History Literature / DreamOfTheRedChamber

%%* TeamMom: Baochai
* TheResenter: Concubine Zhao. Justifiable, as she only wants the best for her two children, but her position as secondary wife means she's not highly regarded by almost everyone else. However, given her {{Jerkass}} nature, it's also not surprising why she's not a favourite in the household. She's depicted as unintelligent, lacking in class and tact, driven by jealously, and shows open resentment towards the higher standing members of the household, including her stepson Baoyu, as well as getting into very heated arguments with her daughter. Plus, she makes a huge fuss out of nothing on several occasions, and even resorts to using black magic at one point, which almost kills Baoyu and Xifeng.

* DistantPrologue
* {{Doorstopper}}

* DrivenToSuicide: The list is long.

* IGaveMyWord: [[spoiler: Baoyu tells Daiyu, on two separate occasions: "Should you die, I'll become a monk." [[CassandraTruth Both times, Daiyu doesn't believe him.]] [[DownerEnding Guess what he does at the end, after Daiyu has died for some time already...]]]]

* IncestIsRelative

* {{Kill Em All}}: Or most of them. Many characters are just ruined, without actually dying.

* MultigenerationalHousehold

* PluckyComicRelief: Granny Liu, whose rural lifestyle causes her to behave in ways that bring amusement out of many around her when she visits the Jia household. [[spoiler: She ends up as a ChekhovsGunman near the end of the novel, as she provides shelter to Qiaojie when the latter runs away from Jia Huan when he schemes to sell her, bringing her back into the Jia household after his scheme is thwarted.]]
* ReincarnationRomance

* ShrinkingViolet: Jia Yingchun
* TeamMom: Baochai

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Miaoyu.
* {{Tsundere}}: Daiyu.
** Also Daiyu's "double", Qingwen.
* {{Unwanted Harem}}: Bao-yu, despite being eccentric and effeminate, is surrounded by beautiful women who are somewhat interested in him.

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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Xia Jingui, wife of [[UpperClassTwit Xue Pan]]. After Xiangling, a maid in her household, inadvertently spots [[YourCheatingHeart her (a married woman herself) with a stranger]] and causes said stranger to run off, [[DisproportionateRetribution Jingui decides to poison Xiangling in revenge]]. She sees her opportunity when Xiangling falls ill and feigns care, with the intent of secretly putting poison in the bowl of soup she is to give to Xiangling. The maid Jingui is tasked with serving Xiangling, unaware of Jingui's plot and indignant of the idea of serving a fellow maid, decides to play a prank as payback by secretly adding a large number of salt into the bowl of soup meant for Xiangling when no one is looking. When Jingui pours some soup into her own bowl and proceeds to swap bowls, [[SpannerInTheWorks the maid, upon spotting Jingui's action and fearful of reprimands from Jingui for drinking the much-too-salty soup, quickly swaps the bowls right back without anyone else noticing, not knowing Jingui has put poison into the bowl she gives to Xiangling]]. Jingui and Xiangling both drink the soup... with [[KarmicDeath Jingui being killed by the very poison she intends for Xiangling]].

* PluckyComicRelief: Granny Liu, whose rural lifestyle causes her to behave in ways that bring amusement out of many around her. [[spoiler: She ends up as a ChekhovsGunman near the end of the novel, as she provides shelter to Qiaojie when the latter runs away from Jia Huan when he schemes to sell her, bringing her back into the Jia household after his scheme is thwarted.]]

* SpeakIllOfTheDead: When Jia Huan's scheme of having Qiaojie (a maternal niece of his) sold off is foiled, some time after the passing of Concubine Zhao (his mother), Lady Wang has this to say to Jia Huan: "[[YourMom Concubine Zhao was such a bastard]], the seed she left behind is just as bad!" Jia Huan, who knows better than to talk back at his stepmother, is left licking the wounds to his ego her words inflict on him.

* PluckyComicRelief: Granny Liu, whose rural lifestyle causes her to behave in ways that bring amusement out of many around her. [[spoiler: She ends up as a ChekhovsGunman near the end of the novel, as she provides shelter to Qiaojie when the latter runs away from Jia Huan when he schemes to sell her, bringing her back into the Jia household after the scheme is thwarted.]]

* SpeakIllOfTheDead: When Jia Huan's scheme of having Qiaojie (a maternal niece of his) sold off is foiled, some time after the passing of Concubine Zhao (his mother), Lady Wang has this to say to Jia Huan: "[[YourMom Concubine Zhao was such a bastard]], the seed she left behind is just as bad!"

