thunderstorm

thunderstorm

Thunderstorm is a play written by Cao Yu, a playwright. It was published in literature quarterly in July 1934.

Based on the Chinese society around 1925, the play depicts the tragedy of a bourgeois family with strong feudal color. The main line of the play is two families, eight characters and 30 years of enmity. Zhou Puyuan, a hypocritical capitalist's big parent, Zhou Chong, a simple teenager influenced by new ideas, Fanyi, a woman driven crazy by a cold family and hurt by love, Zhou Ping, who is full of guilt about what she did in the past and tries to escape, and Lu Ma, who comes back unexpectedly, who simply loves and is loved Sifeng, the oppressed worker Lu Dahai, the greedy housekeeper and so on, all the contradictions broke out in the thunderstorm night, no matter it was family secrets or life experience secrets. While narrating family conflicts and denouncing feudal family corruption and obstinacy, they also reflected deeper social and time problems.

It is the "cornerstone of Chinese drama realism" and a milestone of the maturity of modern Chinese drama.

content validity

In less than 24 hours of two scenes and plot development, the play focuses on the 30-year feud between Zhou and Lu families. Thirty years ago, when Zhou Puyuan was a young man, he fell in love with Shiping, the daughter of Mei Ma, a maid, and had two sons with her. But later, in order to marry him a suitable young lady, the Zhou family forced Shi Ping to commit suicide in the river with her newly born son in the sea. After she and her son were rescued, she took her second son to exile and made a living as a servant, while her eldest son, Zhou Ping, was left behind by the Zhou family. Later, she married Lu GUI and gave birth to her daughter Si Feng. The young lady Zhou Puyuan married died without having children for the Zhou family. Zhou married Fanyi and gave birth to Zhou Chong. Under the autocratic will of Zhou Puyuan's feudal parents, Fanyi lived a lonely life. After years of private business, Fanyi and his son Zhou had the opportunity to work together. Zhou Ping is not only awed by her father's dignity, but also ashamed of this incestuous relationship. She gradually alienates Fanyi and empathizes with her servant girl Sifeng. At the same time, Zhou Chong also courted Sifeng. When Fanyi learns that Zhou Ping has changed her mind, she fails to persuade her. In order to get rid of Fanyi, Zhou Ping plans to leave home and go to her father's mine. Fanyi asks for Shiping, the mother of Sifeng, to take her daughter away. Shi Ping comes to Zhou's house and is eager to take Sifeng away, so as not to repeat her mistakes. However, she meets Zhou Puyuan by chance. At this time, the sea is working in Zhoujia mine. In the process of negotiating with Zhou Puyuan as a representative of the strike, he had a dispute with Zhou Ping and was beaten by Zhou Ping. When the Lu family returns home, Sifeng is still missing Zhou Ping. At night, Zhou Ping jumps into the Lu's house to have a tryst with Sifeng. Fanyi follows her and closes the window. The sea drives Zhou Ping out and Sifeng out. On the night of thunder and lightning, the two families gathered in Zhou's living room again. Zhou Puyuan announced the truth in a painful tone, and asked Zhou Ping to recognize her mother and brother. At this time, Zhou Ping realized that Sifeng was her sister and Dahai was her brother. In shame, Sifeng escaped from the living room and died of an electric shock. Zhou Chong came out to look for Sifeng and died of an electric shock. Zhou Ping shot herself and ran away from the sea. Shi Ping and Fanyi could not withstand the blow and went mad. Zhou Puyuan repented deeply in grief.

Creative background

In September 1930, Cao Yu was admitted to the second year of Foreign Languages Department of Tsinghua University from Nankai University in Tianjin. He has loved drama since he was a child, and has actively participated in the performance of Peking Opera "killing the fisherman" and Ibsen's "doll's house". His love of drama made him have a strong desire to write a big play. He began to design the drama thunderstorm based on his own experience and experience. In 1931, when the September 18th Incident broke out, the students of Tsinghua University organized an anti Japanese propaganda team, and Cao Yu served as the propaganda team leader. He and the students of the propaganda team took the train to Baoding to publicize. On the train, I met a big man named Zhao, a worker of Changxindian iron works. Cao Yu admired the worker's patriotism in his heart. When he thought of the play thunderstorm he was planning, he had the character of Lu Dahai in thunderstorm. After several speculations and six months of concentrated writing, Cao Yu finally completed the initial creation of thunderstorm. In July 1934, thunderstorm was first published in the third issue of literature quarterly. When talking about the intention of writing, the author says that thunderstorm is "the product of the day without sun". "At that time, I wanted to resist. Trapped in the darkness and corruption of the old society, I was unwilling to live indefinitely. That's why I began to write. "Thunderstorm" is my first groan, maybe a cry (postscript to Anthology of Cao Yu) also said that "writing thunderstorm is an urgent need of emotion", "it seems that there is a turbulent flow of emotion to push me. I'm venting my pent up anger and slandering Chinese families and society. "

