MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
NGUYEN HONG HANH
AMBIGUITY IN THE TEXT STRUCTURE
OF TRUYEN KIEU OF NGUYEN DU
Major: Theory of Literature
Code: 9220120
SUMMARY OF DOCTOR OF PHYLOSOPHY IN
LITERATURE
Hanoi - 2023
This thesis has been completed in Hanoi National University of Education
Instructors: Assoc.Prof. Dr Le Luu Oanh
Review 1: Prof. Dr. Tran Nho Thin, University of Social
Sciences and Humanities – Hanoi National University.
Review 2: Assoc.Prof. Dr. Nguyen Bich Thu, Institute of Literature.
Review 3: Dr. Do Van Hieu, Hanoi University of Education.
This thesis will be defended before the Academy’s Committtee at
Hanoi National University of Education At…..date…..month…..year
The thesis can be found at the library: National Library, Hanoi
or the Library of Hanoi National University of Education
1
INTRODUCTION
1. Reason for choosing the topic
1.1. Ambiguity is naming a state of uncertainty, the same context opens up many
meanings. It is the nature of life and is considered a fairly permanent attribute in
human cognitive, psychological, and communicative activities because life is always
moving, sometimes going far away from the available experience that makes us feel
better inevitably the vague perception, unable to be clear about the object. Even in
science, which always requires precision, the indeterminacy of judgments and
conclusions is becoming more and more common.
There was a time when in the study of cognitive functioning, ambiguity was often
viewed as an underappreciated state. In particular, for scientific subjects, ambiguity
can be considered a weakness that needs to be overcome. But as society develops,
people have realized that ambiguity is not always considered unreliable if we put it
next to correct thinking because sometimes it is the active ambiguity in thinking. It
allows us to grasp a very special state of the world that rational thought cannot touch.
And so, it is not by chance that ambiguity becomes a very necessary quality in artistic
thinking.
1.2. In the world, ambiguity has been studied from many angles such as:
ambiguous thinking, ambiguous aesthetics, ambiguous rhetoric, ambiguous
language... however, up to now, the dream approach angle The lake still has a lot of
empty space. In literature, ambiguity is an aesthetic quality. It has long been
conscious in the history of ancient poetry, especially to W.Empson and the New
Criticism, it has become a literary term. Later, researchers can approach the term
from different angles, but all emphasize that there is no ambiguity that does not
create the artistic quality of literature. Ambiguity lies primarily in the internal
structure of the literary text. In Vietnam, there has not been any systematic and
profound research on ambiguity in literature in this respect.
The thesis researches the ambiguity in the structure of literary texts to enter
the characteristic aspect of artistic thinking, which governs and leaves an imprint
in the process of artistic creation. Ambiguous with its working mechanisms,
opening an endless field of meaning makes literature a universal key, helping to
dominate all aspects of life in a rich and profound way. Therefore, the study of
ambiguity is a step towards a deeper understanding of the essential character of
literature. It is characterized by the indeterminacy on all aspects of the text,
creating the possibility of multi-values not only in terms of meaning and
ideology but also creating the aesthetic of the art world.
1.3. Truyen Kieu is a great collection of national literature, with a rich history
of research and reception. Although it has been around for nearly 300 years, the
value of the work is still open with many mysteries in the words, in the image
leading to the meaning of Truyen Kieu as a never ending flow. The thesis
considers ambiguity as a quality, one of the ways to create the aesthetic appeal
and pleasure of the work until now. Understanding ambiguity in the structure of
the text of Truyen Kieu is a new direction, in order to exploit and decipher the
2
rhetorical strategy and narrative art, the art of character building contributes to
the rich meanings and charm of the author. Since then, it has been affirmed that
Truyen Kieu is a great step forward in rhetorical strategy and narrative thinking
and artistic conception of the nation, showing not only the peculiarities of
medieval literary poetics but also suggestive and asymptotic. gradually with
modern literary poetics.
1.4. From the past to the present, Truyen Kieu has always been a key work with
many excerpts being taught in high schools such as: Sisters Thuy Kieu; Spring day
scene; Kieu is on the Ngung Bich floor; Ma Giam Sinh buys Kieu; Thuy Kieu
repays favor and revenge ... However, the popular teaching method still only stops
at sensing surface meanings and analyzing a few artistic measures such as: the use
of expensive words, the art of depicting scenes, and art. character building, but not
paying attention to exploit the multivalued, ambiguous to create the aesthetic and
conceptual in the art world of the work. This is the part that stimulates the
imagination and perceptive capacity of students in a rich way. Research Ambiguity
in the text structure of Truyen Kieu, the thesis opens up an approach to promote
the activeness of students to reveal the rich meanings and feelings of the work on all
levels of words, characters and characters. Objects, storytelling, point of view, tone,
etc. This approach follows the spirit of innovation in teaching philology today, which
is teaching in the direction of developing learners' competencies .
2. Object and scope of the study
2.1. Research subjects
The thesis studies ambiguity as an aesthetic category, conceptually expressed in
literature. From there, delve into the study of ambiguity expressed on levels of the
textual structure of Truyen Kieu: from the verbal level to the figurative and
meaningful level. The text used for the survey is the book: Tran Trong Kim, Bui Ky
(2020), Truyen Kieu, Literature Publishing House, Hanoi.
2.2. Research scope
The ambiguity in literature can have many approaches such as:
psychoanalysis, culturology, reception study... but due to the framework of the
thesis, we only study ambiguity as an aesthetic category from rhetorical and
poetic approaches. That is also the path of W.Empson, other research directions
are used by us for reference.
The thesis survey vaguely on all linguistic levels of Truyen Kieu, studying
Truyen Kieu as a phenomenon of artistic words, creating aesthetic pleasure for readers,
not examining it as a linguistic phenomenon. Although there are things that can also
help us observe the manifestation of ambiguity, such as: the phenomenon of
words slipping in meaning, ancient words, words that are separated from the
context directly causing ambiguity, although there are things that can help us to
observe the manifestation of ambiguity. but that is not the research object of the
thesis. We consider them to be manifestations of attribute ambiguity rather than
the deliberate creation of Nguyen Du to create an aesthetic effect for the text.
3
In addition, the thesis also expands the understanding of ambiguity expressed
through narrator and characters. These are the most unique artistic aspects in
the visual world of Truyen Kieu affirming the timeless value of the work. We
are aware that the visual world of Truyen Kieu also has: ambiguious author,
ambiguious space image, ambiguious time image, but because of the limited
capacity, the thesis does not develop these types.
During the research, a number of works belonging to the Nom story genre
such as Phan Tran, Nhi Do Mai, Hoa Tien, So Kinh Tan Trang and Kim Van
Kieu were also included in the survey for comparison.
3. Purpose and tasks of research
3.1. Research purposes
Using W.Empson's work Seven types of ambiguity as a fulcrum, the thesis
affirms the role of ambiguity as a permanent state in human cognitive and
psychological activities. In particular, ambiguity is not just an inevitable
attribute (inherent, inherent, due to natural characteristics such as arbitrariness,
discontinuity, indirect contextuality, and slippage of meaning in language).
created language) that has been consciously developed by artists to become a
very necessary quality in creative activities and appreciation of art in general and
literature in particular.
The thesis points out that ambiguity has had a development process that
dominates the movement of literature and artistic thinking, becoming an aspect of
expression through conceptual and aesthetic form, and at the same time affirming
that determine the role and meaning of ambiguity in literary life.
The thesis proves that the ambiguity expressed at the levels from words to
artistic images is the aspect that makes the story attractive, brings aesthetic
pleasure to the work of Truyen Kieu, helps Truyen Kieu become a The work has
an important position in the development of Vietnamese literature and resonates
in the world. Chapters 3 and 4 specifically examine the manifestation of
ambiguity in the text structure of Truyen Kieu to clarify Nguyen Du's unique
creativity and answer two research questions:
- Why do people like to read Truyen Kieu?
- Why do people always argue and discuss about the Truyen Kieu?
3.2. Research mission
Establishing the concept of ambiguity as an aesthetic category is expressed
in linguistic art texts.
Typing the manifestations of ambiguity in Vietnamese literature.
Building a research model for ambiguity in literature in general, investigating
specifically through the text structure of Truyen Kieu .
