Commentary: An Ling Rong
In this series, An Ling Rong is a scheming woman who betrayed Zhen Huan just to gain the Emperor's favour, and even plotted to banish her family from the capital.
An Ling Rong's background
She is the eldest daughter to a lowly official. While her mother is the first wife, and thus, in Chinese society, should command the highest power and respect, she is bullied by the younger and prettier concubines that her father has married after he became rich.
Even though her father is rich, their family is still of lowly status as compared to the other noble ladies in the palace. She is thus bullied by the other concubines of the Emperor. This caused her to develop an inferiority complex, and be vindictive.
An Ling Rong in the palace
An Ling Rong is a multi-talented woman. She can sing, make fragrances, dance, and she is also very perceptive. And even though a woman with such talents should have been favoured by the Emperor, she is overlooked because of her family background.
She is also very perceptive. Being with the Empress, she is able to understand the Empress's order to cause Lady Fucha to miscarriage, even though the Empress did not give the order explicitly. Using her talent in fragrance making, she formulated a powder that would agitate the Empress's cat to hurt Lady Fucha and cause her to miscarriage. She is also clever enough to derive to the conclusion that the Empress has killed her elder sister in order to be the empress, and to be the empress dowager once she passed away. Unlike Lady Qi who has offended the Empress unwittingly, she knows what would offend the Empress and thus strives for the Empress to favour her.
Perhaps, it is also this strength of hers that caused her to overthink and arrive at the conclusion that Zhen Huan does not truly think of her as a friend. After all, even though Zhen Huan is from a good family, she has always treated Ling Rong as a close sister. Or maybe, Zhen Huan is not so kind after all.
Zhen Huan is from a good family, while An Ling Rong's status is way below hers. Even though they were both concubines of the Emperor and thus accorded similar status, Ling Rong could not be close to Zhen Huan in the way that Zhen Huan is close to Mei Zhuang, or even Lady Chun.
When Zhen Huan thought of a scheme for Ling Rong to gain the Emperor's favour through singing, while Zhen Huan reassured her that she's not angry, Zhen Huan wore clothes with bright colours. It is a way to show her discontent, that Zhen Huan, loving the emperor so much, is not happy with offering Ling Rong to the emperor as a new favourite.
Ling Rong, being so smart, would catch this hint.
Ling Rong, before her death, confided to Zhen Huan that she knew that Zhen Huan was not truly kind to her, but thought that she was pitiful and thus gave her "good things" out of pity. We can thus see that Zhen Huan and Ling Rong have too many differences between them. While Zhen Huan wants to be good to Ling Rong, she has overlooked the fact that giving Ling Rong many "good things" will only exacerbate her inferiority complex.
An Ling Rong is a capable woman. Why so, even though she struggled just to attain the position of a consort, but even so, she is reminded that she will never ever deserve this position? In ancient Chinese society where Ling Rong's lowly birth have stopped her from reaching greater heights in the palace, through her talents (and maybe with the Empress's help), she gained the Emperor's favour for years, eventually attaining the position to a consort.
An Ling Rong's death
Perhaps, this is the scene where she is finally honest to herself and to Zhen Huan. She is tired of having to pretend and put up with the disrespect that she has received in the palace. She knows that she is used by the Empress and the Emperor all along, and she does not want to do that anymore.
This is where we see that Ling Rong was never born evil. She thought that Zhen Huan thought of her as a sister, but she came to the conclusion that Zhen Huan does not really think of her as a close sister but someone to pity. She is the key to the Empress's demise, when she revealed that the Empress killed her sister, even though Zhen Huan misunderstood her intentions at first.
Conclusion
Maybe Ling Rong is vindictive, and has an inferiority complex. But if she was born in a noble family where she is respected for her status, Ling Rong would not be like that. Maybe she would be good friends with Zhen Huan, and could even afford to be more educated and thus further gain the Emperor's favour. (Zhen Huan was also favoured by the Emperor because she was well educated)
An Ling Rong in the original novel was an antagonist too, but it is more understandable why she would act this way. She fell in love with Zhen Huan's brother, but Zhen Huan sought to separate her brother and Ling Rong, thus causing Ling Rong to hate Zhen Huan. In the drama, Ling Rong is more vilified, and even though Ling Rong was also portrayed as someone with a lot of merits, it is overlooked for the role she plays.
