History Literature / DreamOfTheRedChamber

%%* IncestIsRelative

* CorporalPunishment: A particularly harsh example that is PlayedForDrama, as Baoyu suffers this in the hands of Jia Zheng in part because of MaliciousSlander Jia Huan secretly tells to Jia Zheng about a housemaid who was recently DrivenToSuicide by insinuating that Baoyu had done something physically inappropriate to her to cause her death. The result is so bad that his body is badly bruised at many areas where he was struck, which his personal maid can't help but react with horror upon seeing him so badly battered.[[note]] The worst parts of this are that A) all the beating wasn't even the most extreme measure that Jia Zheng had in mind, as he actually wanted to '''off''' Baoyu and might have done it as well had Lady Wang (his own wife) and Grandmother Jia not intervened in time and B) [[KarmaHoudini Jia Huan never gets punished for his MaliciousSlander]], as the lie was told to Jia Zheng in secret, Jia Zheng never thought to question the validity of Jia Huan's claim, and Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia were both too busy reining him in on his "disciplinary methods" to bother asking him why he did it in the first place.[[/note]]

* MaliciousSlander: PlayedForDrama. Baoyu suffers a harsh CorporalPunishment at the hands of Jia Zheng in part because of a lie Jia Huan tells Jia Zheng regarding a housemaid who was recently DrivenToSuicide by insinuating that Baoyu had done something physically inappropriate to her to cause her death.

'''Spoilers Ahead:'''

'''Spoilers Ahead'''

* The Cutie: Shi Xiangyun is adorable, cheerful, and loved by almost everyone. Her liveliness and optimism are especially striking considering her unfortunate circumstances.

* {{Bishonen}}: Somehow, many adaptations of the novel portrayed Baoyu as this, to the extent of using beautiful ''actresses''. One example is Creator/BrigitteLin in the 1977 Shaw Brothers movie adaptation.

* {{Bishonen}}: Somehow, many adaptations of the novel portrayed Baoyu as this, to the extent of using beautiful ''actresses''. One example is Creator/BrigetteLin in the 1977 Shaw Brothers movie adaptation.

* UnwantedHarem: Bao-yu, despite being eccentric and effeminate, is surrounded by beautiful women who are somewhat interested in him.
** Hardly unwanted! Baoyu is well-known, even a bit notorious, for being very fond of pretty young ladies. And one of his eccentricities is being almost nauseatingly nice to girls.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Xia Jingui, wife of [[UpperClassTwit Xue Pan]]. After Xiangling, a maid in her household, inadvertently spots her (a married woman herself) with a stranger and causes said stranger to run off, [[DisproportionateRetribution Jingui decides to kill 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 at 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]].

** 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 are deemed a magnificent example in the art of {{Foreshadowing}} by redologists.

** Near the end of the investigation on Xia Jingui's death, the maid tasked with serving Xiangling, after confessing what she had done during the event that ultimately ends with Jingui dead (see HoistByHisOwnPetard above for more details) and piecing things together, ends her confession by stating that Jingui had it coming. Given the circumstances leading up to it, no one present blames her for saying it.

* YourMom: Lady Wang combines this with SpeakIllOfTheDead when scolding Jia Huan (see above).

* 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 kill 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 at 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]].

* AbhorrentAdmirer: [[spoiler:Jia Rui]] in Chapter 10 and 11. Xifeng, the target of his obsession, was not impressed.

* CoitusInterruptus: Baoyu actually waits outside until Qin Zhong is at the brink of orgasm to do this, just to be a {{Troll}}. [[spoiler: This actually contributes to Qin Zhong's death.]]

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

* HomoeroticSubtext: implied for [[spoiler: Bao-yu and Qin Zhong]], especially in the end of (the David Hawkes translation of) Chapter 15.
* 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...]]]]
* IllGirl: Lin Daiyu. Wang Xifeng as well, for a few chapters. [[spoiler:Both do not survive their conditions.]]

** This is what happens to [[spoiler:[[AbhorrentAdmirer Jia Rui]]]], who lusts 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.

* 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 (a maternal uncle of Qiaojie's) when he schemes to sell her, bringing her back into the Jia household after his scheme is thwarted.]]

* ReincarnationRomance: Between Baoyu and Daiyu. [[spoiler:[[DownerEnding It ultimately gets nowhere when Baoyu is wedded to Baochai just as Daiyu dies from her illness]].]]

%%* DistantPrologue

** This is what happens to[[spoiler: [[AbhorrentAdmirer Jia Rui]]]], 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.

* 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

** Near the end of the investigation on Xia Jingui's death, the maid tasked with serving Xiangling, after confessing what she had done during the event that ultimately ends with Jingui dead (see HoistByHisOwnPetard above for more details) and piecing things together, ends her confession by stating that Jingui had it coming. No one present blames her for saying it.

%%* MultigenerationalHousehold

%%* ShrinkingViolet: Jia Yingchun

%%* {{Doorstopper}}

%%* DrivenToSuicide: The list is long.

* 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 at 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]].

* InstantlyProvenWrong: During one of Granny Liu's visits with Grandmother Jia and several maids showing her some sights, they come across a path with mud covering some of it. Grandmother Jia suggests for Granny Liu to walk the cleaner part of the path with them, but Granny Liu declines, stating that, as a CountryMouse herself, she's done it many times already and is therefore adept at walking through muddy roads. Barely a few steps unto the muddied part of the path, however, Granny Liu slips on the mud and falls on her backside, causing many a maid (and Grandmother Jia as well) to burst out laughing and leaving Granny Liu herself to awkwardly acknowledges how quickly this trope applies to her.

* 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 at 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]].

* AbhorrentAdmirer: [[spoiler:Jia Rui]] in Chapter 10 and 11.

** 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.

* HoYay: implied for [[spoiler: Bao-yu and Qin Zhong]], especially in the end of (the David Hawkes translation of) Chapter 15.