Deconstructing the “Integrated Personality”: How Baochai and Daiyu in Dream of the Red Chamber Transcends the “Desire-Survival” Paradigm of The Plum in the Golden Vase and Its Cultural Implications

Abstract

Existing studies on Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu in Dream of the Red Chamber as an “integrated personality” are limited. Comparisons with The Plum in the Golden Vase also remain superficial, failing to grasp Cao Xueqin’s creative core and the cultural evolution of classical female images. Centering on the feminine decomposition of late feudal scholars’ ideal personality, this study utilizes close textual reading and historical-cultural analysis to compare the “integrated Baochai-Daiyu” with the desiredriven female characters in The Plum in the Golden Vase. It breaks the “Baochai-Daiyu opposition” to reveal their complementation as a complete scholar’s personality, linking their spiritual predicaments to late feudal culture—the collapse of Confucian “self-cultivation, family regulation, state governance, and world peace” and Buddhist-Taoist “impermanence, reflecting collective scholar anxiety rather than individual female tragedy. It further clarifies Cao’s “ideal construction” and Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng’s “reality deconstruction,” confirming that Baochai-Daiyu transcends the “desire carrier” stereotypes in The Plum in the Golden Vase to become symbols of scholars’ spiritual pursuits. This study concludes that the integrated Baochai-Daiyu personality is a breakthrough in classical female portrayal, embodying Cao’s criticism of late feudalism and the pursuit of balanced scholar’s personalities. It fills gaps in existing research and offers a new path for classical novel comparison.