□ Hao Tiechuan
"The Injustice of Dou E" (full name is "The Injustice of Dou E") is a masterpiece of drama written by the Yuan Dynasty dramatist Guan Hanqing. It tells the story of Dou Tianzhang, a scholar, who tried to repay Granny Cai Borrowing money from his loan shark, he had to sell his 7-year-old daughter Duanyun to Granny Cai as a child bride, and renamed her Dou'e . When she was 17 years old, Granny Cai arranged a marriage for her son. Unexpectedly, two years later, Dou E's husband fell ill and died. Granny Cai went to collect a debt from Dr. Sailu, but she was almost killed by him. Fortunately, Zhang Luer and his son rescued her. Zhang Luer proposed that Granny Cai marry his father and at the same time betroth Dou E to him. Granny Cai and Dou E never agreed. Zhang Luer put poison into the sheep tripe soup to kill Granny Cai, but he accidentally poisoned his father. But Zhang Luer counterattacked and falsely accused Dou E of poisoning his father. Chuzhou prefect Tao Zhu tortured Dou E to extract a confession, and threatened Dou E to have his mother-in-law tortured if he did not confess. In order to protect her mother-in-law from the murder, Dou E Because of the pain, he admitted that he had poisoned his father-in-law, and was sentenced to beheading. Before her execution, Dou E made a vow to "stain white silk with blood, heavy snowfall, and severe drought for three years." The results moved the world and were fulfilled one by one. Dou Tianzhang was finally promoted to a high-ranking official in the examination hall. When he returned to Chuzhou to sleep, Dou E entrusted him with a dream and told him his grievances. In the end, Dou Tianzhang vindicated Dou E and Zhaoxue.
There have been unjust cases in all dynasties. The biggest feature of Dou E's injustice is that Dou E was a martyr who abided by feudal ethics, but was run over to death by the legal machine of feudal ethics. Dou E strictly abided by the "three obediences and four virtues" principle of "obeying her father before marrying and obeying her husband when married" throughout her life. Dou Tianzhang taught his daughter from an early age: "The three obediences are: obeying the father at home, obeying the husband when married, and obeying the son after the death of the husband; the four virtues: serving the father-in-law, respecting the husband and the master, being harmonious with the sisters-in-law, and being harmonious to the neighborhood." Although he only raised his daughter for 7 years. , but Dou Tianzhang's education of "three obediences and four virtues" is deeply rooted in Duan Yun's heart. Her husband died early due to illness, and she only blamed herself for her bad fate. "In the previous life, the incense burner was not enough, but now it is also causing trouble." Although she was only 20 years old at the time, she was determined to do only two things for the rest of her life: being filial to her mother-in-law and observing integrity for her husband. So her mother-in-law was sick and wanted to eat sheep tripe soup. Dou E immediately made it and prayed sincerely, "I hope my mother will recover soon." Later, Dou E was falsely accused by Zhang Luer of drugging the soup. She faced a lawsuit and endured "thousands of tortures and tortures" and "her flesh flew away and her blood dripped with blood." However, she still insisted on her innocence. But when the prefect wanted to beat her mother-in-law, even though her mother-in-law had never cried out for her in court, she stood up to stop him and willingly accepted the death penalty. In her opinion, if her mother-in-law could not bear the punishment and died, but she was still alive, this would be the greatest unfilial piety. Before her execution, Dou E was afraid that her mother-in-law would be sad if she saw her going to the execution ground, so she specifically asked the executioner to walk through the back streets instead of the front streets. Her mother-in-law came to see her off, and she kept trying to comfort her mother-in-law not to hurt her body due to excessive sadness. Even after her death, Dou E was still worried that her mother-in-law would have no one to take care of her. After she was rehabilitated, she secretly entrusted her mother-in-law to her father: "My mother-in-law is very old and has no one to take care of her. You can take her into the house and provide the child with the gift of life and death. I will be under the pressure of nine springs, but I can't help you." Close your eyes."
