Liu Bei's character traits
1. Rich and multi-dimensional character traits
The late scholar Mr. Fu Jifu wrote in "A Glorious Model of Typical Art" The article once said: "The first artistic feature of the characters in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is that the important images have one main feature, which is very prominent and occupies a decisive position among the internal factors of the image. It is a prominent main feature. Characteristics are enough to support the entire image. Its artistic features and artistic effects are close to those of sculpture and drama, because sculptures often focus on expressing a specific emotion of the characters. "Most of the protagonists in dramas are simpler than those in epics." He further pointed out: "Most of the main characteristics of the characters in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are examples of a certain moral quality, such as: Cao Cao's treachery, Zhuge Liang's loyalty, Guan Yu's righteousness, Liu Bei's benevolence, and Dong Zhuo's cruelty. , Zhao Yun's bravery, Zhou Yu's narrowness, etc. "In fact, typical characters are organic combinations of diversification, as far as Liu Bei's character traits are concerned. He is by no means summed up by the word "benevolence", but is rich and multi-dimensional. His character traits of being courteous to the virtuous, thirsty for talents, and emphasizing love and justice are also quite touching. When "looking at the thatched cottage three times", "looking at the thatched cottage once", Kong Ming was not seen, and Liu Bei felt "melancholy" in his heart. This is the disappointment of not being able to seek talents. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei showed boredom. Later, Liu Bei found out that Kong Ming had returned, so he taught him how to prepare horses. He could not see Kong Ming again this time, so he felt "sad" in his heart. This was the scene of "the second visit to the thatched cottage". When it came to the "third visit to the thatched cottage", Guan Yu thought that Liu Bei The three brothers "went to pay homage in person twice, and the courtesy was too much." Zhang Fei even said: "Brother is here, how can he be considered a great sage in this village? There is no need for my brother to go now; if he doesn't come, I will Only a hemp rope is used to tie the future!" Later, the three brothers finally saw Kong Ming, but Kong Ming couldn't sleep. Zhang Fei became angry and thought Kong Ming was really arrogant and rude. This reflects Liu Bei's character traits of thirsting for talents, being open-minded, and never giving up until he finds great talents. His desire for talents is truly touching.
After the fall of Jingzhou, Guan Yu died at the hands of his enemies, which shocked Liu Bei, who values ????love and righteousness. He insisted on abiding by the sworn relationship between the Taoyuan brothers who "do not want to be born in the same year, the same month and the same day, but only want to die in the same year, the same month and the same day." Affection. When he heard the news of Guan Yu's death, he shouted loudly, fainted to the ground, and cried: "Yun Chang and I swear to live and die together. If we lose each other, how can I live alone!" "I can live alone!" Rich?" He "cryed three times a day, and couldn't get any water for three days. He just cried bitterly, his clothes were wet with tears, and the spots turned into blood. He called for sacrifices and cried all day long." You are one with me, and the great righteousness is still there, how can you forget it? "It's so sad. However, Zhang Fei was killed one after another, and Liu Bei suffered another heavy blow. He was hoarse and wanted to cry without tears, so he had no choice but to say in despair: "My second brother is both dead, I am the only one left alive!" Therefore, he vowed to avenge his second brother and raise an army to attack Wu at all costs, regardless of the Wu-Shu alliance. The enemy who considered the common enemy was Cao Cao in the north. He even wanted to fight to the death with Soochow even at the cost of abandoning the country and the country he had won through years of bloody struggle. Whether it was Zhao Yun, who had followed him loyally for many years, or Zhuge Liang, who had always treated him as a teacher, he refused to listen to anyone who tried to persuade him. He even said: "If I don't avenge my brother, even though I have thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, it's nothing." "It's so precious!" Even Sun Quan sent Zhuge Jin to apologize, comfort him, and show his affection and reason, but he didn't care. This more prominently reflects Liu Bei's character of valuing love and justice.
2. Complex and contradictory character traits
In "The Historical Changes of Chinese Novels", Mr. Lu Xun discussed the character portrayal of the characters in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and said: "Description To be too realistic, people who write well have no disadvantages at all; and people who write poorly have no benefits at all. In fact, this is wrong because a person cannot be good at everything and cannot be perfect at everything. Bad. For example, Cao Cao also has his political advantages; and Liu Bei, Guan Yu, etc. cannot be said to be unquestionable. "We cannot deny that "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" reflects the author's ideological tendency of "supporting Liu and opposing Cao Qingsun." , but to truly objectively look at the characters in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", such as Liu Bei, his character traits are not only colorful, but also complex and contradictory.
