The cultural background and historical context of China and the West are different, and the cognition of love generated by each is also clear, and what we lament may be the details of Western love, and what we despise is precisely the pain point of the love and hatred of young men and women in the West. To clarify the similarities and differences, it is necessary to use literary texts as a reference to explore the attitudes of China and the West to love and even martyrdom from the literary image.
Then, we need to find two love literature classics with very similar themes and plots, and analyze them in detail, so that the love story of "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" and "Romeo and Juliet" appears in front of our eyes.
Shakespeare's masterpiece "Romeo and Juliet" and the Chinese drama "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" depict the poignant love story of the hero and heroine with the theme of love struggle, like two stars shining on the theater stage.
I think that the matrix of the two is roughly the same, which is related to "love" and "martyrdom". However, although the two literary classics have a lot in common, the soil for cultivating their cultures is also completely different due to the hands of masters of different nationalities, and the methods of handling them are very different.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the difference in individual personalities in one or two works, resulting in a very different understanding of "love" by the hero and heroine</h1>
Also determined to love, Shakespeare's Characters of Romeo, Juliet and Liang Zhu are very different. Luo Zhu and the two are straightforward and generous, naïve, full of youthful atmosphere, dare to think and dare to do.
Knowing that the other party's family and himself are feuds, he still bravely expresses his love, and after falling in love, he is not afraid. In order to see his beloved, Romeo resolutely jumped into the garden of Juliet's house. In order to never be separated from his beloved, he preferred to give up his family name. In the end, he accepted death without fear.
Similarly, as an independent woman, Juliet is unwavering in her pursuit of her own happiness. Although she was initially willing to listen to the teachings of the ritual law, when she found that the ritual law was irreconcilable with her love, she resolutely chose to say goodbye to the ritual law. The affirmation of the individual, the emphasis on one's own feelings, makes the ritual law seem insignificant. Although she can also vaguely feel that this love may have planted the root of the curse, she still chose to move forward with her head held high.
The sincere and passionate love also made her let go of the reservedness of the noble lady, eagerly telling her sweetheart about her yearning for the wedding, no matter the end of the world, she must completely entrust her fate to Romeo. This kind of revelation from the depths of the heart, without a little accommodation, fully displayed his personality characteristics.
In contrast, Liang Zhu and the two also longed for their own love, but they did not dare to show it, and could only bury it, showing helplessness in submission to social ethics.
Liang Shanbo adhered to the ancient precepts and was familiar with the way of the sages, but lacked a clever and interesting temperament, which also made him lose the judgment he should have in interpersonal relationships. Liang and Zhu were in the same window for three years, and Liang actually did not know the true difference of Zhu, which showed his pedantic atmosphere.
In addition, the vigor and vitality of ordinary young people could not be seen in Liang's body, and when he suddenly realized the matter of Zhu Yingtai, Zhu had been promised to Ma Shi. In the face of such a reality, Liang did not fight bravely like Romeo, but only sighed and helplessly accepted such an arrangement, and for the external obstruction, in addition to complaining about the world, it was regretting that he had been in the beginning, and finally he was bedridden.
In contrast, Zhu Yingtai is a little more lively and clever, which can be seen from her dress as a man, which makes her have some vivid personality among feudal women. However, this personality exists only briefly, and seems insignificant in the face of feudal ethics.
When she embarked on the road to study, she could only pick a durian flower, pray to the heavens, pray for the favor of the heavens, and leave her personal success or failure to the heavens to decide, in fact, she still showed her retreat in the face of feudal morality. When reading with Liang, although she had a love for each other, Zhu did not dare to take the initiative to confide in Liang, so her love struggled between ideals and cruel ethics, and was in a state of repression for a long time. In order to avoid the criticism of the world, she buried herself deeply, and her natural nature was not revealed. Under the moral control of society, life consciousness appears very humble.
As can be seen above, there are great differences in personality between Luo Zhu and Liang Zhu, Luo Zhu profoundly shows the brilliance of human nature in the Renaissance, but Liang Zhu is an attribute that is overwhelmed by feudal ethics.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the difference between two tragic works on different levels of the sense of sublimeness</h1>
Zhu Guangliang's book "The Psychology of Tragedy" once said that tragedy will not only bring people pity and fear, but also make people feel a sense of vitality and sublimeness. These two emotions come from knowing both the cruelty of reality and the irreconcilability of the contradiction between ideals and reality, and the unrelenting pursuit of one's own happiness and courageous resistance in setbacks.
A close reading of the two works will reveal that both love tragedies have a sense of sublimeness, but there is a large gap in level and meaning.
Romeo and Juliet fell in love at first sight, and in further understanding, they found that the two families were feuding, but they still did not retreat and dared to fight against fate. For the matter of marriage, they did not hesitate, and privately established a lifelong event.
Romeo was later banished, and Capulette forced Juliet to marry Paris. Juliet, who had always shown obedience, chose to listen to her own voice at this time, and she did not consider the family dignity and categorically refused her father's proposed marriage. Capulette was furious and threatened her not to recognize her as a daughter if she did not do what she asked. Faced with this, Juliet did not back down, resolutely decided to run away and find a priest to seek a solution.
The seemingly weak woman did not hesitate to drink the anesthetic in order to obtain her own happiness and lay in the creepy tomb. When all this was arranged, fate made a merciless joke on the lovers: Luo thought that Zhu had died for himself and resolutely ended his life. When Zhu found out, she immediately chose to die and die.