Analyze and evaluate the manifestations of ambiguity as an aesthetic
category in the Truyen Kieu: from the level of words to the level of images.
At the verbal level, the thesis system of ambiguous methods; analyze and
point out the aesthetic value of ambiguity; draw ambiguous principles. The
movement of Truyen Kieu's words lies in the intersection between tradition and
4
modernity, between the scholarly and the popular. The work is a story genre but
has a lot of poetic character, showing a stage of development of poetic language
- poetic stories. There is an increase in the abstraction of Vietnamese. These are
the factors that explain our research question: why do people like to read Truyen
Kieu?
At the figurative level, the thesis proves that the ambiguous system of tricks used
creatively and effectively by Nguyen Du creates a new step in the art of storytelling
and the art of character building. Considering the ambiguous method in Nguyen Du's
narrative art, the thesis points out the uncertainty of the narrator's image in terms of
point of view and tone. Besides, studying the ambiguity in the art of building
character images, the thesis shows that with Truyen Kieu, for the first time, a twofaced, variable human appears. Nguyen Du's character begins to show expressions
that are beyond the framework, unfinished, "with some excess of humanity",
creating a voice of endless dialogue between concepts. From there, the thesis
generalizes the ambiguity and artistic conception of people by Nguyen Du. These
are the factors that explain the research question: why until now have readers not
stopped arguing and discussing about Truyen Kieu?
4. Research Methodology
The thesis uses the following research methods:
System method - structure:
Truyen Kieu itself is a structure consisting of levels linked together to form a
systematic whole. The thesis applies theory to look at structural levels of Truyen
Kieu 's text in order to analyze and point out ambiguous methods, from which,
to draw aesthetic principles and meanings.
Furthermore, in order to properly evaluate the effectiveness of ambiguity, to avoid
falling into one-sided situations, the thesis recognizes ambiguity in the network of
systematic relationships, such as: in the whole structure. text, in relation to the literary
cultural tradition, in relation to the reader's context...
Poetical approach: the thesis analyzes the formal aspects of the text such as:
words, character images, storytellers, point of view, tone... to show the methods of
creating dreams. understanding, finding principles, explaining the reasons for
repetition, and finally extracting the aesthetic and conceptual meaning of the
ambiguous system of elements that pervades all levels of the work.
Historical method: the thesis uses this method to understand the origin and
development of the theory of ambiguity, to point out the movement of ambiguity
in the process of life and literature, thereby discovering out the law, nature,
principles and meaning of the theory of ambiguity.
In addition, the thesis uses some manipulations:
Manipulation of comparison and contrast: to compare and contrast the system
of ambiguous methods used in literary periods, thereby indicating the inheritance
and development of the ambiguous methods. The thesis also compares the
development of ambiguity in Truyen Kieu with Nom stories and narrative prose
5
works before and after it, compares Truyen Kieu with Kim Van Kieu stories of China
to see the similarities, difference and creativity of Nguyen Du.
Manipulation, classification: the thesis statistics the number of repetitions of
tricks such as metaphors, trivia, classics in Truyen Kieu, from which, the principles
and values of their use are drawn. After statistics, the thesis conducts a vague
classification in Truyen Kieu into levels of expression such as phonetic, lexical,
and syntactic levels.
5. Dissertation contribution
Work to study ambiguity as an aesthetic category in a concentrated and
systematic way. The thesis expands, deepens, interprets and learns new
knowledge in order to build a research model for ambiguity, and to apply this
model in studying the text structure of Truyen Kieu.
The work attempts to identify, analyze and evaluate both systematically and in
detail the manifestations of ambiguity in the text structure of Truyen Kieu. This is a
new perspective to affirm the artistic value of the work, which previous works
have more or less noticed but have not deepened.
The thesis proves vaguely the aspect that makes up the attractiveness and aesthetic
appeal of the words and images of Truyen Kieu. Since then, ambiguous assertion is an
important quality marking a step forward in Nguyen Du's artistic thinking, narrative
thinking, Vietnamese thinking, artistic conception of people; shows Nguyen Du's
contributions to the development of national literature, especially to the development
of poetic language.
The thesis has professional significance, opening a new approach from
ambiguity in the structure of literary texts, contributing to the innovation of
teaching literature in schools.
6. Thesis structure
Chapter 1. Overview.
Chapter 2. Problems of ambiguity in literary text structure viewed from the
theory of W. Empson.
Chapter 3. Ambiguity on the linguistic level of Truyen Kieu.
Chapter 4. Ambiguity on the level of the image of Truyen Kieu.
Conclution.
Reference directory.
List of published works.
Chapter 1
OVERVIEW
1.1. Ambiguity in the theoretical and critical discourse of Eastern and
Western literature
In the East, even from ancient times, ambiguity, though unnamed, has been very
well known in classical poetic works. Scholars all agree that ambiguity is one of the
factors that make up the aesthetic of poetry.
In the West, ambiguity has a history of more ups and downs. Ancient times, In
Aristotle's view, ambiguity is an error and needs to be fixed. Literature of the XVIII
6
- XIX centuries, it is still believed that literature should avoid ambiguity. At the
beginning of the twentieth century, New critics in the UK and the US discovered
that the text was indeterminate and highlighted this phenomenon with many
different names such as: "multi-sense", "sliding meaning”, “meaning beyond
words”… Especially in the book Theory and poetics of the novel, M.Bakhtin
discovered polyphony as the principle of the novel and extended this principle to
become a general feature of literary language. chapter. In 1930, William Empson
proposed the term "ambiguity" . In 1974, Shlomith Rimmon in the project Ambiguity
in Henry James also agrees with Empson's view of ambiguity as an intrinsic power
of poetry.
For a long time, ambiguity remained the dominant doctrine, gradually being
supplemented and filled out in theory by literary schools. The thesis identifies five
basic research directions related to ambiguity: 1. Considering literary texts as the
center of meaning construction, with the views of R.Ingarden, W.Izer, U.Eco . 2.
The theory that emphasizes the role of the reader in the reception process makes the
meaning of the work move and constantly expand with the views of R.Jockobson,
H.R.Jauss... 3. Deconstruction theory with the works of Jacques Derrida, Roland
Barthes, J.Lacan. 4. Theory of the fantastic from T.Todorov's perspective. 5.
Intertextual theory with the perspectives of J.Kristeva, J.Derrida, Bloom, de Man,
Miller, Genette, Riffater, G.Hartman.
Moving to postmodern literature, a number of direct research works on
ambiguity apply Empson's theory such as: Poetry of ambiguity (2005) of Ho Hoa
Binh; A History of Ambiguity (2019) by Anthony Ossa-Richardson; Ambiguous
Strategy in Ancient Literature (2021) by author group Martin Vöhler, Therese
Fuhrer and Stavros Frangoulidis.
Although the land of ambiguous poetic research in literature has been opened,
there are still many gaps.
1.2. Ambiguity in the practice of critical theory in Vietnam
1.2.1. Studying ambiguity at the theoretical introduction level
The article the ambiguity and multi-meaning of literature (1996) by Tran Dinh Su
direct introduction to the theory of ambiguity. Ambiguous identity is the phenomenon of
multiples and meanings, according to W.Empson's point of view. Later, Tran Dinh Su
in the article Gaps in literary texts (2013) accepted the theory by R. Ingarden and W.Izer
on indeterminacy, meaning gaps in academic texts. The works Literary work as process
(2004), Literary text and instability of meaning (2021), by Truong Dang Dung, show the
uncertainty, always moving about meaning in the internal structure of the text. literary
text. The work of Textbook of Intertextual Theory (2019) of Nguyen Van Thuan pays
attention to the interference, integration, and weaving of traces of many texts in one text,
creating an expansion of meaning.
In summary, theoretical research on ambiguity in Vietnam only exists at the
introductory, sporadic, and unsystematic level. The above works have shown the
multiplicity, overlapping, movement, instability in meaning in the internal structure
7
of literary texts. These are the manifestations of ambiguity-an attribute and also a
quality of literature.