Liu Bei is the ideal benevolent king in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The author enthusiastically praises him with a lot of pen and ink. In him, he embodies the beautiful ideals of the author and even the readers. He is not only a A wise monarch and a kind elder. He loves the people like a son, is courteous to the virtuous and corporal, is open-minded, knows people well and is responsible for their duties, and attaches great importance to love and justice. However, the novel also writes about many weaknesses in his character.
Generally speaking, Liu Bei is always humble, open-minded, polite, kind and generous, but sometimes he is a little arrogant. In the thirty-fourth chapter of the novel, it is written that Liu Bei attached himself to Liu Biao of Jingzhou. At the banquet, Liu Biao saw that Liu Bei was sad, so he mentioned the scene when Liu Bei and Cao Cao were "cooking green plums and drinking wine to discuss heroes" in Xuchang, and used this to persuade Liu Bei not to worry about not having enough achievements. At that time, Liu Bei took advantage of the wine and said to Liu Biao: "If you have basic preparations, the world's mediocre people will have nothing to worry about." This sentence cannot be said to not reflect Liu Bei's lofty ambitions, but it was said in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Somewhat arrogant, because he underestimated how many heroes in the world, including Liu Biao of course, so even Liu Biao, who was cowardly and incompetent and associated with Liu Bei, did not feel "silent".
Liu Bei is very well-educated. He usually keeps his emotions and anger secret. He is very cautious in speaking, pays attention to the method, and pays more attention to the person he is looking at. However, he also occasionally speaks arrogantly after drinking. Novel 62 When Liu Bei conquered Fuguan, the army held a banquet in the public hall. Unconscious of the sweetness of the wine, he said to Pang Tong, "Is today's meeting a pleasure?" Pang Tong replied, "It is not pleasure to conquer a country that is hostile to others." Liu Bei said unhappily: "I heard that King Wu in the past used Le Xiang Gong to defeat Zhou. This is not the weapon of a benevolent person. Why is your words unreasonable?" Apparently he spoke the truth after drinking. There is also some arrogance and arrogance in it. At the same time, he compared himself with Zhou and Liu Zhang, and compared himself with King Wu, which was not very suitable for his body at that time. So Pang Tong " burst out laughing after hearing this."
When Soochow sent Lu Su to claim Jingzhou, Liu Bei followed Kong Ming's plan and burst into tears. True, this shows that Liu Bei, who always treats others with sincerity, will also cheat. He did have a secret pain in his heart, and he really didn't want to return Jingzhou to Soochow, but he refused to pay back the debt, and he was afraid of being scolded. However, Liu Bei, who was known for his benevolence and sincerity, was also good at hypocrisy. Similar cases include him claiming to be emperor. Regarding the matter, ministers of all sizes came forward to persuade him to proceed, but he was furious and refused to do so. However, he later said to Kong Ming: "If I don't push back, I'm afraid the world will talk about it." It's also hypocritical. There is no such thing as "Liu Bei" to this day. Is there a saying that "throwing a child down will buy people's hearts"? Although it cannot be said that Liu Bei did not cherish his talent and love him sincerely in this matter, throwing his own son in front of the horse always seemed a bit excessive, a bit artificial, and not very credible.
