Introduction
The drama opens with the play’s main character, Prince GONGSUN-Yu of Tingan in fierce combat with Prince Ch’ou Jong of Northern Yan. GONGSUN-Yu heard tragic news of his father’s death. He leaves the battlefield and hastens back to the palace in the capital.
When he arrives, he discovers that his uncle has both married the Queen, his mother, and has acceded the throne. Full of sorrow and pain, Gong is comforted by his tender young lover, Hsiao Hsiang. But Hsiao Hsiang’s farther, Chancellor Hsiao, turns up unexpectedly at the scene and separates the two lovers. The harsh attitude of the chancellor makes Gong suspicious, and while in this mood, his friend Houo Hsugang comes to tell him about strange appearances near the city walls. Shortly after hearing the news, the ghost of the late king appears to Gong and informs him of the mean plot of his mother and uncle to murder him. Totally shocked, Gong loses consciousness. Shortly after, the prince’s behavior becomes strange and everyone around him thinks he has gone insane. His uncle tries to show concern by inviting a theater troupe to entertain Gong. Gong decides to use this opportunity to point out all the wrongdoings of his uncle in public, by asking “the actors to perform a play about the murder of a king” His plan proues successful and the king leaves the play enraged.
Full of hatred, the king plans to send the Prince on holiday to a neighbouting state, using his mental illness as an excuse.
Meanwhile, the chancellor hears that the Prince and the Queen have secretly arranged a meeting, and may eventually make a stand against the king, so he enters the palace to eavesdrop on them. In the palace, the Prince and Queen are bitterly arguing, when suddenly the ghost of Gong’s father appears and pleads with him to take revenge as soon as he can. Gong takes up a sword, and the Queen thinks he is going crazy again because she cannot see or hear the ghost. She cries out in fear of her life, but the Prince ignores her since he has noticed someone lurking behind a curtain and thinks it can only be his uncle. He stabs the man to death, only to realize then that it is the chancellor instead.
In the meantime, Prince Ch’ou Jong has turned up at the borders again, and Hsiao Yi (Hsiao Hsiang’s brother and the chancellor’s son) is called on to oppose him. When Hsiao Yi hears about his father’s death, he rushes back to the capital, giving Prince Ch’ou the chance to prepare a full-scale invasion of Tingan.
Gong Sunyu is exiled from Tingan, and the king hires two assassins to follow and murder him. Meanwhile Hsiao Hsiang is in great despair, as her lover has gone insane and has been exiled, and her father has been brutally murdered. She goes to the “Hundred Flower Lake” to mourn her situation. She compares the purity of life with the water lilies she sees there. The King and Queen come to look for her, and tell her of her brother’s plans to avenge his father’s death. This distresses Hsiao Hsiang, and she wanders away, With the Queen following her.
A letter arrives for the King from Gong Sunyu, mocking the failed assassination and vowing to take revenge.
The King plans to save himself by arranging a duel between Hsiao Yi and Gong Sunyu, As he is planning this, the Queen suddenly appears to tell him that Hsiao Hsang has fallen into the lake and is already dead.
As Gong is returning to the capital, he comes across a gravedigger working in a graveyard. He finds out that he is digging Hsiao Hsiang’s grave, and breaks down at the graveside and cries bitterly.
History
1990 :War and Eternity, adapted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, was premiered, Taipei.