Dou E did a good job of keeping filial piety and doing a better job of keeping a moral integrity. When her mother-in-law wanted to marry Zhang Luer's father and asked Dou E to marry Zhang Lu'er, Dou E tried hard to dissuade her mother-in-law. She started with the family conditions: one daughter does not need two husbands, even if her father-in-law is dead. You got it early, but he left you a family fortune, so that you will have enough food and clothing for the rest of your life. Are you worthy of him by doing this now? Regarding not marrying Zhang Luer, Dou E repeatedly emphasized that she could not do it even if she died: "A good horse does not have two saddles, and a brave woman does not have two husbands." It can be said that she did not hesitate to die to defend ethics.
Regarding the unjust injustice she suffered, Dou E questioned the king's laws, ghosts and gods, and the laws of heaven that she had believed in before, but doubts are questions. In the end, she still placed her hope in the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth to vindicate herself. Zhaoxue: Let the blood stain the white silk. Without touching the ground, heavy snow fell in June, and Chuzhou experienced a severe drought for three years. Dou E said angrily: If these signs of disaster had not come to the world to warn people, the clear blue sky would not have come.
Dou E was so loyal to the ethics, why was she ultimately eaten by the ethics? How the unjust case was formed: The main reason was that Tao Chu, the governor of Chuzhou, was corrupt and perverted the law: First, Tao Chu said bluntly, "I am an official better than others, and those who complain will get gold and silver." Second, torture was used to extract confessions. First, Dou E was ordered to "choose a big stick to beat" Dou E. Dou E refused to give in, so Tao Zhu ordered Dou E's mother-in-law to be tortured. Dou E had no choice but to say out of filial piety: "Stay, stay, stay, don't beat my mother-in-law. I'd rather." I'll do it, and I'll kill my father-in-law." Third, Taobao failed to submit Dou E's case to the superior authorities for review. "History of the Yuan Dynasty·Criminal Law Chronicles" records: "In the Central Plains, officials were appointed to prefectures and counties. They lived and killed at will, and even had no wives or daughters. Yelu Chucai petitioned: 'Prisoners will be punished if they are punished by severe punishment. Violators will be punished with death.' 'From then on." But the day after Taoqi concluded the case, Dou E was kidnapped and sent to the execution ground to be executed. This is a serious violation of the death penalty review process. If he could follow legal procedures and go up to the level for retaliation and review, Dou E's father Dou Tianzhang was holding an important position in criminal case review in the court at this time, and he might be able to be found and corrected.
In addition to the reasons for Dou E's unjust case, such as Tao Chu, the governor of Chuzhou, who was corrupt, perverted the law, tortured to extract confessions, and violated procedures, Dou E herself also had a certain degree of responsibility. This has not been mentioned by previous researchers. That is: when Tao Biao saw that Dou E could not be beaten and decided to torture Granny Cai, Dou E took the initiative to admit that she was the murderer in order to prevent her mother-in-law from being tortured. This is legally perjury, and we can say that she committed perjury in good faith. Her goodwill is reflected in her subjective desire not to let her elderly mother-in-law suffer punishment.
Therefore, the tragic value of Dou E’s injustice is that the filial piety she tried her best to uphold and practice happened to be the cause of her unjust death; her perjury was one of the reasons for her unjust death; at the same time, her motive for perjury was We must practice ethics and laws. Dai Zhen, a thinker of the Qing Dynasty Dai Zhen once said: "Cruel officials kill people with the law, and post-Confucianism kills with reason. If you ignore the law and argue with reason, you will die, let alone be saved." ("Dai Dong's original collection·Yu Xishu") "If a person dies under the law, there will still be those who pity him; if he dies under principles, there will be no one who will pity him." Dou E died first because of corrupt officials, secondly because of perjury, and thirdly because of feudal ethics. What a tragedy, Dou E's injustice!
Source of article: Smart Legal Popularization Platform
