Symbolic Meanings of Red and Black

Abstract

Stendhal is regarded as "Father of the modern novel", his masterpiece Le Rouge et le Noir (Red and Black), is the foundation of critical realism literature. In novel Julien Sorel deeps up his true feeling in order to pursue fame and fortune, to squeeze into the upper class, and he covers up his original face with hypocrisy to adapt to the society. Stendhal's creation and contribution lies in the creative use of symbolic description, depicting the 1830 French Bourbon Restoration of social life truthfully and artistically. In this novel, he ingeniously uses a variety of color description techniques, showing his artistic effect. Attempts have been made to solve the riddle of the title Stendhal chose for his novel, none has proved totally satisfactory. This paper analyses the symbolic meaning of "red" and "black" from different angles on the basis of deeply understanding author's intention. This paper states that the influence of his writing is universal and connected to humans, while studying the meaningful symbolism is a absolutely good beginning for understanding Stendhal.