Personage introduction

The owner of the Zhou mansion, who came from a feudal family and studied in Germany, was a so-called "cultured" person at that time. Thirty years ago, when he was a dandy. He and his maid Ping gave birth to two sons. Later, he abandoned her and became more and more cunning and worldly. When he was repairing the river bridge in Baotou, Harbin, he deliberately let the dyke gap and drowned 2200 small workers. He earned 300 yuan from each of them. Just as Lu Dahai angrily denounced, what he made was "the heartless wealth of no son and no grandson". Now, he collaborated with the mine police to shoot and kill 30 workers. He combed his hair, wore gold rimmed glasses and leather shoes, just like the chairman of a coal mining company. However, he drank Pu'er tea, ate fast and recited scriptures, which fully showed his "hypocrisy". In his family life, he behaves like an autocratic tyrant everywhere, and no one can disobey him. The scene of forcing Fanyi to drink medicine exposed his extremely cold and absolutely arbitrary face. But he regards these as his "care" and "love" for his wife and children. He did not allow his wife and children to have too much dissatisfaction with him. He is responsible for all the tragedies at home. Zhou Puyuan's arbitrary, selfish, cold and hypocritical character, as well as his conflicts with Fanyi, Shiping and Dahai, vividly reflect the darkness and evils of the old family in old China, reflect the complicated class contradictions in semi colonial and semi feudal society, and reveal the feudal characteristics of the Chinese bourgeoisie. Zhou Puyuan's failure indicates the collapse and extinction of the old system.

Zhou Puyuan's wife is a beautiful but eccentric young woman. Fanyi became the plaything and vase of the overbearing and selfish hypocrite. She did not get love, nor happiness, and even lost her dignity. Fanyi's brows show melancholy. Sometimes the fire in my heart. Her eyes were filled with the pain and resentment of a young woman after she was disappointed. After Zhou Ping broke into her life, she no longer endures loneliness in silence. She gave her love, reputation and even her life to Zhou Ping. She is in love with Zhou Ping in spite of incest. Her wild desire. It shows a kind of primitive wildness. But not long after that, Zhou Ping, whom she deeply loved, went to Sifeng again to seek satisfaction. She was only "saved" temporarily, but now she has fallen into the abyss of suffering and misfortune again. She can't bear the bullying and humiliation of her father and son, and she wants revenge. When she fell to the point that "mother is not like mother, mistress is not like mistress", she burst out a "Thunderstorm" like character. She finally dares to fight against Zhou Puyuan directly, to expose Zhou Ping's cheating and irresponsible behavior, and "to fight a trapped animal". Fanyi's surly and vicious character reflects the evil of feudal forces and exposes the destruction and distortion of human nature by the feudal family under autocratic rule. Fanyi lost everything in her desperate resistance and struggle for the freedom of love, but she tore up and destroyed the "perfect" order of Zhou Puyuan's family, which was deliberately established by Zhou Puyuan, and impacted and promoted the collapse of the feudal kingdom. Lu GUI's wife, the mother of four phoenixes. Thirty years ago, when she was only Sifeng's age, she was cruelly abandoned by Zhou Puyuan, the eldest young master of the Zhou residence. She was forced to commit suicide by throwing her three-day-old son into the river. After being rescued, she married Lu GUI and gave birth to a daughter, Sifeng. In the endless bitterness, he has supported the 30 years of hardship. In her twilight years, she had to face a more cruel blow and a disaster she could not bear. Shi Ping discovers that her daughter is repeating her mistakes in the Zhou residence. She tried to avoid meeting Zhou Puyuan. But they couldn't avoid this kind of meeting, and they were even weak after meeting. It was not until Zhou Puyuan showed his true features of cruelty and cruelty. Only then did she wake up again, rekindled her hatred for Zhou Puyuan, and without hesitation tore up a check for 5000 yuan that Zhou Puyuan had written to her. What makes Shi Ping even more painful is that she is eager to see her own son Zhou Ping, who has been away for 30 years. In front of her face, she beat her brother, Lu Dahai, the other son she took away. She wants to take Sifeng out of the Zhou mansion, but she is pregnant with another generation of young master of the Zhou mansion, and this man is Sifeng's half brother. After suffering a series of unbearable blows, she couldn't bear it any more. She became stupefied. Shi Ping's tragedy reflects the miserable fate of the vast number of hard-working women who were humiliated, bullied and isolated in old China, and effectively accuses the dark and evil reality of the old times in old China.

Chinese PinYin : Lei Yu