Raise the Red Lantern

Ebert states, “If you are only given one game to play, it is human nature to try to win it.” Songlian is caught in a game that has her freedom as its stakes. Although she is at first incensed at her fate, she reluctantly accepts it and gradually comes to realize that there may be only one way to protect her freedom. She must be willing to sacrifice everything materialistic in her life and withdraw from society altogether. As a madwoman, she is given freedom that she did not possess before. When Songlian first attempts to punish her maid Yaner, it backfires on her. Her servant stays out in the rain, despi

The master, as an object representing society and its enslaving traditions, is seldom pictured. Instead, the focus is on the competition of the women’s quest to win his affections. Songlian is told that if she manages to keep the master in her bedroom every night, she will be treated differently by the servants and other wives. The Master is only a means to an end. He is a tool they struggle to manipulate to get the power they so long for. Ebert comments, “The rich man is nowhere to be seen, except in hints and shadows. He is a patriarchal offstage presence, as his four wives and the household staff scheme among themselves for his favor.” While representing this villainous society, the Master represents everything evil in Songlian’s world. Irrational Songlian may seem insane in her master’s eyes, much like the lifeless prey appears undesirable to it's predator. In most societies, no one wants to deal with the insane or demented, putting them away, we turn them into the son or daughter we never talk about. By becoming a socially ostracized person, out of sight and out of mind, Songlian’s main objective is accomplished.

The other wives have adapted to the lifestyle in their own ways. The first wife is the most passive, resigned to her fate. From the very beginning, when Songlian is introduced to the first wife, she is advised to get used to it. After Songlian leaves, you hear the first wife utter the words “such sin” while referring to Songlian’s age and that of the elderly master. The second wife is treacherous, “with the face of Buddha, and the heart of a scorpion.” She knows how to play the game and manipulates those around her. She has accepted her fate as well, but decides to do everything in her power to make things work in her favor. The third wife may be the least adaptive, refusing to let go of acting and keeping a boyfriend outside the marriage. However, her philandering should prove to be an act of rebellion, also requiring knowledge about the system, and how to work it, in order to protect her secrets. Songlian, on the other hand, has chosen to take the path less traveled. The different ways that the other wives rebel may seem unique, but really, they are all the same. They have done just

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