1.2.2. Studying ambiguity at the application level
Applying W.Empson's theory directly to Vietnamese literature research has only
the following articles: Vietnamese traditional folk songs with ambiguity in terms of
literary language (Nguyen Hang Phuong); LVThS The ambiguity of poetic words a survey through the Truyen Kieu by Nguyen Du (Ngo Thu Huong); LVThS
Ambiguity in the language of Vietnamese symbolic poetry before 1945(Nguyen Thi
Mai). In these articles, the problem of preliminary implementation, the scope of the
survey is small, the lack of systematicity, some of the arguments made are not very
convincing, only stopping to examine the manifestation of ambiguity on the higher
level. poetic language, but have not paid attention to ambiguity at the level of images
and ideas, and have not paid attention to surveying the expression of ambiguity in
narrative prose genres.
In addition, the thesis reviews a number of works that raise issues related to the topic
mentioned in a scattered manner such as: About the pronoun ai in Vietnamese poetry (Le Luu
Oanh); Teaching homonyms through some genres of folk poetry and couplets (Le Thi Hong
Minh); The art of puns in Vietnamese literature (Trieu Nguyen) ; Literature medieval
Vietnam (Le Tri Vien); Poetry of medieval Vietnamese literature (Tran Dinh Su); Poetic Eyes
and Pens of Desire (Do Lai Thuy); New poetry, the rebellion of poetic words (Do Duc Hieu),
Influence on Vietnamese new poetry from French poetry side (Le Dinh Ky)...
Each literary period has methods to increase uncertainty, multi-value, which
is an expression of ambiguity in the literary world. In the period of folklore and
medieval literature, the ambiguity mainly focused on expression on the level of
language and poetic images. From the period of modern literature up to now,
with a constant sense of innovation in art and conception of composition, writers
have been very active in creating a rich system of techniques, methods, and
expressions on all levels: language, image, meaning... and in all genres of poetry,
short stories, novels, plays... in order to expand the meaning field for the literary
world.
1.3. Research directions related to ambiguity in Truyen Kieu
1.3.1. Studying the Truyen Kieu from linguistics
There are many approaches to the language of Truyen Kieu in terms of stylistics,
poetics, and semiotics. Regarding the topic, we are interested in a number of works
and articles such as: Poetry of Truyen Kieu (Tran Dinh Su); On artistic tricks in the
literature of Truyen Kieu (Pham Dan Que); Learn the story of the Truyen Kieu (Pham
Dan Que); The meaning of Truyen Kieu (Nguyen Quang Tuan); The beauty and beauty
of Vietnamese in Truyen Kieu ( Hoang Huu Yen); Grammar of Truyen Kieu (Hoang
Tue); Truyen Kieu 's Comments (Phan Tu Phung)…
The above studies do not identify ambiguity in the language of Truyen Kieu
as an object of research, but mainly focus on analyzing and statistics of artistic
tricks used on lexical and syntactic levels to affirming Nguyen Du's talent in
using words. In addition, the works have not paid attention to the art of using
8
sounds, using rhymes or the ability to combine words to evoke meanings at the same
time in Truyen Kieu verse.
The language of Truyen Kieu uses a lot of artistic techniques, in which we find that
there are many tricks used to create multiple meanings or ambiguous meanings such
as metaphors, trivia, summary. subject, symbol, classic, strange, ... bring high aesthetic
effect. From the thesis' point of view, these are the methods of expressing ambiguity
in the language of Truyen Kieu.
1.3.2. Studying the Truyen Kieu from Poetics
Most prominently in this research direction, we are particularly interested in
two works Understanding Nguyen Du's style in Truyen Kieu (Phan Ngoc) and
Truyen Kieu Poetry (Tran Dinh Su).
Phan Ngoc affirmed that Nguyen Du's main and most unique artistic method is the
art of analyzing the psychology of characters, making Truyen Kieu become "a book
of thousands of moods". Nguyen Du often lets the character sit alone, expressing
his emotions, creating a contrast between the inner person and the person
expressing the outside, the character has an extremely rich and complex spiritual
dialectic process. Tran Dinh Su said that opposite and bisexual feelings are
typical of many characters in Truyen Kieu; the narrator is a personified person
who has a multidimensional view of life phenomena; the narrator's point of view
is also two-way.
Besides, Vu Hanh in Re-reading Truyen Kieu commented that Nguyen Du built Tu
Hai full of contradictions and absurdities in his actions. Le Thi Hong Minh in the treatise
on Character Language of Truyen Kieu and poetry stories Nom pointed out that the
character language in Truyen Kieu is highly general, contains many meanings, is delicate,
elegant and has many colors attitude, tone, reflecting a complex, contradictory, evolving
personality.
In general, there is no work that directly applies the theory of ambiguity to
systematically analyze the manifestation of ambiguity in Truyen Kieu, but
scattered in the research works more or less mention the aspects of ambiguity. It
is the basis for creating ambiguity such as: multi-dimensional view; character
language is highly approximate; the contradiction between the elements of
language - actions - thoughts of the character.
1.3.3. Studying the Truyen Kieu from the perspective of literary reception
Commenting on the personalities of the characters: Thuy Kieu, Thuy Van,
Thuc Sinh, Tu Hai, Hoan Thu, Kim Trong, there are many opposing opinions
appearing scattered in a number of works such as: From Kim Van Kieu story
to Truyen Kieu (Vu Nho); Re-read Truyen Kieu (Vu Hanh); Truyen Kieu
strange articles (Pham Dan Que); Approaching the Truyen Kieu from a
cultural perspective (Le Nguyen Can); Truyen Kieu, the human condition and
signals of modern literature (Le Dinh Cuc); New discoveries about Nguyen Du
and Truyen Kieu (Nguyen Van Khanh); Truyen Kieu has not finished thinking
(Phan Thi Thanh Thuy)… These are the first complex, multifaceted, and
9
ambiguous character images in the history of medieval Vietnamese narrative
prose.
In addition, many articles have mentioned different topics and ideas in
Truyen Kieu such as: the message of relative fortune, the spirit of Buddhism, the
path of enlightenment to Zen, and the thought of upliftment, morality, the guilt
of losing, the right to human life in Truyen Kieu, confiding in Hoai Le's heart,
words and problems of identity or compassion in Truyen Kieu. The meaning in the
Truyen Kieu is the reason why the world of characters as well as the ideological
problem of Nguyen Du's Truyen Kieu is still a vibrant point, continuing to appear
different interpretations, each of which has its own merits. its own reason.
Sub-conclusion chapter 1:
In the process of developing the thesis, we take the theoretical fulcrum of the
work of W.Empson because he is the one who openly gave birth to the
ambiguous term, bringing ambiguity from a concept indicating the fallacy that
needs to be understood. overcome to become an aesthetic quality of art and
literature. In the West, the vague theory since W.Empson has been continued
and expanded with the contribution of representatives such as: R.Ingarden,
W.Izer, U.Eco, R.Jockobson, J.Derrida, R.Barthes, J. Kristeva, etc. make the
theory of ambiguity a prominent research trend.
In Vietnam, the research on ambiguity can be divided into two directions:
introduction of theory and application of ambiguity theory. In addition to the
introduction of Empson's theory, there are additional theories that expand the
ambiguous conceptual content such as: the theory of voids, uncertainty, always
moving, expanding the meaning of the text. Through the most typical works that
directly or indirectly apply and refer to ambiguity, the thesis shows that although
it is only at the scattered level, each literary period has its own specific vague
methods. The artist is increasingly aware that ambiguity is a quality of literature.
It becomes the universal key that opens all the depths of the world. Therefore,
the later literature, the richer the methods of creating multi-meaning and
uncertainty.
Up to now, there are only research directions related to the expression of ambiguity
in Truyen Kieu, but there have been no studies on ambiguity as an aesthetic quality,
applying the theory of ambiguity to analyze ambiguity. analysis, explanation,
affirmation and expression system of ambiguity in the text structure of Truyen Kieu.
The thesis opens up a new approach that helps to see the problem of ambiguity more
comprehensively, more systematically, expressed in the text structure of Truyen Kieu,
finding ways to explain the logic of ambiguous elements in systems. The meaning is
always open.
10
Chapter 2
PROBLEMS OF AMBIGUITY IN LITERARY TEXT STRUCTURE
VIEWED FROM THE THEORY OF W. EMPSON
2.1. Terminology problem
2.1.1. W.Empson's "Seven types of ambiguity" and the concept of ambiguity
2.1.1.1. Background and academic thought of W.Empson
At the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, rationalism
was in crisis in the West, and people realized that they were limited by life
innumerable mysteries that could not be deciphered clearly and surely. In that
context, W.Empson's work Seven types of Ambiguity (1906-1984) was published.