Love at first sight but for the world, with the use of sham death but by fate teased, but the couple has never bowed to the world and fate, they are brave, fearless, resolute and courageous, actively use their wisdom, to hinder their love of the family and fate of the brave struggle, it should be said that although in the flesh has been destroyed, but in the protection of love has not left any regrets.
Thus, their exuberant vitality does not fade away by failure and death, and a magnificent and splendid beauty highlights the sublime and greatness of the personality.
Compared with them, Liang Zhu was also martyred with death, but his choice was a passive helplessness. Regarding the barrier of feudal etiquette, Liang Zhu and the two only sighed and fully accepted the arrangement of fate.
For them, etiquette, ancient precepts, and ethics are insurmountable mountains, and love can only succumb to its obscenity. Although Liang Zhu's death showed his true thoughts, he always handed over his fate to others during his lifetime. Choosing to hide and escape in the face of obstruction cannot show great vitality, and also makes the characters in the tragedy of love lack a sense of sublimeness.
However, combined with the social background at that time, Liang Zhu's choice was also based on the pursuit of perfect morality, hoping to balance love and moral etiquette, and this sense of sublimity also had its own unique charm.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > three and two tragedies derived from the internal roles of Greek and Confucian culture, respectively</h1>
The cultural environment in which Romeo and Juliet grew up can be traced back to the influence of Greek culture. Individualism is an important attribute of Greek culture.
Qian Mu, a master of traditional Chinese studies, once pointed out that an important element in Western culture is individualism.
In the history of Western philosophy, Protagus, Epicurus and others vigorously promoted individualism and regarded the individual as the center of everything, which also paved the way for the rise of Renaissance humanism. Humanism emphasizes the complete liberation of human nature, the sanctity of human dignity and personal status, shakespeare is the representative writer of this period, and the distinct individualistic color in his works can be seen everywhere.
In "Romeo and Juliet", the two of them bravely pursue their love, regard personal wishes and dignity as supreme, and are not interfered with and blocked by other social factors, and this life consciousness comes from the cultural background of the time.
On the contrary, it can be seen from Liang Zhu's reading that the two are influenced by Confucian culture, emphasizing the importance of "benevolence", self-denial, completely viewing people as social beings, and strictly inhibiting individual free expression.
On this basis, Dong Zhongshu and Song Mingxue have further highlighted the solid position of social ethics, formed a set of systematic moral paradigms and basic norms, and exhausted the glory of personality. These cultural factors can be found in Liang Zhu, such as doing things according to the rules, blindly obeying the ancient precepts of ethics, and not daring to break through the barriers of morality to pursue his own happiness.
In Greek mythology, the power of the gods is enormous, and people often encounter the ruthless trickery of fate, but this does not prevent people from fighting for ideals and beliefs. Even if it ultimately fails, the glory of man will never be extinguished. This tragic consciousness formed a driving force that made the Greeks adept at presenting "martyrs" like Prometheus.
In The Two Of Them, Shakespeare combines this cultural element to create a pair of lovers who challenge bad luck and are not afraid of hardships, and inspire great spiritual strength. Its sense of greatness and sublimity is a heartfelt praise that emerges when the audience is extremely sad in their hearts.
However, the ancient Chinese concept of destiny was very different, "poor predetermined, why use bitter tension", exhorting people to follow social arrangements. Liang Zhu and the two were just a microcosm of the readers at that time, and even if they wanted to fight, they were always in a passive defensive position. But we cannot deny Liang Zhu's sense of nobility in tragedy: although the two lack the autonomous will that western culture preaches, their pursuit of moral perfection is also an important part of traditional culture.
In addition, the endings in both works can also find their roots in their own cultural systems.
The tragedy of the love affair between the Rojus is deeply influenced by the Greek view of nature. The Greeks believed that man and nature were opposed to each other, and that struggle was the only way out. Therefore, they are more aware of the difficulties of the living environment and show a tenacious and indomitable character in the conflict, so that a tragic ending is enough to show the tragedy of their struggle.
Western critics believe that the protagonists can only show their sense of sublimity when they finally fail and die.
Renaissance writers represented by Shakespeare inherited this mantle, and The tragic end of Roju was inevitable. From an aesthetic point of view, Western aesthetics pays attention to the authenticity of imitation, emphasizes "objective reproduction", and can only be cleverly hidden in the story for the author's subjective emotions.
Therefore, the ending of this drama is certainly difficult to accept, but it is also the natural result of conflict, without subjective intervention.
Liang Zhu's love tragedy has a very different ending. Traditional culture emphasizes the harmony and moderation of man and god, so it is not accustomed to expressing strong conflicts. In the handling of tragedy, they pay attention to the "point to the end", and when death is inevitable, they will also borrow the author's clever pen to make the ending relatively satisfactory.
From the perspective of the social function of the work, the Confucian culture in our country is more prominently doctrinal, so at the end of the tragedy there will always be a hope, a reward, although it may not be available in this life, it will also be reflected in the afterlife or illusion. Liang Zhu and the lovers eventually turned into butterflies and flew together, filling the reader's spiritual deficit.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Summary of Moxuan:</h1>
The differences in personality and other aspects of the heroes and heroines in the two works are essentially a concrete reflection of different cultural backgrounds.
In the handling of the tragic ending, Roju emphasizes realistic restoration, singing the praises of man's indomitability in the face of fate, which is the concentrated embodiment of man's free will, which is actually the result of the inheritance of Greek culture.
In Liang Zhu, the constraints of ethics and morality run through it, and the two are also maintaining the image of moral perfection while pursuing love, for which they do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives, which is essentially branded with the imprint of Confucian culture.