Analysis on the Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio with the S

Abstract. By using the syntax structure theory of Todorov and analyzing proposition， sequence， narrative transformation and other aspects of the full text of the Painted Skin， the different roles played by husband and wife played in feudal family are explored. In Chinese feudal society， husband lusted for beautiful women and often turned to be passionate when meeting with a beautiful woman， thus giving rise to the emergence of an imbalance state； wife kept persistence in relying on the balance state of her husband. Therefore， the unequal status and relationship between husband and wife in Chinese feudal patriarchal society， reflected from the Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio， are revealed.

Keywords： Todorov； Syntax； Proposition； Sequence； Narrative Transformation； Painted Skin

1. Introduction

French scholar Tzvetan Todorov， in his Grammaire du Decameron， divided narrative syntax into two units （i.e. proposition and sequence） according to the principle of syntactic study. Proposition is composed by proper nouns and verbs.

However， sequence is composed by a series of propositions that are combined by a complete independent story. The "transformation" of verb predicate is called as "narrative transformation"， and was thought by Todorov to play an important role in the development of a story. The narration of Todorov is as follows.

All stories are classified into two types. The first type is called as the "avoiding-punishment" type， and the story about Rhona is an example for this type. In this kind of stories， a complete transition is in existence， namely balance-imbalance-balance.

However， imbalance is always caused by the behaviors， which go against the laws and regulations and should be punished. The second type can be called as "change" type， and the story about the lady and the king belongs to this type. This kind of stories only includes the second part， namely from imbalance （the king is weak） to the final balance.

In addition， such an imbalance is decided by the moral characters of person， but not caused by a special action.

In this paper， by using the "syntax" ideas of Todorov， the widespread Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio will be analyzed from the aspects such as proposition， transformation， sequence， and tendency.

2. Proposition

The story in the Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is mainly about a man called Wang Sheng to conceal a young woman who was met by him unexpectedly in a secret room. One day， a Taoist told him the secret of the young woman. Wang Sheng found this woman was really a ferocious ghost after her skin on face was uncovered， and this made the ghost angry and pull out his heart. Then， Wang Sheng's wife sent her second brother （Er Lang） to turn to the Taoist and asked for catching the ghost， but finally begged the ghost and endured humiliation to resurrect Wang Sheng.

Todorov thought that proposition was the most fundamental narrative unit and composed by proper nouns and verbs； proper nouns stood for the social status of persons， and verbs stood for the change and development of story.

According to the proposition principle of Todorov， persons in story can be classified into three types： husband represented by Wang Sheng， wife represented by Lady Chen， and lover represented by the ghost. Among three persons， the lover is an intervener of the balanced relationship between husband and wife.

If the husband did not lust for the beautiful woman （ghost）， there would be no a beginning for the story. Therefore， in the whole story， the lover is only a reflection for the relationship between husband and wife. Two verbs play a great role in the rising and falling of the story： one is the "lusted for beautiful woman" of the husband， and the other is the "kept persistence" of the wife.

Superficially， the man had been a husband and with a kind but cowardice disposition. However， in his inner world， he was not satisfied with the actual life.

Therefore， the emergence of the beautiful woman （ghost） temporarily fulfilled this fantasy， and made nothing of the warnings from the Taoist.

Lady Chen， wife of Wang Sheng， is only simply described in the first section of this paper. She discouraged Wang Sheng from taking the beautiful woman （ghost） in， but Wang Sheng closed his ears to what Chen said. Therefore， there was no following text for her.

3. Sequence

Todorov proposed in his syntactic theory that the verb predicates that were frequently used in the narrations of love novels could be classified as "chase"， "refuse"， "accept"， etc. The plot in the story Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio can also be transformed and driven by these words.

