2. Characters in the Novel

The novel Dream of the Red Chamber has hundreds of characters.  In this section, we’ll introduce characters in the novel, and show a variety of visual representations of them. This section was originally conceived to introduce the characters that were in the opera; I have since expanded it to include characters that are not in the opera.  Since some readers of this book came to their interest in Red Chamber through the opera, I will note which characters are in the opera, and in some cases will indicate differences in the portrayal in opera and the novel.