Abstract
The original story of "Zhuangzhou Drumming the Basin" as first appeared in the Stories to Caution the World has been circulated both in China and abroad, and the motif of "unfaithful widow" is given distinctive artistic forms of expression. Zhuang's wife, the female protagonist in the story is constructed as an embodiment of carnal desire. Such representation reflects the status and tragic existence of women in a patriarchal society. Zhuangzi, who tests his wife's faithfulness, is in fact a representative figure of ancient scholars of little means who are separated from society and family, and a sexually jealous character of Othello syndrome. To put it bluntly, the story of "Zhuangzhou Drumming the Basin" is a story of abandoning the husband in the form of a husband faking his death, which is underlined by the strongest anger and horror of male as the strong man in the traditional sense.
Keywords
Zhuang Zi, Zhuang Zhou Drumming the Basin to Become a Saint, unfaithful widow, sexually jealous, narrative of abandoned husband
First Page
122
Last Page
136
Recommended Citation
Jing, Yugui. 2021. "A Paranoid Anxiety of Life and Its Artistic Expression: A Thematic Study of the Story of Zhuangzhou Drumming the Basin." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 41, (2): pp.122-136. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol41/iss2/13
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