| The prototype image is accumulated and precipitated in the long history, and it has reflected people's collective unconsciousness and has abundant cultural intension. Cao Yu uses a large number of prototype images in his plays, so the analyses of the prototype images in his plays are meaningful, and they may help us to understand the deep meaning of his plays. But the study from the angle of prototype images is very few, and nobody has carried on overall research systematically.Cao Yu's plays have presented the forceful primitive kind of prototype images for us at first-"forest" and "thunder". Regarded as the human primitive habitat, "forest" is closely linked with human's life. From the worship of woods to the forest images full of poesy in the ancient poetry, "forest" has rich cultural intension. Cao Yu exactly utilizes the prototype image of "forest" and the primitive vitality image of Qiu Hu, and expresses his call to human nature and the nature, which presents people's puzzle and confusion. The primitive worship of ancient times also put a piece of mysterious veil on the "thunder". Through the image of Fan Yi with the most thunder disposition and the dense thunder environment and atmosphere in the play, we can fully experience Cao Yu's mood with complicated and primitive heart.Secondly, there are death prototype images in Cao Yu's plays, in which "house" and "coffin" are representative. "House" has become the symbol of the patriarchy, as it suffocates people's soul and engulfs people's lives. It has formed the prototype structure in the Chinese literary works, which reflected writer's introspection of China's traditional thoughts and culture. And "coffin" is the passing of the ancient sacrificial ceremony, and it symbolizes the death and destroy. Thirdly, there are ideal prototype images such as "sun" and "pigeon" etc. in Cao Yu's plays. The image of "sun" is the modern derivation from the primitive worship of the sun, and "pigeon" is the result that the Chinese and Western culture is merged. In Christianity's culture symbol system, a pigeon is the symbol of peace, purity and freedom, like an olive branch. Meanwhile, it is the deformation of bird's images such as a phoenix, supernatural bird, etc. in Chinese traditional literature. It not only has reflected the realm of freedom, but also estranged mainstreams.The large number of prototype images in Cao Yu's plays reflects his anxiousness of modernity and his questioning to human destiny, which is full of modern meaning and value. |