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Xia Jingui. After Xiangling, a maid in her household, inadvertently spots [[YourCheatingHeart her (a married woman herself) with a stranger]] and causes said stranger to run off, [[DisproportionateRetribution Jingui decides to poison Xiangling in revenge]]. She sees her opportunity when Xiangling falls ill and feigns care, with the intent of secretly putting poison in the bowl of soup she is to give to Xiangling. The maid Jingui is tasked with serving Xiangling, unaware of Jingui's plot and indignant of the idea of serving a fellow maid, decides to play a prank as payback by secretly adding a large number of salt into the bowl of soup meant for Xiangling when no one is looking. When Jingui pours some soup into her own bowl and proceeds to swap bowls, [[SpannerInTheWorks the maid, upon spotting Jingui's action and fearful of reprimands from Jingui for drinking the much-too-salty soup, quickly swaps the bowls right back without anyone else noticing, not knowing Jingui has put poison into the bowl she gives to Xiangling]]. Jingui and Xiangling both drink the soup... with Jingui being killed by the very poison she intends for Xiangling.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In Chapter 9, Jia Zheng, Bao Yu's father, questioned Li Gui, a servant, about what Bao Yu had been learning in class, and spoke of punishing him for allowing Bao Yu to neglect his studies. Li Gui nervously reported that Bao Yu was in the middle of learning the third volume of Shi Jing (Odes of Poetry) and quoted a line. But he messed up the second half of the line really badly. Everyone present laughed, even Jia Zheng who couldn't help himself.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Xia Jingui. After Xiangling, a maid in her household, inadvertently spots [[YourCheatingHeart her (a married woman herself) with a stranger]] and causes said stranger to run off, [[DisproportionateRetribution Jingui decides to poison Xiangling in revenge]]. She sees her opportunity when Xiangling falls ill and feigns care, with the intent of secretly putting poison in the bowl of soup she is to give to Xiangling. The maid Jingui is tasked with serving Xiangling, unaware of Jingui's plot and indignant of the idea of serving a fellow maid, decides to play a prank as payback by secretly adding a large number of salt into the bowl of soup in from of Xiangling when no one is looking. When Jingui pours some soup into her own bowl and proceeds to swap bowls, the maid, upon spotting Jingui's action and fearful of reprimands from Jingui, quickly swaps the bowls right back without anyone else noticing, not knowing Jingui has put poison into the bowl she intends for Xiangling. Jingui and Xiangling both drink the soup... with Jingui being killed by the very poison she intends for Xiangling.

* MeaningfulName: Baoyu means "precious jade", a reference to his previous state as a sentient stone.

* KarmicDeath: This is what happens to one of the men who lust after Wang Xifeng. After he is rejected, he falls hopelessly ill, but is given a chance to recover when a passing monk hands him a magic mirror. He is told to never look at the front, and must keep looking at the back of the mirror, at a terrifying picture of a skeleton. If he succeeds for a week, then he will be cured of his lust. He doesn't succeed, as the front of the mirror keeps drawing him into a sexual fantasy of him and Wang Xifeng, which ultimately kills him.

** This trope is present in ''everything'', from the girls' poems, to their favorite toys, to the games they like to play (it is even lampshaded by Baoyu's father at one point). And it requires [[GeniusBonus extensive knowledge of Chinese cultures, history, symbolism, imagery and anecdotes to fully comprehend them all]]. There is a reason the 80 chapters penned by Cao Xueqin is deemed a magnificent example in the art of {{Foreshadowing}} by redologists.

''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (Traditional: 紅樓夢; Simplified: 红楼梦; Pinyin: Hónglóu Mèng) is considered one of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Classical_Novels the Four Great Classics of Chinese literature]], along with ''Literature/WaterMargin'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''. Written in the mid-18th century by Cao Xueqin, it tells the story of the slow fall from grace of a rich family, the Jia household.

''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (Traditional Chinese: 紅樓夢; Simplified Chinese: 红楼梦; Pinyin: Hónglóu Mèng) is considered one of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Classical_Novels the Four Great Classics of Chinese literature]], along with ''Literature/WaterMargin'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''. Written in the mid-18th century by Cao Xueqin, it tells the story of the slow fall from grace of a rich family, the Jia household.

''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (original title 红楼梦) is considered one of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Classical_Novels the Four Great Classics of Chinese literature]], along with ''Literature/WaterMargin'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''. Written in the mid-18th century by Cao Xueqin, it tells the story of the slow fall from grace of a rich family, the Jia household.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber_6365.jpg]]

* CloudCuckoolander: Baoyu sometimes, particularly when he loses the magic jade was born with.

* IllGirl: Lin Daiyu. Wang Xifeng as well, for a few chapters.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber_6365.jpg

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: And [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment depressingly so.]] Lin Daiyu dies, thus causing Jia Baoyu to go to a monastery and ''become a monk''.]]

* IllGirl: Lin Daiyu

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Cao Xueqin died before the work could be completed, leaving other authors to finish the book from notes that he wrote.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Possibly. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber#Versions_and_textual_challenges the Other Wiki]] for details.

* {{It Got Worse}}: All of the lead characters and the extended family face death, strife, spiritual corruption and financial ruin. And so on.

''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (original title 红楼梦) is considered one of the Four Great Classics of Chinese literature, along with ''Literature/WaterMargin'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''. Written in the mid-18th century by Cao Xueqin, it tells the story of the slow fall from grace of a rich family, the Jia household.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Possibly. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber#Versions the Other Wiki]] for details.

''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (original title 红楼梦) is considered one of the Four Great Classics of Chinese literature, along with ''WaterMargin'', ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''. Written in the mid-18th century by Cao Xueqin, it tells the story of the slow fall from grace of a rich family, the Jia household.

* HoYay: Happens most frequently with Baochai's brother Xue Pan, although it's subverted once when he hits on an actor who's actually straight and gets beat up for his trouble.