An Ling Rong's background
She is the eldest daughter to a lowly official. While her mother is the first wife, and thus, in Chinese society, should command the highest power and respect, she is bullied by the younger and prettier concubines that her father has married after he became rich.
Even though her father is rich, their family is still of lowly status as compared to the other noble ladies in the palace. She is thus bullied by the other concubines of the Emperor. This caused her to develop an inferiority complex, and be vindictive.
An Ling Rong in the palace
An Ling Rong is a multi-talented woman. She can sing, make fragrances, dance, and she is also very perceptive. And even though a woman with such talents should have been favoured by the Emperor, she is overlooked because of her family background.
She is also very perceptive. Being with the Empress, she is able to understand the Empress's order to cause Lady Fucha to miscarriage, even though the Empress did not give the order explicitly. Using her talent in fragrance making, she formulated a powder that would agitate the Empress's cat to hurt Lady Fucha and cause her to miscarriage. She is also clever enough to derive to the conclusion that the Empress has killed her elder sister in order to be the empress, and to be the empress dowager once she passed away. Unlike Lady Qi who has offended the Empress unwittingly, she knows what would offend the Empress and thus strives for the Empress to favour her.
Perhaps, it is also this strength of hers that caused her to overthink and arrive at the conclusion that Zhen Huan does not truly think of her as a friend. After all, even though Zhen Huan is from a good family, she has always treated Ling Rong as a close sister. Or maybe, Zhen Huan is not so kind after all.
Zhen Huan is from a good family, while An Ling Rong's status is way below hers. Even though they were both concubines of the Emperor and thus accorded similar status, Ling Rong could not be close to Zhen Huan in the way that Zhen Huan is close to Mei Zhuang, or even Lady Chun.
When Zhen Huan thought of a scheme for Ling Rong to gain the Emperor's favour through singing, while Zhen Huan reassured her that she's not angry, Zhen Huan wore clothes with bright colours. It is a way to show her discontent, that Zhen Huan, loving the emperor so much, is not happy with offering Ling Rong to the emperor as a new favourite.
Ling Rong, being so smart, would catch this hint.
Ling Rong, before her death, confided to Zhen Huan that she knew that Zhen Huan was not truly kind to her, but thought that she was pitiful and thus gave her "good things" out of pity. We can thus see that Zhen Huan and Ling Rong have too many differences between them. While Zhen Huan wants to be good to Ling Rong, she has overlooked the fact that giving Ling Rong many "good things" will only exacerbate her inferiority complex.
An Ling Rong is a capable woman. Why so, even though she struggled just to attain the position of a consort, but even so, she is reminded that she will never ever deserve this position? In ancient Chinese society where Ling Rong's lowly birth have stopped her from reaching greater heights in the palace, through her talents (and maybe with the Empress's help), she gained the Emperor's favour for years, eventually attaining the position to a consort.
An Ling Rong's death
Perhaps, this is the scene where she is finally honest to herself and to Zhen Huan. She is tired of having to pretend and put up with the disrespect that she has received in the palace. She knows that she is used by the Empress and the Emperor all along, and she does not want to do that anymore.
This is where we see that Ling Rong was never born evil. She thought that Zhen Huan thought of her as a sister, but she came to the conclusion that Zhen Huan does not really think of her as a close sister but someone to pity. She is the key to the Empress's demise, when she revealed that the Empress killed her sister, even though Zhen Huan misunderstood her intentions at first.
Conclusion
Maybe Ling Rong is vindictive, and has an inferiority complex. But if she was born in a noble family where she is respected for her status, Ling Rong would not be like that. Maybe she would be good friends with Zhen Huan, and could even afford to be more educated and thus further gain the Emperor's favour. (Zhen Huan was also favoured by the Emperor because she was well educated)
An Ling Rong in the original novel was an antagonist too, but it is more understandable why she would act this way. She fell in love with Zhen Huan's brother, but Zhen Huan sought to separate her brother and Ling Rong, thus causing Ling Rong to hate Zhen Huan. In the drama, Ling Rong is more vilified, and even though Ling Rong was also portrayed as someone with a lot of merits, it is overlooked for the role she plays.
Great commentary. I myself pitied Lingrong for her act. but too bad she let her inferiority complex take over.
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