The husband chased a lover， and the lover accepted， thus giving rise to the beginning of the unbalanced state. In the Grammaire du Decameron， Todorov drew up a conclusion on the universal laws of discourse institutions： （1） time relationship； （2） logical relationship； （3） spatial relationship is described according to time and logical relationships. According to the causal relationship and hierarchical relationship among all functions， the story Painted Skin can be simplified into seven main sequences：

（1） There was a balance state between husband and wife

（2） The husband met with a lover and took her home， making the balance destroyed

（3） The wife found imbalance occurred and dissuaded her husband， but the husband closed his ears to what the wife said

（4） The husband and the lover fell out， and the lover killed the husband

（5） The wife begged a Taoist to kill the lover， promoting the imbalance power eliminated

（6） The wife begged for resurrecting the husband， and also made every effort

（7） The husband was resurrected， and the couple re-established the balance state

4. Transformation

Wang Sheng， Lady Chen， and the beautiful woman （ghost） are three proper nouns in the story Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. The status and relationship state of three persons in the story were decided by husband， wife， and lover； Lady Chen， as the wife of Wang Sheng， had a legal relationship with Wang Sheng； the beautiful woman （ghost）， as the lover of Wang Sheng， had an illegal with Wang Sheng. "Legal" and "illegal" are two adjectives， and give an expression to the basic characteristic whether they were married or not. Hence， the foremost state in the story was revealed.

In the narrative development of the story Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio， there are two possibilities for restoring the balance.

The first possibility for restoring the balance was to put punishment into implementation. That is， the husband， who had a maggot in his head， should be punished. If the husband did not lust for the beautiful woman （ghost）， he might not have a talk with the ghost hurry in escaping， and also would not take her home and concealed her under the driving of sex adventures. Therefore， there would be no a possibility for causing the generation of an unbalanced life state.

The other possibility for restoring the balance was that the husband escaped from being punished， and changed the "illegal" relationship with the lover to be legal. Thus， the beautiful woman turned to be legal as a ghost and a lover. The illegal lover as a beautiful ghost became the legal ghost identity. In such a way， the mistakes that were caused by the husband's lusting for beautiful woman can be concealed， and then the foremost balance state could be restored.

In the first possibility， the lover dug out the heart of the husband and punished him for a time. However， Lady Chen， as the wife and another opposite power， made every effort painfully to fighting with the ghost， and eventually making the husband getting rid of the punishment.

5. Tendency

As for the reasons， all imbalance states were originated from the husband's lusting for the beautiful woman （ghost）. If there was no such a desire in the mind of the husband as well as the actions of "changing scene"， there would be no a beginning for the story.

"Lusting for beautiful woman" is the husband's consistent quality， which was not clearly stated in this story all the time.

However， in the end， the wife helped the husband to escape from punishment by all manner of means， and this gives a refection to the concept that man's quality （lusting for beautiful woman） was indulged by people in Chinese feudal society. The "polygamy" in Chinese feudal society permitted a man to marry two or more wives. In fact， whether a man had married a woman or not， it was still difficult for him to withstand the temptation of beauties. What's worse， this was allowable in the society at that time.

A great number of stories in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio are about a man to meet with a beautiful woman unexpectedly， and then quickly be willing to communicate with her and also take some measures.

In the Temple Ghost in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio， a man， called as Wang Qi， met with a village "woman" and adamantly refused her no matter how hard the women fell in his arms， just because the woman was too fat and not beautiful.

In the Zhang Arui in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio， there was also a woman recommending herself to Qi Sheng， and Qi Sheng denied himself to the recommendation euphemistically and said he could not accept such a behavior， just because she was so ugly in ears and hair and also too fat to move.

Besides， the tendency of culture （marry chicken and follow chicken； follow husband in the whole life） among the women in Chinese feudal society was embodied. The wife discouraged her husband from taking the lover in， but the husband closed his ears to what the wife said. Simultaneously， the wide gave no an explanation to the husband in depth. However， once the husband was placed in a dangerous state， the wife would rescue the husband by all means.

6. Conclusion

From above analysis， the story Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is analyzed by the author using the syntax structure theory of Todorov in this paper.

In the small world of a couple， the husband lusted for beautiful woman， and the appearance of the lover brought about a chance for the husband to "change scene"， thus giving rise to the emergence of the unbalanced state； the wife kept "persistence" with the balance state with the husband and resolute to fight with the third party， promoting the balance state restored. This reveals the unequal relationship between husband and wife in Chinese feudal society.

References

[1] Tzvetan Todorov. Narratology Grammars in Decameron. Yinde Zhang. Study on Narratology [M]. China Social Sciences Press， 1989： 184， 186-187.

[2] Tzvetan Todorov. Narratology Grammars in Decameron. Yinde Zhang. Study on Narratology [M]. China Social Sciences Press， 1989： 184， 186-187.