The Confucian Principles in "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee"
The book Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, is a murder mystery where Judge Dee, a district magistrate of Chang-ping, solves three separate murders within his district. This novel takes place during the Tang dynasty where Confucianism was the dominant philosophy with few Legalist ideas within the government. Confucians valued education and the different roles and relationships within a society. Judge Dee was a real person that lived during the Tang dynasty but this novel is a fictional interpretation on what his role would be as district magistrate of Chang-ping. During the Tang dynasty, legalism was demonstrated through harsh punishments such as 100 bamboo strikes to the back or as a way to get information out of someone. In the novel, Judge Dee was portrayed as a stern individual who values the law. Even though currently as a society, torture is considered to be an unethical and brutal way of enforcing the law, during the Tang dynasty, it was a customary part of the law.
In the novel, Judge Dee uses torture to get information out of a suspect and harsh punishments but, because of the time period and the principles that were established as a society, his actions were justified as he was following the law. Three significant Confucian principles are yì, li, and ren. The Chinese word yì translates to righteousness or a having a sense of justice, loyalty, or moral action. Lǐ can be translated as ritual, which can include ceremonies and etiquette. Rén was often described as benevolence or goodwill. Based off of the Confucian principles yì, li, and ren, Judge Dee should be considered an ideal magistrate during the Tang Dynasty. First of all, the Confucian principle yì, meaning righteousness, describes that Judge Dee should be considered an ideal magistrate during a double murder. Yì was one of the many principles that make up the aspects of Confucianism. A deeper meaning of yì is a moral way of doing something or needing justice.
An example of Judge Dee displaying righteousness was when he investigated a double murder and one of the suspects was Warden Pang. When Judge Dee was speaking to Sergeant Hoong he said, “This crime certainly was not committed by Koong. I rather suspect Warden Pang. He immediately accused someone, in order to prevent us from suspecting him”. In this quote, Judge Dee justifies his suspicions of Warden Pang later in the novel and clears Koong’s name and was not naive to the fact that because Pang was a Warden, he could not commit a crime. Because the Warden was an authority figure in the community, Judge Dee could have waived this suspicion off, but he persisted in the investigation. Judge Dee displayed yì because he stuck to his morals and didn’t care about Warden Pang’s title. Moreover, Judge Dee should be considered an ideal scholar-official because he demonstrated yì when dealing with the investigation of an affair. In this murder, Judge Dee examined a case in which Mr. Bee was killed, but his mother Mrs. Bee had assumed that it was from natural causes. The wife of Mr. Bee, Mrs. Djou, was interrogated by Judge Dee, as he suspected that she had killed her own husband. Even though he had no solid evidence, Judge Dee tortured Mrs. Djou to try and get information, but she persisted that he wrongfully accused her. After giving it much thought he reported this incident, as he did not have enough concrete evidence to convict Mrs. Djou.
Later in the novel, Judge Dee was able to solve the murder of Mr. Bee and hold Mrs. Djou responsible. After the murder was solved, the Governor of Shantung, where Chang ping is located, held a dinner with Censor Yen Lee-ben, a highly regarded scholar. It was here where they both spoke about Judge Dee and held him with high regard for solving all three cases written about in the novel, but especially the one about the adulterous wife. At the dinner the Governor said, “at one time it seemed that he had blundered badly and the prefect reported to me that magistrate Dee had recommended himself for appropriate punishment, having falsely accused and tortured a woman. Knowing his previous record, i did not act on this self-accusation for some time, and kept it on file, hoping that he would be able to set things right. ” This quote explains how Judge Dee has a good sense of justice because he was able to admit that he made a mistake and was willing to take the appropriate consequences. Being honest and fair was an important component of being an exemplary magistrate, which Judge Dee demonstrates to be. This quote from the novel was spoken by the Governor who has a high political position and it was agreed upon that Judge Dee was an exemplary magistrate based on his righteousness. The Governor also says that he didn’t act on the accusation implying that Judge Dee has always had a respectable record. It was also implied that the Governor had respect and faith towards Judge Dee because he says that he hopes that Judge Dee will be able to work things out. Based on the admirable opinions that the high officials have for Judge Dee and the fact that he turned himself in, and accepted any consequences for his actions, shows that Judge Dee should be considered an ideal magistrate. These examples greatly demonstrate yì because of his strong sense of justice.