It is one of the most influential critical works in the literary development of the
20th century and an important foundational work in the formation of the New
Criticism. If earlier literary approaches often emphasized extra-textual factors such
as context, psychology, author biographies, etc., the New Criticism school considers
the object of criticism to be the internal structure of the text. text and focus on
explaining and analyzing the meaningful weaving of words. Since the birth of the
work Seven types of ambiguity, the term ambiguity has been widely used in
literature, becoming an aesthetic quality that needs to be promoted in literature,
especially analyzed in the literature. poetic language.
Conceptually, according to W.Empson, “ambiguity is an indefinite meaning, an
intention to express many kinds of things that allow for many
interpretations”[187;290]. The author identifies the phenomenon of ambiguity with
the phenomenon of complex and overlapping meanings. Regarding taxonomy, he
systematized seven ambiguities that ranged from simple ambiguities such as double
meanings to complete contradictions of meanings. He also said that when the social
context and cultural code of the reader changes, the meaning of words also changes,
words can become multi-meaning or ambiguous.
2.1.1.2. Limits and significance of the work
Empson has not yet consciously distinguished vaguely polysemous from simple
polysemous. What is the relationship between ambiguity and uncertainty, fluctuation
of meaning or ambiguity? Empson's vague classification is not very clear and concise,
and the analysis of examples depends more on his sensitive sensibilities than on the
actual texts themselves.
W.Empson's most valuable contribution is this: he asserts that ambiguity is an
aesthetic quality of poetic language and not an error of linguistic necessity. W.Empson
asserts that the first ambiguity lies in the very structure of the text expressed in the focus
of poetic language. He was the first to study ambiguity classification on the level of
literary language. The work laid the foundation for literary and theoretical criticism to
turn to the principle of multi-meaning and ambiguity. Since then, literary creation has
become increasingly elusive, evoking aesthetic pleasure by increasing ambiguity.
Empson's work reads and analyzes classical poetry not only promoting past values but
also helping readers orient the way to receive modern poetry. Readers will be more active
11
and co-creative in the process of receiving to decipher the ambiguous and captivating
artistic world of the text.
2.1.1.3. The concept of ambiguity of the thesis
Based on the definitions and interpretations of researchers about the term
ambiguity, we propose the concept of ambiguity in literature as follows: Literary
ambiguity is a phenomenon in a historical context. definite use, an artistic unit
(word, image, structure) can have two or more meanings. Meanings can be
identified specifically, individually, or can have many values, many unknown
meanings, constantly changing, difficult to explain clearly, allowing the reader
to understand in many other ways. with different aesthetic associations and
assumptions.
Compared with the term ambiguity in English or compared with W.Empson's
point of view, the term ambiguity in the thesis has a broader scope. Ambiguity
is not only a multi-meaningful ambiguity created by the phenomenon of complex
meanings, which allows for the creation of many specific and distinct possibilities,
but also an uncertain ambiguity, which at the same time can accept many possible
interpretations. The interpretation is different, but the meaning is not defined, it is
difficult to feel clearly, it is always fluctuating, and the meaning is sliding to
infinity.
From the thesis' point of view, ambiguity is the source leading to multiplicity,
uncertainty, fluctuations in meaning and vice versa when an art unit is multi-meaning,
uncertain, unclear or always changing. change in meaning is also when it becomes
ambiguous. The most ambiguous cases often converge on multiple meanings, are
indeterminate, and are always evocative about meaning.
However, it is necessary to distinguish the phenomenon of ambiguous polysemy from
simple polysemism. Vague polysemy emphasizes the simultaneity and co-existence of
meanings, suggesting fluctuations between meanings. Polysemy simply emphasizes the
many discrete, separate, and discontinuous meanings.
If clarity makes a single meaning, ambiguity is a redundancy of meaning.
And ambiguity means lack of meaning, very little emotional association,
ineffective expression, even clumsy, meaningless. It should be noted that the
distinction between vague and obscure is relative.
2.1.2. Literary text and ambiguity in literary text structure
2.1.2.1. Literary text concept
A literary text is a system of words created by a writer, inviting readers to enjoy,
and a literary work is a system of words that has been received and endowed with a
certain meaning by the reader. With the above concept, modern literary theory
considers the literary text as an open structure, beckons, always moves to create
meaning, has an independent life, and considers the reader as an active factor
contributing to the creation of a new meaning. into a literary work.
Literary texts are different from ordinary texts in that with ordinary texts the
meaning lies on the surface of the words, but in literary texts the meaning is not
exposed but lies in the internal structure.
12
2.1.2.2. Ambiguity in the structure of literary texts
If W.Empson's Seven types of ambiguity only stop to study vaguely at the linguistic
level, the thesis expands and affirms ambiguous expression at different levels of
literary text structure including: level the verbal level, the symbolic level, and the
meaningful level. Each level has rich expression modes of ambiguity that create real
features, the movement of constantly changing meanings in artistic texts.
2.2. The basis for the formation of ambiguity in literature
2.2.1. The nature of the artist's artistic thinking
Artistic thinking exists in two basic forms: that is, the type of visual and
emotional thinking and the type of synthetic and dialectical thinking. When
recreating things in consciousness, emotional image thinking does not take pictures
mechanically, but also includes feelings and attitudes of people towards the object
itself, making the image both itself and something else.
Private dialectical synthesis means that we have put objects into systems to fully
and fully explore the artistic image; look for a generalization from which to capture
the spirit of things, not focus on describing it exactly like reality. This contributes to
making the poetic image become more ambiguous, shimmering and fanciful, both
real and false.
2.2.2. The nature of literary texts
2.2.2.1. Words and the uncertainty of meaning
Literary language is arbitrary, the signifier and the signified have a random
relationship. At the same time, there are many variations, creating synonyms,
homonyms, and polysemy. Therefore, meaning does not exist in the sign but is
always delayed, slipped to infinity or dissolved into a long chain of signs.
Literarylanguage has intrinsic properties. Intrinsic meaning is only associated with
the task of visualizing emotions and spirits in imaginary and fictitious words. All are
intangible, can only be guessed, deduced without any real basis.
Literary vocabulary also has a strangeness, using artistic tricks to create new
aesthetic effects, increasing difficulty, prolonging the perception for readers. This is
what makes literary language shimmering and elusive.
In particular, the poetic language is evocative, concise, redundant, using only a
finite amount of words that can express the infinity of life. These properties manifest
themselves in a variety of ways, contributing to the increase of ambiguity in literary
language.
2.2.2.2. The uncertainty of the artistic image
Elusive literary image is due to its indirectness, which can only be "seen" by the
inner eye. Readers must use their own experiences to associate and imagine, then
new literary images appear. Imagining in different ways leads the reader to different
representations.
The artist also uses the system tricks to create a lot of space to make the image
have strong evocative, suggestive and activating power. Therefore, the artistic image
has an independent meaning, has its own vitality and strength, and does not depend
entirely on the intention of the author.
13
2.2.2.3. Gaps in meaning, inviting structure of the text
The literary text is an inviting structure made up of gaps. That vacancy is the
hiding place, the only hinting place, the place where meaning relationships are
blurred, broken or hidden, creating many possibilities for interpretation.
The mechanism of linking words to create space in the text is manifested at three levels:
1. semantic blankness; 2. the blank on the break; 3. blank in structure, full-text link. All of
them contribute to creating a gap in meaning in artistic texts.
2.2.2.4. Intertext and real features of text
Text, according to R.Barthes, is a pluralistic space containing a multitude of texts
from a multitude of different understandings, beliefs, and cultures. They all blend
into each other, overlapping ideas, and no text is entirely original or original. The
meaning of the text, not only from the word itself, but also lies in the intersection
between the surrounding texts. Therefore, the text becomes an unfinished process,
always requiring complementarity, in which semantics is constantly moving, but
actually beyond the author's relative judgment.
