A Study On The Thematic, Narrative, And Musical Structure Of Yuan Zaju Injustice To Dou E

Abstract

My PhD is a systematic structural and textual analysis of Dou E yuan 竇娥冤 [Injustice to Dou E], one of the extant Yuan zaju 雜劇 (variety plays) originally composed by the Yuan playwright Guan Hanqing 關漢卿 (fl. 1260). My analysis is based on the edition of the play in the Yuanqu xuan 元曲選 [A Selection of Yuan Plays] compiled by the Ming publisher Zang Maoxun 臧懋循 (ca. 1550–1620). I propose that Dou E yuan, as a dramatic narrative which develops through its enactment on the stage, rather than by verbal presentation as a story, displays its integrative structure of narration through its thematic development and within its musical conventions. Chapter 1 and 2 are devoted to a literature review which summarizes previous scholarship on Guan Hanqing and his zaju composition, and Zang Maoxun and his edition of Yuan zaju plays. In Chapter 3, I examine the historical evolution of the original story of a filial woman on which the zaju play Dou E yuan was based. Chapter 4 explores the theatrical theme of injustice, and analyzes the four dimensions of thematic structure through study of the causes of injustice in the socio-cultural context as described or implied in the drama. In Chapter 5, I apply the narratological theories of Solomon Marcus and Algirdas J. Greimas to an analysis of the narrative structure of the play by focusing on the two components of narrativity manifested in the dramatic text―the characters and actions. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 propose an analytic approach to examine the relevancy of plot development to the utilization of the song-sets. The thesis concludes that Dou E yuan displays a highly complex set of interactive relationships among its thematic, narrative and musical structures.