Liu Bei was indeed able to recognize talented people and treat them politely throughout his life. On the issue of appointing Ma Su, he was more accurate than Kong Ming, obviously superior to Kong Ming. He always treated talented people with generous gifts, which made people grateful. Even if he tried his best throughout his life, he could not repay the kindness of his acquaintance. For example, he "visited the thatched cottage three times" to obtain the great sage Zhuge Liang, who really devoted himself to the cause of Shu. Until "Autumn Wind Wuzhangyuan" and "Died before leaving the army, always making the hero burst into tears." But sometimes he could not help but judge people by their appearance and treat talented people with indifference. Pang Tong's talent is only slightly inferior to Kong Ming. The novel once used Sima Shuijing to talk about Liu Bei, whether it was Fulong "Kong Ming" or Feng Chu (Pang Tong). If you get one of them, you can bring peace to the world, but Pang Tong came to seek refuge. Just because Pang Tong was ugly, he dismissed him rashly with a very low position as the magistrate of Laiyang County. Thanks to Zhang Fei and Sun Qian who later witnessed Pang Tong's amazing talents as director of Laiyang, Pang Tong was able to reuse him without losing the great sage. In addition, Liu Bei's decision to let Guan Yu guard Jingzhou was the most outrageous. Kong Ming also knew that Guan Yu was self-willed and stubborn, but Liu Bei signaled that Guan Yu should guard Jingzhou. However, Kong Ming was bound by Liu, Guan, and Zhang Taoyuan's sworn alliance, and had to obey Liu Bei's wishes, so he had to take Guan Yu into his hands, even though Kong Ming personally worked for him. The eight-character policy of "rejecting Cao Cao in the north and fighting with Sun Quan in the east" was formulated, but Guan Yu turned a deaf ear to it. He didn't take it to heart at all and insisted on going his own way, and finally lost Jingzhou. It should be said that the seeds of this tragedy were planted by Liu Bei himself. If Zhao Yun had been sent to guard Jingzhou at that time, there would not have been such consequences. Even if Meng Zhangfei went to guard, he still remembered Kong Ming's instructions. Only Guan Yu was so arrogant and underestimated the enemy, which led to catastrophe.
As a great politician and a generational hero, Liu Bei is indeed a man of great talent and strategy, who works hard to govern and strives endlessly. However, since he defeated Kong Ming, he has lost his former grace and grace. Sometimes he is like a puppet, at the mercy of Kong Ming, obeying his words, crying when asked, pretending to cry, having no personal opinion, and lacking heroic spirit and leadership style.
Liu Bei's recruitment of relatives to Soochow was originally a "beauty trap" set by Zhou Yu and Sun Quan. They wanted to subdue Liu Bei and seize the opportunity to retake Jingzhou. Liu Bei knew this at the beginning. However, when he arrived in Soochow, the fake show came true, and he really became Wu Guotai's "quick son-in-law riding a dragon", but he was so fascinated by his appearance that he didn't even want to return to Jingzhou as soon as possible to plan for the establishment of a powerful country. If Kong Ming hadn't entrusted Zhao Yun to act according to the three "ingenious tips" determined in advance, the consequences would have been disastrous.
In general, Liu Bei's life seemed to have grand ambitions and lofty ideals. For this reason, he worked hard and did not dare to slack off. But the novel also writes that he sometimes has no ambition. Once, when Kong Ming saw Liu Bei knitting an oxtail hat, he solemnly pointed out: "The Ming Dynasty has no ambitions anymore, so why is it just this!" Liu Bei immediately understood and changed his mind.
Liu Bei's kindness has always been admirable, but there is also a woman's kindness and a pedantic kindness. The benevolence of a woman is reflected in Liu Bei's compassion for the weak and incompetent Liu Zhang. Just as Kong Ming criticized, this is a manifestation of "the benevolence of a woman who is indecisive in situations". Liu Biao once offered Jingzhou to Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang motioned to Liu Bei to accept it, but he refused. If this was because he could not bear to take away someone's inheritance, it could be justified out of benevolence and righteousness. But later Liu Biao died of illness, and the Cai Group took control of Jingzhou, openly abolished the elders and established young ones, and was also preparing to sacrifice Jingzhou and surrender to Cao Cao. At this critical moment, Kong Ming and others proposed to wipe out the Cai Group in one fell swoop and seize Jingzhou in the name of mourning. However, Liu Bei still refused, saying that this was "seizing his son and seizing his land." As a result, Cao Cao was able to gain Jingzhou easily. Kong Ming saw that the great opportunity had been missed, and he had no choice but to do so. However, Cao Cao's army took advantage of the victory to pursue him, and Kong Ming had no choice but to flee with Liu Bei. After the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu defeated Cao Cao, but Liu Bei stayed in Jingzhou and refused to let him go. Soochow often sent people to ask for it, and the situation was very passive. What Liu Bei did seemed to be kind, but in fact it was very stupid and ridiculous.
If Liu Bei really cared about Liu Biao's duty to support his son, he should at least support Liu Qi to keep Jingzhou. In this way, Jingzhou would not be captured by Cao Cao, and Liu Bei would finally have a foothold.
