BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 374 Laughter and Tears in Conflict - The Aesthetic Perspective of The Fluffy Man Yitong Yan* Sichuan University, School of Literature and Journalism Chengdu, China *Corresponding author: 1756742178@qq.com Abstract. The Abagon portrayed in "The Stingy Man" can be considered a highly visible, typical and popular image of a miser in foreign literature. Under the pre-determined tendency of the initial development of capitalism, in the complex contradiction with others, the image of Abagon as a miserly money-grubber becomes three-dimensional and vivid, and under the aesthetic perspective, he exists in the form of an aesthetic category of weird and absurd "ugly". This paper will understand The Stingy Man from the perspective of Hegel's study of the aesthetics of comedy, and analyze the aesthetic value of Abagon as a typical comic figure, in order to realize the ultimate aesthetic purpose of entertainment to the sublime transformation of edification. Keywords: Collective unconscious; subjectivity; flat character; aesthetic value. 1. Introduction The Fluffy Man" follows the classical trinity, in the same day, in the same place, in Abagon's home, through a clue of free love, through a search of the servant Jian's whole body, suspicion of Jian as a thief, daily fear of others knowing that there is 10,000 Aiju hidden in the house, the father borrowing the son's loan, the old goods to cover the debt without conscience, and finally the irrational cry of heaven and earth when something is stolen, etc., various plots and details. In the conflict with his family and other universal forces will be the conflict to the climax, and make the ultimate release of his nature, carefully portrayed the image of Abagon, a typical slave to wealth, giving people a negative aesthetic category of vicious stimulation. 2. Collective unconscious influence and feedback The collective unconscious, as distinguished from individual consciousness, is mainly a text that has been repeatedly experienced through scenarios in the change of times. The concept of the "collective unconscious" was developed through the accumulation of culture. Jung selectively inherited Freud's "psychoanalysis" and introduced the concept of "collective unconscious"[1]. The creators of artworks are not the subjects of creation, but the enslaved ones, who present their creative inspiration in literary works, and such inspiration is a flash of the collective unconscious. The greed shown by Molière in "The Stingy Man" was a typical theme of his contemporaries, and there were many works in the West at that time that expressed a powerful and ridiculous satire of stingy greed, which was the influence of the collective unconscious in the context of the changing times. Abagon's view of wealth is morbid. First of all, look at the background of the character of Abagon, he is sitting on a million of wealth, but the way to enrichment is extremely despicable, using rags and garbage to lend money for profit; although already rich enough but still not generous, not even a penny to spare, even from the hands of subordinates to earn a small profit; let their children and rich people married, without any regard for the true feelings of their relatives; they will not go to enjoy their assets but hungry He is not like the common money-grubbers, but rather goes to the stables to steal buckwheat. He is different from the ordinary gold-digging, with assets but not to use them, and even lose human reason to seek gold, as if he did not realize the true qualitative value of money, but only pursue the quantitative value of money. Such a morbid view of wealth is a product of the society in the early stages of capitalist development, reflected in the collective unconscious. Faced with an era of great socio-political and BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 375 economic change, early capitalism, while providing a broad and free platform for the bourgeoisie, turned them into cold-blooded and ruthless. The drive of desire, the immaturity of capitalist development, and the contradictions between classes all contributed to the creation of such a typical image of the miser, and Molière condensed the morbid effects of that era in Abagon. The reason why this work is a classic and has been read and talked about for generations to come is that it touches the collective unconscious of almost everyone. Through reading The Stingy Man, the reader is able to understand the state of society at that time and how Abagon was influenced to lose his mind for the sake of money, i.e., the interaction of emotional resonance and human character assessment. The value of this work is truly realized when Molière puts on paper the inspiration inspired by the collective unconscious and connects with the collective unconscious of the general population. 