The Historical Review Of The May Fourth Problem Play

The vast majority of the May Fourth Period drama are the Problem Play base on social problems in society. This style of drama is related to the sense of utilitarian which is inevitable in the specific time to ask art as a "tool" for the citizen enlightenment and personal enlightenment, and to promote social transformation and save the nation from calamity. This nature of utilitarian becomes the "dot" of the May Fourth Problem Play. Around the dot, the May Fourth Problem Play make up their own deploitation, also have their limitations. The main task of this paper is to make a holistic grooming for the creation of the May Fourth Problem Play and to explore their contribution and limitations. During this process, the paper tries to use the perspective of "modernity" to integrate the writing of the full text and to explore the complexity and ambiguity of the "modern" in the creation of the May Fourth Problem Play ,or even the May Fourth Period China as a whole.The main part of the full text is divided into four chapters. Besides this, it also have an Introduction and a Conclusion.The Introduction is an introduction to the whole thesis mainly, but also trying to define the concept of the May Fourth Problem Play, and commenting on the major criticism and research. of the May Fourth Problem Play in history.Chapter One discusses the occurrence of the May Fourth Problem Play and its aesthetic pursuit. It is divided into two sections. Section I discusses the role the social reality of transitional period and the spirit of Ibsen and his drama play on the birth of the May Fourth Problem Play. Section II discusses the dramatic and aesthetic pursuit of realism of the May Fourth Problem Play, and to illustrate this pursuit from two aspects: First, they pay attention to the critical realism based on the establishment of the "truth"; Second is that they emphasize the social aesthetic efficacy of drama. This pursuit is related to China's social reality of transitional period and the unique state of mind of intellectuals.Chapter Two discusses the historical contribution of the May Fourth Problem Play. The contribution is located on the value of the pursuit of modernity. This chapter was divided into two sections: Section I discusses the awakening of the subject which is showed in the works and the creators themselves. And this awakening is an important expression of modern rationality. Section II discusses the pursuit of the seriousness which is showed in the works of the May Fourth Problem Play, including the pursuit and practice of the concept "Literature of Humanism", the formation of the concept of tragedy, the creation of formal scripts and so on, all of which reflects the "modernity" of dramatic creation.Chapter Three discusses the tendency of "practicality" which is reflected in the creations of the May Fourth Problem Play and attempts to illustrate the heaviness and ambiguity of modernity the tendency represents. The full chapter is also divided into two sections: Section I discusses the ideological defects of the May Fourth Problem Play. Such defects are mainly reflected by the state that most author of the May Fourth Problem Play show an emotional recognition to the rationality and ideology of that age, but the logical analysis is inadequate. And thus they fail to establish the obscure philosophy in their works. Section II analysises and re-think the tendency of stressing ideology and making light of artistry and therefore the creations become the mouthpiece of the spirit of the age. The brief summary of this chapter analysises in brief the reasons why the tendency of "practicality" reflected in the creations of the May Fourth Problem Play come into being. Among these reasons, it is the strong inertia of practical rationality in Chinese traditional culture that plays a major role and needs to re-thing mainly. We consider in this chapter that it not only reflects the ambiguity and difficulty of our intellectuals' modern transformation but also shows the nature of heaviness and the state of lost of the Chinese modernity.Chapter Four observes and studies the two deflections in sinification of the May Fourth Problem Play from both the "left" and "right" sides. Section I discusses the "left" one, that is, the issues of the tendency of placing too much emphasis on principles not coinciding with aesthetic expectation of Chinese audience. Among this process we will re-think the ways of thinking according to which the tendency comes into being. They are ideologies of evolution and Western-centrism; Section II discusses the "right" side, that is, the tendency of interest's creation, believing that this tendency does not make a effective progress on the exploration of the topic the sinification of drama, on the contrary ,there will a danger of leading the audience into a sticky wicket of "interestism".Conclusion is a summary of the full text. It tries to affirm the "historical reasonableness" of the May Fourth Problem Play. The affirmation on one hand is based on the " justice "of history ration to some extent of the May Fourth Period; on the other hand, it is a conclusion of inspecting the development history of Chinese drama in the 20th century. But it is only one side of the issue. Inspecting history is just to re-think history. Therefore, standing in the position of today, we must re-think and clear up every defects deficiencies of the creations of the May Fourth Problem Play one by one, with a view to provide warnings to the development of creating and culture of contemporary.