2.2.3. The nature of the reception process
The ambiguity of a literary work is also created in relation to the reader. Readers'
"reading" oscillates between making and breaking, organizing and reorganizing the data
provided by the text. Reading is to give the work value, it is to make the work reveal the
value that the reader expects. Theorists have pointed out that the meaning of artistic texts
in the reception process is governed by basic factors: (1) the context of reception, (2) the
range of reception, (3) the method of reception. receive. Therefore, the nature of the
object being received is always multi-faceted, multi-meaningful, it is difficult to
determine the only one, the last one.
2.3. The aesthetic meaning of ambiguity in literature
2.3.1. Ambiguity - aesthetic qualities of literary texts
The beauty of poetry lies between the undecipherable and the indecipherable,
and is ambiguous. Ambiguity makes literature become concise, with few words but
many ideas, only small parts are hinted at, hinted at, leaving plenty of space for
readers to experience and guess. Ambiguity also makes literature lively, virtual, and
captivating with its flexible, multi-meaning language, increasing aesthetics. Vaguely
making familiar things "unusual" and "strange" makes them interesting and
attractive, creating the ability to produce meaning for the object, urging us to analyze
and learn. Ancient literature has made abundant use of ambiguous devices.
2.3.2. Ambiguous - a way of expressing the rich, profound and subtle world
Ambiguity is not only the most effective tool to help literature expand its scope
of reflection on life, but also to help literature penetrate into all the depths of the
human spiritual and emotional world, something that reason and cannot be touched.
Not only that, the ambiguous technique is also a very delicate and discreet means of
expressing feelings, with few words but a lot of meaning. With a vague way of
speaking, even the most seemingly vulgar stories are presented elegantly and
evocatively. Besides, the system of ambiguous tactics is also a means to help writers
express taboos in a profound and subtle way.
14
2.3.3. Ambiguity promotes reader co-creation
Firstly, it is the ambiguity of the literary text that makes the reader who wants to
understand, interpret and decipher the work must constantly improve its acceptance.
Higher, while receiving the work, readers must make efforts to fill in the gaps created
by ambiguity. The highest is the ability to co-create with the author. Readers
discover new meanings of the work. This creativity often exceeds the author's
expectations, surprising the father of the work.
It should be noted that the creative power of the reader is not limitless. The truth
is, if creative without following the wholeness and objectivity of the work, it will
lead to misreading and misreading.
2.4. A brief history of modes of expression of ambiguity in Vietnamese literature
In each period, literature is dominated by different ideologies and concepts,
leading to aspects of expression of ambiguity in each literary period, both inheritance
and innovation. In the period of folk literature, ambiguous techniques only stop at the
verbal level. In medieval literature, most linguistic and artistic innovations are still
limited creations and have not really made a breakthrough. In modern literature, the
system of ambiguous tactics is expressed in a diverse, unique and comprehensive way.
A series of names emerged to bring great contributions to national literature, especially
to the reform of language and narrative art, changing the artistic thinking paradigm of
the writers. pen and receiver.
Sub-conclusion of chapter 2:
Ambiguity is the essence of life as well as the fate of literature. The ambiguity
we refer to is not the "button jar" or "obscure" vagueness, but the multi-meaning,
ambiguous vagueness in order to open up endless fields of meaning. The thesis
strongly agrees with Empson's point of view that the ambiguity must first lie in
the internal structure of the text.
Taking W.Empson's work as a theoretical fulcrum, discussing ambiguous
concepts and classifications, the thesis absorbs, overcomes and expands
Empson's point of view. We try to distinguish related term fields such as:
obscure, monosyllabic, simple polysemy, ambiguous polysemy, uncertain
polysemy, and always moving about meaning (this is something that Empson
was not aware of clarify). After all, ambiguity is the source of multi-meaning,
uncertainty, and movement in meaning.
With all the problems of ambiguity that we have gone deep into the system,
analysis, the thesis builds a research model of ambiguity and affirmation: the
later, the more literature needs to raise awareness. High ambiguity because
ambiguity is one of the qualities and qualities that make up the vitality and
aesthetic beauty of literary texts.
Chapter 3
AMBIGUOUS ON THE LINGUISTIC LEVEL OF TRUYEN KIEU
3.1. Levels of expression of ambiguity in the language of Truyen Kieu
3.1.1. Ambiguity at the phonetic level
Coming to Truyen Kieu, Nguyen Du knows how to combine phonetic elements
to increase the ambiguous meaning of the poem. Nguyen Du's method of exploiting
15
ambiguous phonetic expressions is very diverse, such as using: the first consonant
alliteration; rhyme message, word leaf; whole leaf to evoke images, sounds, states
of things, moods, and meanings at the same time. The verse thus becomes sexy,
redundant, creating the overflow and blur of emotions.
3.1.2. Ambiguity at the lexical level
3.1.2.1. Frivolous words
Truyen Kieu has 113 words "ai" / 3254, accounting for 3.68%. The author uses
the vanity word "ai" very flexibly, each time has a different purpose of ambiguity:
sometimes "who" is used to refer to a specific person but still has an indefinite
nuance; sometimes "ai" means the most for everyone without exception. Each word
"ai" also has many different expressions, an "ai" with a sad, humiliating, sad mood
or a "who" full of reproach...
The word "đâu" in Truyen Kieu appears more than 90 times also has many
ambiguous meanings: "where" expresses an uncertain meaning, not clearly defined
in terms of space, time, and objects; ""đâu" means both to ask and to mean negative
and doubtful; "đâu" is used both with a very light question, and at the same time
expressing a state of bewilderment, surprise, and exclamation . In particular, there
are cases where the word "đâu" appears in a sentence can be combined with the
words before or after it to create different meanings, which are difficult to analyze
because either way makes sense.
3.1.2.2. Metaphors and symbols
Metaphor is the most ambiguous tactic used in every situation in Truyen Kieu.
Metaphors always contain hidden meanings, so they make poetry elegant, profound,
and evoke many emotions.
Nguyen Du used mostly familiar conventional metaphors in ancient poetry, but he
added new meanings and increased the expressive value of the metaphor. For example,
the metaphors: tears of flowers, spring, spring afternoon - autumn strokes...
Symbol is the highest development step of metaphor. A metaphor becomes a
symbol when it enters the cultural life of the nation, carrying rich, complete and
stable meanings. Therefore, symbolic reception is an intertextual process. Readers
must have diverse cultural capital and deep understanding to understand the layers
of symbols. In Truyen Kieu, we encounter many symbols such as: flowers, water,
gold, stones, pearls, sky, wind, rain, snow and frost, especially the symbol "east wall"
which carries many unique meanings at the same time.
3.1.2.3. Words indicating time, conventional space, ambiguity
Nguyen Du uses a system of words indicating conventional time associated with
human philosophy, with folk thinking giving readers many different explanations such
as: hundred years, halfway through spring, windy day and night moon, three autumns,
peaches in the morning and plums in the evening, days of sun and rain, seasons of wind
and moon... They are used for many different purposes: to blur the character's specific
age (green spring is approximately the age of birth); Affirming the character's talent and
beauty (one or two tilts the tide); obscure the character's emotions (a thousand miles
away, three miles away)...
Besides, space is also expressed by Nguyen Du in conventional terms such as:
16
horizon angle, thousands of miles of water, deep sky, deep sky, thick rose bushes,
etc. These words all have general and non-specific meanings, creating a lot of hints
about the depth of emotion and openness. of the landscape. There is a large,
indefinable cosmic space associated with the sense of wandering, floating, and
confusion of the character Thuy Kieu. It is an internalized space, imbued with the
characters' emotions. In front of the ambiguous and uncertain space, people become
more and more small and lonely, especially disoriented, confused and bewildered
by the teasing and tormenting of fate.
3.2.2.4. Classics
Truyen Kieu has 305 classics divided into two categories:used dictionary and
sutras. Not only using a rich dictionary, To Nhu also used a very concise and
concise dictionary. Most dictionaries are used at the level of words (198
dictionaries) and phrases (81 dictionaries) accounting for 91.5%. The content and
meaning of the dictionary are always compressed in a minimum amount of words,
making words less but more meaningful.
Incidents are original samples with psychological depth and community
experience. With the use of dictionaries, Nguyen Du has unconsciously connected
and turned the work into an intersection, meeting point and weaving connection of
many texts. That is intertextuality. It is this intertextual interweaving that allows the
original patterns to be reborn with endless meaning-making possibilities. Thanks to
that, the verse becomes a complex of many meanings carrying a whole thickness of
culture and history.