Secondly, the Chinese word lǐ translates to ritual and was shown in the novel when Mrs. Djou spoke rudely to Judge Dee when he was disguised as a doctor. He was there to help cure Mrs. Bee’s granddaughter, who lost her ability to speak. When at their house, Mrs. Djou had gotten angry with her mother for letting a man into their home and spoke rude words to Judge Dee. After this he said, “Although I am but a travelling doctor, I still expect that people show me due respect, else I must refuse to treat them. Now this daughter-in-law of yours without any reason insults me, who am I not asking one copper for my services”. This quote shows how Judge Dee ensured that he was spoken to with respect and treated appropriately, even though he was disguised as a doctor. In the quote, he establishes his stern behavior and that he values the order of power. When Mrs. Djou disrespects Judge Dee, one of the reasons why he gets so agitated was because Mrs. Djou was breaking the rules of relationships. The Confucians believed that in society, everyone had a certain role that had to be fulfilled, and that there were certain rules of relationships that had to be followed in order for society to properly function. If one does not follow these rules, like respecting someone of a higher status, they feared that it would harm society and ruin the order of things. In comparison, Judge Dee should be considered an ideal magistrate because he demonstrated lǐ before exhuming the body of Bee Hsun.
In the ninth chapter of the novel, Judge Dee has the coffin of Bee Hsun exhumed so an autopsy of his body may be performed. Exhuming the coffin was considered to be cruel so there was much opposition from Mrs. Bee but nevertheless, Judge Dee did not comply to her pleas to stop. Instead, he ordered Mrs. Djou to “offer a prayer to his soul”. In this quote, Judge Dee regards ritual and commands Mrs. Djou to pay respects towards her husband by bowing three times in front of his grave. One definition of the value lǐ is “formal ritual, whether religious (ritual, rites) or civil (ceremonies)”. This proves that Judge Dee should be advised as an excellent magistrate because Judge Dee followed appropriate rituals before exhuming the body of Bee Hsun. Another reason Judge Dee had ordered Mrs. Bee to pray in front of her husband’s grave was so that he could observe her reaction to try and prove her guilty of killing Bee Hsun.
Finally, the Confucian principle rén was demonstrated by Judge Dee when he met Ma Joong and Chiao Tai when they tried to rob him on the highways. Judge Dee saw that the two bandits were talented at boxing and fencing so in his perspective, It seemed to Judge Dee that he might well try to reform these men, and engage their service later to assist him in executing the King’s business; in such a way their talents might be of good purpose. Judge Dee displays rén or benevolence because he was able to look past these highway robbers’ faults and see their potential in aiding him as district-magistrate. One of the robbers even goes on explaining how no one would employ them so they restored to being highway robbers and that they were moved by Judge Dee’s kind words. Judge Dee made Ma Joong and Chiao Tai his lieutenants and used them for dangerous tasks like capturing criminals. Benevolence was exhibited by Judge Dee because his kindness led to him giving two men who were formally unemployed jobs that aided him as magistrate.
Furthermore, Judge Dee should be considered an ideal magistrate because he had displayed rén when determining the fate of Mrs. Bee. An example of Judge Dee demonstrating rén is when he had empathy towards Bee Hsun’s daughter. After sentencing Mrs. Djou and Hsu Deh-tai to death Judge Dee had called up Mrs. Bee and said, “You failed in your duty of supervising the conduct of your daughter-in-law, and consequently two heinous crimes were committed in your house. In view of the fact, however, that you are by nature an extremely stupid woman, you have Bee Hsun’s daughter to support, I shall let you go free. ” Judge Dee states that even though Mrs. Bee let the two crimes occur by her daughter in law and her secret lover without her knowledge, and that she had persisted to demonstrate that she was very stupid, he had compassion for her because Mrs. Bee had to take care of her granddaughter. Judge Dee later rewards Mrs. Bee with money to provide her granddaughter with an education. Judge Dee demonstrates rén because he shows good faith and empathy towards Mrs. Bee’s granddaughter because she would be left without a mother and father. Being benevolent makes Judge Dee and excellent magistrate because the Confucian value rén can also be translated to love or good moral nature. Judge Dee exemplified rén by ensuring that the girl was not orphaned and that she had money for her education.
In conclusion, the Confucian principles yì, lǐ, and ren, exemplify the reason that Judge Dee should be considered an ideal magistrate. Throughout the novel, he was able to repeatedly demonstrated yì, lǐ, and ren, which are three of the most important values. This is because another Confucian value Zhì, or wisdom means, “understanding righteousness (yì 义), experiencing good will (rén 仁), and practicing etiquette (lǐ 礼), ” (Jordan). This quote proves that the three values yì, lǐ, and ren, were significant because these three values makes up wisdom, which is something that an exemplary magistrate would have. Judge Dee ends up solving all three murders and at the end of the novel, gets promoted. This shows that people superior to Judge Dee thought that he was such an outstanding magistrate that they promoted him to work in the Emperor's palace. Therefore, the novel Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee describes Judge Dee as an ideal magistrate considering the three Confucian principles yì, lǐ, and ren.