3. The laughter and tears in the comedic conflict The Fluffy Man" is a satirical comedy, but the core of comedy is tragedy, and such a comedy of satirical meaning provokes a sense of helplessness and sadness in the world. The Stingy Man" is a comedy in terms of content and subject matter, but it has a strong tragic meaning in terms of spiritual theme, and the person of Abagon is actually tragic. Reading the image of Abagon in The Stingy Man from the literary criticism theory of Hegel, who was also an 18th century aesthete, one can analyze his ridiculousness from the essence of comedy and lament his ugliness and absurdity from the perspective of tragedy. What makes "The Stingy Man" a comedy, according to Hegel's aesthetic comedy theory centered on "subjectivity," is that the conflict of universal forces in it is determined primarily by the infinite confidence of Abagon's subjectivity, not by the eternal solidity of tragedy theory. Subjectivity is the central concept of comic theory. Abbagon is actually after more than the monetary entity, but a particular state of mind materialized as money, irrationality, injustice, and also as beauty and goodness (in the broad sense of the word), and put into strong self-certainty and seriousness. When trying not to pay his subordinates and not allowing his children to love freely, he truly imposes the norms prescribed within himself but contrary to reality on other people who adapt to universal social norms and ethical principles by virtue of his position as a superior boss and father. Such a comic contradiction between the phenomenon and the essence of self-contradiction is the very basis of the ridiculousness. "The universal basis of comedy is a world in which man, as a subject, makes himself master above all that which, in his view, constitutes the essential content of his knowledge and achievements, that is, a world whose various purposes, by their own non-essentiality, are destroyed by themselves." [2] of course it is undeniable that we have to put aside the inadequacy of Hegel's theory of comedy and recognize that it is the objective reality of social contradictions that triggers such comedy. Hegel's aesthetic theory emphasizes the conflict of universal forces, which is an important motive force for the development of the plot. The interweaving of large and small conflicts in The Stingy Man shows the ingenuity of Molière's plot design. 3.1 Coincidence - Contrary The coincidence described here is a conflicting coincidence. The content of the coincidence contains conflicting conflicts between characters, and at the same time this coincidence contradicts the main line Abagon's hospital. A number of coincidences cause the conflict by causing the unsuccessful realization of Abagon's wishes. For example, Abagon has his son marry a rich widow, however, Abagon's son and Abagon happen to like the same young girl, such a coincidence creates a conflict of love rivalry. Another example is that Valère initially says that he has come to find his mother and father, while the old lord of Anselme happens to be his father. BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 376 3.2 Consistent-Contrast The Fluffy Man" is good at using the contrast of highlighting differences in consistency, that is, keeping the consistency of some elements and highlighting differences in consistency through the reactions of different characters, different reactions of the same character, etc., which is more ironic in contrast. Here is a very classic dialogue. Brandawa: Your Lordship, there is a man outside who wants to see you. Abagun: Tell him I'm busy right now and ask him to come back another time. Brandawa: He said he was sending you money. Abagun: Please excuse yourselves more. I'll be right back. The key to such a big change in attitude when faced with the same thing of someone visiting in a short period of time is the appearance of money. In addition, there are also contrasting sentences, by some words or sentences to keep the same, while the content is different in the language to reflect the strong conflict between the two, to play an aggressive effect. Here is a very classic dialogue. Abagun: Why, you damned thing, it is you who are willing to go to such a desperate path of all evil. CLYANT: Why, Father! It is you who have done this disgraceful thing. Abagun: You are the one who borrowed this illegal debt to lose money? CLYANT: You are the one who wants to get rich with this heinous usury? Abagon: How dare you stand in front of me after what you've done? How can you be ashamed of yourself after what you've done? Abagun: Are you not ashamed? Tell me, how can you be so absurd, so wasteful! Aren't you ashamed to waste your parents' money, which they have earned for you by the sweat of their brow, without shame? CLYANT: Are you not ashamed? Are you not ashamed that you have disgraced yourself by doing such a thing; that you have no regard for honor or reputation, but are intent on accumulating money to satisfy your insatiable appetite; that you have money and want more money, and that you have resorted to the most shameless and ingenious tricks that even the notorious usurer could not think of, in order to exploit it heavily? Molière's writing can be better appreciated from the original French text. The similarity of the sentences and the confrontational difference in the content of this paragraph show that Abagon's unscrupulousness in obtaining money is sinful and emotionally charged in the eyes of his son, Cléant. In fact, it is not difficult to see that in both comedies and tragedies, there always seems to be one side of the conflict between the main and secondary characters that represents