Nguyen Du uses dictionaries very skillfully and effectively in all situations to
create ambiguity in the lyrics such as when describing scenes, describing people,
describing characters' moods, helping characters to say things that are difficult to
say. full of grace and elegance.
3.1.3. Ambiguous at the syntax level
3.1.3.1. Comb subject
The number of short sentences in Truyen Kieu is relatively large, 442/3254
sentences accounting for 13.6%. Verses that cannot clearly identify the subject often
have the following structure: pity, pity, tell, think or ... In this type of sentence, the
object of the utterance is blurred: it may be a lyrical character, c It can be the author's
own words and it can be anyone's words. This makes the meaning of the whole verse
become ambiguous, the reader easily embodies, penetrates into the emotional circuit
of the poem to empathize and experience the emotional levels with the characters.
3.1.3.2. Rhetorical question
A rhetorical question is a type of question that is not used to ask directly but has a
communicative meaning, expressing other ideas in the sentence. Nguyen Du uses 160/3254
rhetorical questions in Truyen Kieu, including rhetorical questions that can create ambiguity.
Rhetorical questions in Truyen Kieu aim at many different purposes: asking with the purpose
of both opening hearts, starting a conversation and confessing love; Asking to both affirm and
promote Kieu's dignity and praise her talent; Asking aims to both negate, criticize and express
a decisive attitude; Asking with the intention of blaming has many layers of meaning.
Rhetorical questions also have the effect of contributing to expressing emotions, revealing the
17
character's complex thoughts and moods.
3.2. Principle of expression of ambiguity in the language of Truyen Kieu
3.2.1. Rules of limbo folk songs
When expressing feelings, often avoid speaking directly, but often talk around,
stammer. With this expression, the lyrics will become discreet but profound, both specific
and alluding to, far away in accordance with the psychological and cultural characteristics
of the Vietnamese people. There are many ways to say roundabout, ambiguous, and folk
songs: sometimes metaphorical, sometimes frivolous, sometimes using the absurd to say
what is reasonable, borrowing the false to describe the real. All the quintessence of folk
poetry, Nguyen Du has fully inherited and applied flexibly in Truyen Kieu through
metaphors, just to add ambiguity and multi-meaning to the lyrics. . That is what makes
Truyen Kieu language deeply nationalistic, close and familiar in people's lives.
3.2.2. Rules of the Duong’s poetry
It was not until Nguyen Du that the elegance and melancholy of Duong Thi were revealed
brilliantly in Truyen Kieu. He very flexibly and creatively applied dotted and descriptive
penmanship along with conventional and symbolic penmanship to paint word pictures imbued
with Duong poetry in Truyen Kieu such as: spring day scenes, day scenes. summer, autumn
scenes... He also absorbed the spirit of ancient practice, creating an elegant style, rich in imagery
in the use of classics. When using the dictionary, in many different ways, he always tried to
Vietnameseize, innovate, and reconstruct it in his own way so that the dictionary was given
many new meanings. Nguyen Du also has a system of beautified words scattered everywhere
in the work such as: golden well, flower tear, pearl drop,... This not only brings decorative beauty
and splendor to the words but also contribute to evoking profound aggregates, opening up many
ways of understanding poetic images.
3.2.3. Rules of strangeness, breaking all the rules
To Nhu is a master at creating new words. He created vocabulary fields for colors
(meditation color, unfinished color, mandarin color, teasing color...), for smell (smell of
memory, smell of meditation) by combining strange words. Nguyen Du even broke all
norms when reinterpreting Chinese idioms and classics into pure Vietnamese with great
skill (eating the wind and lying in the rain, cranes inside thousands of clouds...). By
playing with words, Nguyen Du has enriched the Vietnamese language, suggesting
many possibilities of association that deeply admire readers of Truyen Kieu. Later, the
most innovative people in using words such as Tran Dan, Le Dat, Bui Giang all learned
how to speak Vietnamese from Nguyen Du.
3.3. The beauty of ambiguity in the language of Truyen Kieu
3.3.1.Game
Each letter, thanks to the talented hands of artist Nguyen Du, has become a
performance, virtual and ambiguous, creating excitement and beauty for all social
classes. Readers are free to play with Nguyen Du's playground of tactics such as: the
strange language system and the way to combine words with Nguyen Du's copyright
stamp. He maximized the expressiveness of Vietnamese when combining pure nom
words together; change the order of unique word combinations; driving talk; play with
words in the style of extraction; thoroughly exploit polysemous words...
Nguyen Du also blurs the boundary of the sacred opposites in the Truyen Kieu
18
language by means of conventions. In the sacred there is custom, in the custom there
is sacred, it is difficult to distinguish clearly. Therefore, no one can "condemn", or
"refute" the author. Up to now, perhaps no one has surpassed Nguyen Du in terms
of "writing". Turning the work into a language game, towards the spirit of freedom,
entertainment, "entertainment" is one of the poet's intentions.
3.3.2. Filled with love
Only love is a lyrical nuance, inclined to express inner feelings and emotions.
Ambiguous language helps Nguyen Du go deep into the inner life of people to
exploit and evoke the most melancholy emotional areas that cannot be touched by
clear rational language. Thanks to that, the poet could analyze the character's
psychology to the end, ruthlessly, and became the first person to successfully build
a psychological character in medieval literature.
The more psychologically heavy scenes we see, the more we see Nguyen Du's talent
in using ambiguous methods to create romantic words. These are the passages: Kim Trong
is in love with Thuy Kieu, Kim Trong returns to Thuy's garden, Gives grace,... The author
has handled it very skillfully to be able to call out the most subtle feelings of sadness and
agitation. Touch characters with just a few strokes.
3.3.3. Filled with sentimentality
Courage is poetic, evocative of infinite emotions, is an idea beyond words,
something that can only be felt but is difficult to explain. The best, the most
mysterious, the most charming thing in the language of Truyen Kieu is the
sentimentality. Because sentimentalism is ambiguity, the means and basis for
creating the unique sentimental and carnaval spirit in the great poet's masterpiece.
All the artistic tricks Nguyen Du used make the language of the work become
ambiguous, fanciful, evoking emotions. In particular, Nguyen Du's art of depicting
scenes reaches a refined level. That art is no different from painting a watercolor
painting, punctuated with evocative, more or less meaningful words, creating a
strong sentimentality.
Sub-conclusion of chapter 3:
Understanding the ambiguity in the text structure of Truyen Kieu is first to discover
the beauty of words because words are the first element of literature. Nguyen Du uses
a lot of artistic techniques to build a rhetorical strategy that creates ambiguity in the
lyrics. Those tactics are used based on certain principles: both absorb the mumbling,
sentimental language of folk songs and skillfully combine with the classical style of
Duong’s poetry. In particular, he broke all norms, used words with the spirit of freedom
and alienation, creating many unprecedented possibilities of Vietnamese, which no
one had ever done before. The above principles are the inner reason that creates the
beauty of ambiguity in the words of Truyen Kieu. Indeed, the ambiguous word world
of the work has brought readers a variety of aesthetic experiences, we can play with
Truyen Kieu, explore the most melancholy emotional areas in Truyen Kieu and freely
develop. Use your imagination with Truyen Kieu. That is the reason why from the past
until now, Truyen Kieu has made readers so interested and passionate. In any respect,
Nguyen Du also deserves to be honored as a language master. Thereby, we strongly
affirm the value of the work.
19
Chapter 4
AMBIGUITY ON THE LEVEL OF THE IMAGE OF TRUYEN KIEU
4.1. Ambiguity in the art of building the narrator image of Truyen Kieu
4.1.1. The uncertainty of the narrator's point of view
Although Nguyen Du's narrator is still the all-knowing third person, there has been a
qualitative change compared to the image of the narrator in traditional literature and the
story of Kim Van Kieu through the use of ambiguous tactics. He stands in a multidimensional, more dynamic point of view: sometimes he uses the complex viewpoint of
both the narrator and the character, both inside and outside. He also moves his point of view
flexibly: sometimes he stands level with the story he is telling to present; other times,
penetrating into the story, erasing the narrative gap, telling to sympathize, to better
understand life; Sometimes giving narrative power to different characters in the story,
placing the point of view on the now to increase dialogue, sometimes letting the characters
tell about themselves with self-questioning questions that invite readers to think together.
ponder... The choice of point of view is one of the important foundations that create the
multi-meaning, ambiguous world in the work. The story being told becomes multidimensional, the characters are no longer easy to understand but become complex,
unpredictable, constantly moving and changing.
