On the Depiction of Positive Figuresin Chinese and Western Literary Works
——A Comparison Between the Depiction of Zhuge Liang in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Corleone in The Godfather
Abstract
Zhuge Liang and Corleone are both famous figures in the literary works. Although they are very different in that one is a loyal Prime Minister and the other is the leader of the underworld, but the two authors of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Godfather have a profound respect for them. Through the comparison of depiction of the two figures by learning about their deeds and features, the writer tries to find out the differences and similarities of western and Chinese literary creation of the two figures and their original cultures.
Key Words
Depiction; similarity; difference
Introduction
As is well known to us, both The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Godfather are the perfect and outstanding works in the literary history, both in their own histories and the whole river of human history.
When Friedrich Engels referred to The Human Comedy which is the great works of Honore de Balzac, he said that what he had learned from it was much more than all that from any professional historians, economists and statisticians.
From this comment, we can say a real great works is not only a book for people’s entertainment, but also a guide to people’s life. The book will express all kinds of aspects of human society and spirits, give people the strongest influence and right guidance. The romances of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Godfather are the books like that.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms uses the letters to describe a long history of the three kingdoms period. It introduces not only the historic matters simply, but also uses all kinds of means such as quoting poets to add others’ comments on these matters and characters in that history. The brilliant tactics and magnificent phenomena of wars lead us into a series of military banquets that give us much edification in dealing with matters in our daily life. If Sunzi’s Military Strategies is the greatest works of military affairs, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the completely and excitingly practical works of these military stratagems. Until today, these tactics that have been referred to are being used and going to be used in modern life, work, economic and military competition.
The Godfather is the typical works of America in the end of 1960s. At that time, America was trapped in chaos. In 1969, America launched an unprecedented bombard to Vietnam, but it seemed that America didn’t get any obvious advantages more than Vietnam. In the same year, some reports disclosed the fact that an American infantry slaughtered more than 450 Vietnamese villagers, which caused people to doubt the rationality of the war. The manhunt in a bar by police in New York resulted in the new century of striving for the homosexual rights. A senator escaped from traffic accident after causing troubles and made others die. A series of matters happened. The Godfather just stepped into the bookshop at that time, as an advanced flag leading a stirring literary resolution which called for rebuilding a new social and law system. The Godfathers used their own ways and wisdoms to build a new set of laws for survival, which overthrew the old and so-called democratic society. In and out the line of words there shines the flame of wisdom.
Referring to the two outstanding works, we can’t help introducing the two positive figures of them¬--Zhuge Liang and Corleone. In fact, the two characters are very different. One is the loyally military counselor; the other is the king of the underworld. One may feel very strange to connect them together as the obverse figures.
So what is the definition of the positive figure? According to most people’s view, it is these characters that represent the righteous part, are supported by authors, and stand for the values of most people. Zhuge Liang and Corleone just belong to this kind of characters. Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Bei who represented the lineal Han Dynasty loyally. What Corleone protected was the poor people abandoned and threatened by the so-called democratic society. Both of them used their wisdom to build their own kingdoms. As the positive figures, they have many similarities. Originating from two different works which were written in different periods and backgrounds, the two figures are depicted in different ways.
