| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 中國文學系碩士在職專班 === 97 === Analyzing the contrast between warm and coldness, cruelty and kindness of people revealed in the novel Jin Pin Mei in terms of the line between "individual self" and "higher self" in human natures, it is clear that the death of the characters in the end carries a strong undertone of warning. In most occasions, the death of the characters was carefully plotted by the author to signify the excessive expansion of desires would eventually lead to the punishment of gods – death. The author related those "individual selves", which he considered to be with dangerous and aggressive nature, to death. Through lessens of death, the author intended to make the Xie-men''s family scandal a warning to people and thus promoted moral awareness. Hence, it is important to understand various methods the author applied to elaborating "individual self" in this context.
In Jin Pin Mei, through binding death and desires together and taking advantage of the living''s fear of death, the author intended to establish a convincing cause - consequence circle of life and death and thus eventually to lead human nature back to the boundary of good.
This thesis analyzes how the author, facing the changing of thought in his time, examined the conflict between human desires and conscience and provoked awareness of correction against the imbalanced social order. This thesis also explores how the author attempted to make the readers aware of the warning via his novel, and thus to promote self-reflect and eventually to achieve the goal of purification.
In this thesis, the discussion of justice and human relationship and the development of human desires in Jin Pin Mei includes exploring the process of "excessive-expansion-of-desires-leading-to-selfishness-and-tragedy" and examining the argument of "end-lusts-with-total-emptiness-of-Buddhism". Chapter 2 mainly discuses how all kinds of human desires were elaborated in Jin Pin Mei, while chapter 3 explores the value of life and the ideology the author of the novel based on when plotting the death of the characters. Chapter 4 focuses on the discussion of the end of the novel and analyzes the effect of the concept of "end-lusts-with-total-emptiness-of-Buddhism" toward the salvation of human nature. The novel also demonstrated the author''s awareness of social concern. It is the author''s intention to stand out the true affection among people by plotting the stories in the dark side of the society, which makes the value of Jin Pin Mei even closer to the value of human nature.
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