A Study On The Motif Of Chang'e

The fragments of Chang'e described in the ancient books before Han Dynasty,offered us an outline about the myth: Since Chang'e stolen her husband's magic pill and flew toward the moon, she lived there lonely. Over thousands of years, so many people recomposed and rewrote this beautiful myth, as a result, Chang'e's image gets more and more popular among the Chinese classical poets, with the Moon goddess and the custom of the Middle Autumn blending into each other. The great contribution of the authors' enthusiasm about Change's made Chang'e's image to be purified and beautified in poetry, and then affected the judgment on Chang'e among the mass people.This thesis focuses on the cases of application of Chang'e's image in the Chinese classical poetry. Besides, the study probes into the image of Chang'e both in the classical and the modern novels.The motif of Chang'e in the literary works is driven freely by the author without fixed rules. Chang'e's images in poetry can be used alone, or be used with other images to express various feelings: express loneliness and remorse, imply the moon and some beautiful women, or try to express the aspirations to honor, or play the role of a tender audience. Chang'e's image in the classical novels was influenced by the earthly life, and gradually come to be a symbol of the social reality. At the same time, in the modern novels, Chang'e's image has changed dramatically. Chang'e is often a subversion of the traditional image in some novels, and even in some novels, it seems to be a cultural image, whose cultural meaning are sufficient to shock many people's hearts. From the initial unjust irony and criticism to the love of the motif of Chang'e, even until rewriting and deformation in the modern novels, the process of the image's change and acceptance are related with our national traditions, cultural background and aesthetic ideals. Although the image of Chang'e often appearing in works is not the most important and the most impressive portion, Chang'e's image always grasps our sights, and affects our understanding on many classical works, just because that the Chang'e's image has her beautiful folk story and rich historical meanings for a long time.