Wang Xifeng - Most Capable Woman

Most Capable Woman

Sister Feng (Feng Jie) as Xifeng is also known, is well known in the novel both for her great capability as well as her almost-venomous character; when a poorer member of the Jia family once showed interest in her, she tricked him repeatedly into "rendezvous" which turned out to be a trap, and eventually got the offending man killed (Chapters 11 and 12). Yet she is without doubt the most capable woman, if not the most capable character, within the novel; impartial and harsh in her discipline, she is hailed by her niece-in-law Qin Keqing as "a hero amongst womenfolk". She can be kindhearted towards rustic folks like Granny Liu, yet capable of great cruelty when her power is challenged, such as engineering the suicide of her husband's concubine Second Sister You, whom she hated.

She has a daughter, her only child by Jia Lian, Jia Qiaojie, who is named by Granny Liu.

Read more about this topic:  Wang Xifeng

Famous quotes containing the words capable and/or woman:

    There are but few who have ideas and are, at the same time, capable of action. Ideas enlarge but stymie, action enlivens but confines.
    Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)

    We enunciate a grand principle, then we are timid and begin restricting its application. We are a nation of infidels to principle.
    Mary F. Eastman, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 7, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)