A Study Of The Image Of Dongfang Shuo

Dongfang Shuo is regarded as a court jester of Han Wu Di. Unexpectedly, his behavior and words caused people’s great interest at that time and in later generations. Gradually, a unique and mysterious image of Dongfang Shuo was developed by the spread of oral lore, history stories and novels about him. This article will clarify the development process of Dongfang Shuo Image and discuss the nature of this image and the cause of its rise and fall, by reviewing and analyzing the content, causes of formation and influence of the literatures about dongfang shuo image.In the past, researchers tend to focus on restoring Dongfang Shuo’s true color in the history, and describing the image evolution. This thesis will try to re-build a structure of Dongfang Shuo’s image, including both the inner and outer parts, by analyzing his rich inner world. And also try to bridge the gap of Dongfang Shuo’s historic and artistic images. This thesis includes four chapters.In the first chapter, I’ll figure out some doubts in the story by Chu Xiansheng, which mean that he was not a responsible author, but his perspective and opinion is representative at that time.In the second chapter, I’ll analyze the source of the stories in Han Shu. Han Shu is a serious work. It shows a multiple Dongfang Shuo image, which brings around profound changes two centuries after his death. However, its criticism on Dongfang Shuo is questionable because of its orthodox ideological system.In the third chapter, I’ll analyze Dongfang Shuo’s rich inner world by discussing the historic background and the problem Dongfang Shuo was facing in the period of social transition. And try to give him a proper position in the history based on his repellency and adaptation to the environment.In the last chapter, I’ll discuss about the image changing in unofficial history stories. This part will make clear the influence and inheritance relationship between different texts by collecting and sorting the Dongfang Shuo stories from Han to Sui dynasty beyond official works. Dongfang Shuo’s artistic image get further away from historic image gradually after his death. And all these changes are driven by his ambiguity and mystery that fascinate people of different ages.In all, Dongfang shuo image is a special cultural phenomenon with fascination and wisdom. And all the changes of his image are driven and linked by a core question:why Dongfang Shuo is so special.