Liu Bei attached great importance to love and righteousness. He became brothers with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Throughout his life, he loved each other as brothers and treated each other with sincerity and sincerity. However, when Guan Yu and Zhang Fei died one after another, he was heartbroken. Then he lost his mind and acted for the "righteousness" of his brothers, regardless of the affairs of the entire country. He refused to listen to anyone's dissuasion, even Kong Ming and Zhao Yun's advice could not change his mind, so he raised troops to attack Wu. The Wu-Shu alliance that Zhuge Liang and Lu Su had worked hard for many years was ruined in his hands, and he himself also suffered because of this. Unprepared, he was defeated and retreated to Baidi City. He stared at the sky with anger, drank in hatred and died, which became a tragic scene.
Of course, Liu Bei's character characteristics are not limited to the above aspects, but it is enough to show that Liu Bei's character is complex and contradictory. Goethe said: "Man is a whole, a unity of various abilities connected by multi-faceted memories. Works of art must speak to this whole. They must adapt to this rich unity of man, this single hybrid "More③". Liu Bei is a "unity of various abilities connected by multi-faceted memories" and an artistic example of "single multiplicity", so his character traits are complex.
3. Characteristics of development and change
Although "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" rarely directly describes the causes and development of characters' personalities, the characters' personalities are not solidified. The development and changes are not very prominent. Sometimes the development is slow and the changes are small, but he basically breaks the "classical state of tranquility." We might as well take a closer look at Liu Bei's character traits.
In his early years, Liu Bei was very open-minded and thirsty for talents. Let’s look at Liu Bei’s appearance: “The article went to Zhuo County and led to a hero in Zhuo County. The man was not very good at reading; he was kind-hearted and taciturn. His emotions and anger cannot be expressed in his words; he has always had great ambitions and specializes in making friends with the world's heroes; he was born with a height of seven feet and five inches, his ears hang down from his shoulders, his hands are above his knees, his eyes can focus on his ears, his face is like a crown of jade, and his lips are rosy. , the great-great-grandson of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty after Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan: surnamed Liu, given name Bei, styled Xuande." A brief biography of Liu Bei was established in this short paragraph. In the thirty-eighth chapter, the three brothers Liu Bei worked tirelessly and in vain, visiting the thatched cottage three times, and finally found Zhuge Liang, the genius in the world. But Zhuge Liang "can't sleep", so Liu Bei and his party stood there helplessly for another hour. Only then did he slowly wake up and recite a poem casually: "Who wakes up first from the big dream? I know myself all my life. I sleep enough in the spring in the thatched cottage, outside the window It's late." Then he asked: "Are there any lay guests coming?" This is enough to show Liu Bei's humility and thirst for talents. When Liu Bei sent Xu Shu off, he was filled with affection and infinite melancholy. It is written in the novel: "All the generals were sad. Xuande couldn't bear to say goodbye and sent him off one way or another. The concubine said: 'I have no effort to send you far away, so I say goodbye here.' Xuande immediately took the concubine's hand and said "Sir, we are far away from each other, but we don't know when we will meet again!" After saying this, I left with tears streaming down my face. De cried and said, "Yuan Zhi is gone! What can I do?" He looked with tears in his eyes, but he was cut off by a forest. : 'Because it prevents me from looking at Xu Yuanzhi's eyes. '" The writing is delicate and vivid, euphemistic and touching, and it highlights Liu Bei's love and cherishment of talents.
In his early years, Liu Bei had a broad mind and was willing to give advice. He was determined to help the Han Dynasty and worked hard to govern. Kong Ming could criticize Liu Bei's "women's benevolence" and lack of ambition without any scruples. Not only did Liu Bei not blame him, , instead, treat them with "teacher's courtesy", "eat at the same table, sleep at the same bed".
In his later years, especially after Guan Yu was killed, Liu Bei's naivety replaced his reason. He ignored the interests of the entire country for petty righteousness, insisted on his own way, was stubborn, refused to listen to advice, and aggressively attacked Wu. This finally led to the complete breakdown of the Wu-Shu alliance, and he became sick with fear, drank in hatred, and ended his life with a tragic result.
In short, Liu Bei's character traits are rich and multi-dimensional, complex and contradictory, and developing and changing at the same time. The above analysis is inevitably superficial, but Liu Bei's glorious image is also like "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" ” will forever be remembered in history.