4.1.2. The complex variation of the narrator's tone of voice
Nguyen Du's narrator's voice actually does not create the multi-voice and
dialogue from the perspective of Bakhtin's novel, but it is more vivid. It is not
simply the objective voice of a person standing outside the story doing the task
of summarizing and evaluating as in the story of Kim Van Kieu, but a bivalent
tone appears (at the same time opening up two contradictory attitudes, bringing
ambivalence) or complex, contradictory changes in tone (when building a
character, when determining the idea of fortune or when explaining the cause of
Thuy Kieu's suffering) show a multi-dimensional, complex sense. storyteller's
nonsense. This innovation marks the furthest development of medieval narrative
thinking in the Nom story genre.
4.2. Ambiguity in the art building of character of Truyen Kieu
4.2.1. The character is a contradictory being
4.2.1.1. Conflict with myself
The contradictions in the character's being are thoroughly exploited, deepened
and pushed by To Nhu: figure with torn monologue language; character with inner
conflict with actions and character with inconsistent expressions in actions and
words. All contribute to expressing Nguyen Du's new concept of man. Characters in
Truyen Kieu are no longer moral people like in Kim Van Kieu, but have become
psychological people, individuals with complex "inner truths", who are "explicit"
people. hesitate". It is this uniqueness that is the cause of the ambiguity, many
interpretations, creating a voice of endless dialogue between the conceptions of the
character's personality. This is a really new point in the art of character building,
before Nguyen Du wasn’t nowhere.
20
4.2.1.2. Contradictions with opinion, social morality
Nguyen Du's character is set in the context of the times, almost no one fits the
social framework. This happens when characters act, think, and speak not according
to the objective logic of life, do not express themselves according to the standards,
according to the majority, but choose for themselves a different or even individual
behavior, hard to understand. From the point of view of social morality, these are
deviant characters, causing much controversy, even creating an unfinished dialogue
in the reception of many ages between concepts: old - new, traditional - modern,
feudal - people...
4.2.2. The variability of character
4.2.2.1. Characters are pushed into paradoxical situations
The living environment of the characters in Truyen Kieu is a situation full of paradoxes.
Living in such a society, Nguyen Du's character is often pushed into ironic situations. During
the character's behavior with life, Nguyen Du not only shows the movement of personality
due to the impact of circumstances but also very successfully portrays the internal
development of personality according to dialectical logic. testimony of the soul. From there,
he pointed out, the character always has to waver, struggle, and be torn between two
categories: heart - reason, subjectivity - objectivity, ego - society. The character's personality
is both required to change according to circumstances and to move according to subjective
internal logic. All make the process of character development diverse, difficult to grasp,
beyond our inference but extremely realistic.
4.2.2.2. Characters change their behavior, attitude to the same problem, an object
Nguyen Du also puts a problem, a relationship, a character's action in many different
situations to highlight different behaviors, movement processes, and changes in the character's
personality. Also depicting Thuy Kieu playing an instrument, To Nhu is placed in four
different situations. At each moment, Kieu's guitar sound contains diverse emotional levels
that represent the movement and changes in the character's personality. Let's describe Thuy
Kieu's love feelings, but in different situations, we see her emotional state and behavior also
change colorfully, richly and complexly.
People, everyone will change over time, that's what Nguyen Du wants to prove through
the character system in Truyen Kieu, typically through the character Thuy Kieu. In Kieu, we
can't come across a mood or emotion that is repeated twice because Nguyen Du describes the
character with a constant emotional and personality movement.
4.2.2.3. Characters appear multi-faceted in complex, multidimensional relationships
Nguyen Du has placed his character in an intricate web of relationships. In each
relationship, the character's personality appears with different expressions that are both
rich and complex, creating a multifaceted character image.
Considering the relationships with many forces and different characters in the story,
Thuy Kieu's behavior reveals a contradictory personality, rich and ever-changing
expression. Other characters are also built at the same time, having many relationships
that are both contrasting and similar to Thuy Kieu's character: Dam Tien in the
relationship with Thuy Kieu has the role of both imposing fate and redirecting destiny;
21
Hoan Thu in his relationship with Thuy Kieu is both an enemy and a confidant ; Thuc
Sinh in relationship with Thuy Kieu is the moon wind or yellow stone; Tu Hai in his
relationship with Thuy Kieu appeared as both an ideal hero and a fool.
4.3. Ambiguity and the artistic conception of human by Nguyen Du in Truyen Kieu
4.3.1. The artistic conception of superior human
The images of the great people such as: Tu Hai, Kim Trong, Thuy Kieu, on
the one hand are highlighted with ideal qualities representing the values that the
author wants to affirm by the system of conventional and preferential methods
described above. The natural background brings romantic and soaring emotions.
On the other hand, the character begins to break away from the standards of the
times with normal and mundane expressions such as confusion, passion for love,
gullibility, greed that makes the reader read. doubt, sympathy… Two opposing
states exist interlaced, torn in a whole. This is a sign of the emergence of a
conscious person, an individual person, a person who gradually separates
himself from the community. It is because of those multi-faceted expressions
that create rich feelings, even unending controversy about the character. This
also shows the complexity of Nguyen Du's artistic thought: both influenced by
orthodox confucianism and influenced by the sense of the times. All converged,
fiercely contested in the soul of a great artist.
4.3.2. The artistic conception of ordinary people
Ordinary, secular people appear with many diverse and complex aspects in Truyen
Kieu, concretized through the characters: Thuc Sinh, Hoan Thu, Thuy Van and
especially Thuy Kieu. Each secular person in Truyen Kieu is highlighted with the love
aspect, the personal human aspect. With understanding and generosity, Nguyen Du
realizes that every individual has weaknesses, mediocrity, mistakes, passions,
aspirations, smallness, loneliness, and pitifulness. They live in specific, individual
situations and deal with all that is characteristic of human nature. This is the individual
person in a complete whole, full of contradictions that one cannot see according to a
predetermined concept. It is this feature that leads to the writer's multi-dimensional
view in character description.
Sub-conclusion of chapter 4
Ambiguity on the visual level makes Truyen Kieu a beckoning texture. With
an engaging and vivid story-telling, flexible moving point of view, dualistic tone,
complex transformation, the story seems to be ongoing and unfinished to express
a multi-dimensional, ever-moving world sense, ceaselessly changing. Characters
are always unknown, contradictory, variable, inviting the reader's discovery. This
is an important aspect that creates the aesthetic and attractiveness of Truyen Kieu,
explaining why people always argue and discuss about the characters as well as
the ideas and themes of the work.
Through the expression of ambiguity in the figurative world Truyen Kieu,
Nguyen Du also expresses a deeply humanistic and humanistic conception of
man. Those are the beautiful people who began to show deviations. They are
also mundane mortals with mixed expressions of good and bad. To Nhu's sense
22
of multi-valued life and new conception of man is a unique feature. Because it
is thanks to the multi-dimensional worldview, the writer has shown the character
in Truyen Kieu with all its contradictions, multi-dimensional polyphony, and
ambiguity, creating the typical atmosphere of modern novels. That is the Nom
stories and traditional novels could not do before, brought great contributions to
the process of literary innovation.
CONCLUTION
1. Ambiguity naming an indeterminate state, which is the essence of life and
a permanent feature in human cognitive thinking. The thesis comes to a vague
assertion that is a very important quality in artistic thinking and is one of the
aesthetic qualities of literature.
The phenomenon of ambiguity has been known for a long time but has not been
fully and systematically studied. Over time, this phenomenon has been identified
with different names. In the thesis, we agree the name for the concept is ambiguity
(The term was first proposed by W. Empson in 1930). Compared to W.Empson's
concept, the concept of ambiguity proposed by the thesis has a broader scope
including the phenomenon of multi-meaning ambiguity, uncertain ambiguity and
always moving about meaning. They are richly expressed on various levels: words,
images, ideas, themes, and meanings of literary works.
