually led to her hanging herself, ending her young life and sending an angry complaint to the cannibal association.

Hua Jinjin is a character created by Cao Yu in Yuanye. She is the daughter of a poor peasant, and Hu Qiu is her fiance. She is deeply in love with Hu Qiu. Wang Ba, the bully landlord, occupied Hu Qiu's land, buried Hu Qiu's father alive, persecuted Hu Qiu's sister to death, and robbed Hua Jin of her daughter-in-law. The change of identity did not change Huajin's humiliated and enslaved status. Shi Jiao, a blind woman, often curses and humiliates her with extremely filthy and vicious language. Finally, I made up my mind to leave this hell on earth with Hu Qiu.