the main will, and such a will occurs in the aesthetic experience of most people's main tone. In the case of satirical comedies, take The Stingy Man, there is no doubt that Abagon seems to be the confronter in the reader's reading process itself, and that his son, Cleonte, is to some extent the voice of the reader in the conflict with his father, representing a degree of justice and collective will. The character of Abbagon seems to be non-existent in today's reality, but people who love money and even improper means of enrichment abound. Abbagon has a certain degree of exaggeration in the character's psychology and behavior, and there is a certain aesthetic distance between such an exaggerated and ridiculous example and today's people, but it is based on the different degrees of pursuit of wealth that everyone has, and the sad warning of overly distorted pursuit of wealth makes such a psychological The distance is just right. 4. The flat character under the funny mask The Fluffy Man" is a representative of satirical comedy, a comedy that exposes the ugliness and weirdness of the aesthetic object of self-individuality and worthlessness, as opposed to tragedy's affirmation of and sympathy for the worthiness of the aesthetic object. The comic character, as the BCP Social Sciences & Humanities ASSSD 2022 Volume 21 (2023) 377 foremost element of the four elements of the aesthetic category of comedy, will be developed below as a reflection on the typical comic character of Abagon. In fact, through reading many foreign literary works, we can generally appreciate that the main characters of tragedies are mostly three-dimensional characters with diverse personalities, while comedies, like Abbagon, do not reflect the versatility and richness of his character, but focus on the words of love of money and stinginess, such characters are called "flat characters"[3] works Abagon's language is all about how he maintains his absolute certainty and so-called code among different people and different things, fully emphasizing his worthlessness and anti-value, and how he can abandon human decency and reason for the sake of money, but of course, in his own world he does not realize this, so in reality he will remain a flat character, everything revolves around money. Such a person, it seems, is also a tragedy. "Comedy is a facsimile of the worse, yet 'bad' does not refer to all evil, but to ugly." [4] Everyone sings the praises of beauty, yet ugliness also has its aesthetic value and sublime significance. This paper will analyze Abagon's ugliness mainly in terms of the constitutive relationship between beauty and ugliness [5]. For example, in his attitude toward his children's marriage, his son Cleanthe's rebellion is actually a kind of maintenance of the beauty of free love, while the ugliness represented by Abbagon is in opposition to it, and the ugliness is expressed in the antagonistic conflict between beauty and ugliness. In addition, Abbagon ultimately fails to transform realistic ugliness into realistic beauty. Such beauty in art is reflected in the aesthetic value of ugliness. In addition to the contrast between the beauty of free love and the beauty of human nature, which reflects the contradictory relationship between beauty and ugliness, the aesthetic value of Abbagon's ugliness is reflected in the transformation from entertainment to edification. While the reader is helplessly ridiculed by Abagon's "madness" for money, it also serves as a reminder of self-restraint and inclines people to a correct view of wealth. In addition, it is worth considering that Abagon is not punished by the ending in the text, but continues to be allowed to go crazy in his own world, which reflects the difference between the tragic ending of the protagonist in a comedy and a tragedy. The arrangement also lies in the fact that firstly, his behavior is only limited to expressing individual anti-values, and does not cause harm to the whole society on a large scale, and secondly, such an effect will keep the reader's mind in the aesthetic feedback Such a crazy person is going crazy over the suspicion of his money being stolen, more intriguing and highlighting the sadness. The Fluffy Man" has a high research value in terms of comedy and the aesthetic value of "ugliness", and its practical significance for the public lies in the sublime transformation from entertainment to edification. References [1] Shen Yajing. The Collective Unconscious and Literary Creation - Taking the Scrooge Archetype as an Example [J]. Journal of Science and Education, 2020Issue 25. [2] Huang Bohan, Wang Ge, Sun Bing, Zheng Suhua. Analysis of the Image of Scrooge in Chinese and Foreign Literature [J]. English Square - Academic Research, Vol. 105, 2019. [3] [E] Love-More-Foster. Facets of the Novel [M]. Translated by Su Bing, Guangzhou: Huacheng Publishing House, 1984. [4] [Ancient Greece] Aristotle. The Poetics [M]. Translated by Luo Niansheng, Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1962 edition. [5] [US] Griffin, ed. The Postmodern Spirit [M]. Translated by Wang Chengbing, Central Compilation and Translation Press, 1998 edition. [6] [E] Virginia Woolf. The Book and the Portrait [M]. Translated by Liu Bingshan, Nanjing: Yilin Publishing House, 2009.