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The Peach Blossom Fan

The Season of Love Within a Human Heart

is as Brief as Spring Upon the Earth

This paper will analyze a scene from the play The Peach Blossom Fan (1699) by K'ung Shang Fen (1648-1718). Specifically this will be a scene from the beginning of the play, Part 1, Scene 1, The Storyteller. There will first be a brief summary of the play then a discussion as to how this particular scene fits within the rest of the play. There will then be a discussion on the historical context of the play, its author, and the scene, followed, finally, by an analysis of the scene itself, and a conclusion.

The play, The Peach Blossom Fan, is a love story that also outlines the history of the downfall of the Ming Dynasty as well as the brief existence and downfall of the southern regime of the Ming prince Fu (Lawall 72). The principal characters are Hou Fang-Yu and Fragrant Princess. Hou, a scholar, and Fragrant Princess, a young and accomplished courtesan famous for her beauty and grace, fell in love with each other on first sight. A third major character, Yang Wen-Ts'ung, provides momentum for the story as he both brings together and then pulls apart the two lovers (73). The fan in questions is a present from Hou to Fragrant Princess on their wedding night; he has written her a poem on it. It is the only gift she would accept from him since the other gifts given were paid for by Juan Ta-Ch'eng, suspected of being a traitor, who tried to win Hou's favor by providing a dowry for him. Juan, however, is despised by Fragrant Princess and when she renounces his presents in favor of Hou's fan, Juan defames Hou by declaring Hou a traitor, forcing Hou to flee and try to clear his name. When the Ming court escapes Nanking in 1644 and flees south, Juan forces Fragrant Princess to marry another man, and she injures herself in her attempt to fight off those who would carry her away, causing her blood to stain the fan that Hou Fang-yu had given to her. Meanwhi...

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The Peach Blossom Fan. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:27, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1687583.html