Ode of Beauty, Tragedy of Beauty --CaoXueqin and Dream of the Red Mansions

Dream of the Red Mansions is a mixture of ode and tragedy of young women. Love between Baoyu and Daiyu and their dislike of the social environment form the main thread that runs through the whole novel. The triangle love between Baoyu, Daiyu and Baochai reveals the tragedy. Who is Baoyu's lover, Daiyu or Baochai? Who will be chosen by the Jia family to be Baoyu's wife? Both are important problems. The tragedy results from …showed first 75 words of 2272 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2272 total…up the deficit for us. Who else can we ask?" through these descriptions, Cao exposes the true nature of feudalism: in the society, law is the slavery of money; ruthlessness is the master of conscience. All the events described in the novel point to the fact that feudalism, which had lasted for 2000 years, was becoming rotten, and was about to start to going downhill. The Jia family is a mirror that reflects this historical process.