The basis for the formation of ambiguity in literature is governed by creative
thinking; characteristics of the artistic text and the reception process. The
ambiguity in literature has a rich system of devices from folklore to medieval,
modern and postmodern. The development of literature is associated with change,
increasing ambiguity, and at the same time, it is a mark of affirmation of the
artist's talent in the sense of artistic innovation. Since then, the thesis affirms the
meaning and important role of ambiguity in the movement of literature:
ambiguity is capable of expressing the world of human life and spirit in all
dimensions; is an aspect that creates the aesthetic pleasure of literature by its
endless ability to create meaning; promote reader co-creation.
2. Truyen Kieu is the pinnacle achievement and heritage of national literature.
Nguyen Du has developed a rhetorical strategy to exploit to the very end the
variation, the value of words, which is the aspect that creates ambiguity and creates
the aesthetic value of Truyen Kieu's words .
Nguyen Du uses ambiguous tricks on all levels: phonetics, vocabulary, syntax. The
techniques are used densely, skillfully and culminating in Truyen Kieu. The thesis not
only makes statistics and shows the system of tricks but also analyzes and
clarifies the layers of meaning, explains the logic of the ambiguous. The
ambiguous system of tricks that To Nhu used was the result of a conscious and
principled artistic process. It is a harmonious combination of folk - classical - modern
values. The word in Nguyen Du's hand is no longer a means but has become the goal
and object of art. With Truyen Kieu, Nguyen Du succeeded in exploiting the
aesthetic effect of words. He turned the work into a language playground, a "jubilant
canaval of Vietnamese" (Tran Dinh Su), where words are always unstable and in the
process of producing meaning. To Nhu became the first person in medieval
23
literature to call out the most melancholy, subtlest emotions, which clear reason
cannot touch thanks to a language system imbued with idealism, sentimentality,
evoke feelings to infinity. Nguyen Du has brought the Vietnamese language to
its peak.
Research the ambiguity on the linguistic level of Truyen Kieu, the thesis
contributes to affirming Nguyen Du's masterful linguistic talent. His inner
strength of words inspired endless poetry for later. That's why people call him
"logistics of Vietnamese"(Pham Thi Hoai). The beauty of the shimmering,
variable language in the text structure is the reason why readers for generations
are fascinated by Truyen Kieu.
3. The ambiguity on the level of images Truyen Kieu has created key
innovations in the storytelling and character building of Nguyen Du.
Considering the ambiguous method in narrative art, the thesis points out the
ambiguity in Nguyen Du's art of building the image of a storyteller. He has a
more dynamic, richer point of view than the traditional narrator: removing the
narrative gap, creating a blurred relationship between the character and the
narrator; empowering narration for different characters in the story to increase dialogue,
let the characters tell about themselves with self-questioning questions that express a
vague and ambiguous sense of life; always put yourself in the now and here of the
character. The story is actualized as happening and continues to evolve, not yet finished.
The meaning of the work thus expands and is always in the unfinished process. The
characters are therefore no longer easy to understand but become complex,
unpredictable, dualistic, and constantly changing. That is an important basis for creating
a multi-meaningful, ambiguous world in the work.
In addition, Nguyen Du's narrator often uses two-tone prose, double-talking style. His
tone is also varied, rich, and contradictory when building characters. With the same
character, the narrator's attitude is very multidimensional: when praising, when
sarcastically, when he pitys, when he criticizes... This is very different from the tone of the
narrator in the traditional Nom story and the original version. Kim Van Kieu of China. It is
rooted in the perception of multi-valued reality and the complexity of the author's thought.
4. Studying the ambiguity in the art of building character images, the thesis shows
that with Truyen Kieu, for the first time, the image of a two-faced human appears. They
are contradictory beings, unable to identify with themselves, in conflict with
society.The contradictions are thoroughly exploited, deepened and pushed by Nguyen
Du: from the inner conflict to the contradiction between the inner man and the man
who acts; higher is the inconsistency in action and language; and finally humans began
to have manifestations beyond the framework, contradicting the moral and social
views. Those are characters that are completely different from the characters in
traditional narrative works. They are incomplete, "with some excess of humanity",
creating a voice of endless dialogue between concepts.
Besides, to highlight the character's variability, Nguyen Du often pushes the
character into ironic and paradoxical situations. The character's personality is both
forced to change according to the circumstances and has the movement according to the
subjective internal logic that becomes diverse, elusive, outside of our inference but
24
extremely real. Nguyen Du also places a relationship, an action of the character in many
situations, that is, the same thing is reflected in different circumstances. Each character
is often placed in complex, multi-dimensional relationships that both contrast and
complement, thereby highlighting the multi-faceted personality and qualities.
The ambiguity on the level of the image of Truyen Kieu represents Nguyen Du's
conception of man. This conceptuality is not only To Nhu's interpretation and
interpretation of people, but also shows the author's aesthetic sense. The man in his
opinion no longer single-sided, there has been a shift from a divine person to a
secular person, from a moral person to an individual person with complex and
contradictory psychological manifestations that go beyond the original and the
original works. Nom Tales of the same period. I both love and admire the
extraordinary qualities of great people and doubt, wonder, and sympathize with
small, lonely, earthly, mundane people. The innovation in narrative strategy and the
art of building the main character is the reason why readers are always arguing about
the image world as well as the subject's ideology.
Previously, no one considered ambiguity as the dominant factor creating the
value of Truyen Kieu, the thesis has contributed to affirming that ambiguity is an
important aspect that makes up the aesthetic value and attractiveness of the work. It
is also a measure of the artist's talent. From time immemorial the top names in
literature have been masters of ambiguity. Using the method of ambiguity
effectively on the linguistic and symbolic aspects of Truyen Kieu, Nguyen Du
marked a new step in artistic thinking, narrative thinking, Vietnamese thinking, and
artistic conception of human. As a result, Truyen Kieu is no longer included in
medieval Nom poetry, but has broken the framework and gradually approached
modern literary poetics.
Studying the ambiguity in the text structure of Truyen Kieu opens a new approach
to affirm the peak value of a classical literary work, showing that the ambiguity in
medieval literature needs to be exploited. I can compare the way To Nhu plays
with ambiguity with that of other medieval poets or study the changing
movement of ambiguity in Vietnamese poetry in which Nguyen Du is the focus.
The work also paved the way, helping us to have a new approach to modern literary
works with a series of evocative issues such as: how is ambiguity expressed in
modern literature? How does the ambiguity in Truyen Kieu affect later poetry?
Why is it said that Huy Can's six bowls influence the six bowls of Truyen Kieu?
Why did Bui Giang translate Shakespeare ? in the language of Truyen Kieu?
comparing the difference between poetic ambiguity and prose ambiguity... In
addition to the ambiguous elements in the internal structure of literary texts such as
language, images, ambiguity It also manifests itself in terms of structure,
intertextuality, ambiguity in reception, ambiguity in the creative thinking of the
artist, the relationship between ambiguity and psychoanalysis, ambiguity and
culture. study… To be more complete and in-depth, we can enhance the study
of ambiguous poetics in literature. It can be seen that this is a topic that suggests
many directions for future literary research.
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS RELATED
TO THE THESIS
1. Nguyen Hong Hanh (2016), Basis for the formation of ambiguity in
poetic language, Capital University Science and Technology, No.
7/2016, Hanoi.
2. Nguyen Hong Hanh (2017), Manifestations of ambiguity in poetic
language, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, No. 23/2018,
Hanoi.
3. Nguyen Hong Hanh is the head of the topic (2017), Expression of
ambiguity in poetic language (survey of the Junior High School
Literature program ), a school-level science project for acceptance in
June 2017, Hanoi Capital University Hanoi.
4. Nguyen Hong Hanh (2022), The spirit of Carnaval in the language of
Truyen Kieu, viewed from an aesthetic perspective, Culture and Arts
Foundation (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), No. 503, June
2022, Hanoi.
5. Nguyen Hong Hanh (2022), The aesthetic meaning of ambiguity in
literature, Hanoi National University of Education, No. 3/2022,
Hanoi.
6. Nguyen Hong Hanh (2022), Character is a contradictory being in
Truyen Kieu, Culture and Arts Foundation (Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism), No. 509, September 2022, Hanoi.
7. Nguyen Hong Hanh (2022), The ambiguity of Truyen Kieu from the
perspective of reception, Capital University Science and Technology,
No. 63/2022, Hanoi.