“Literature has been one of the most important ways for cultural communication and cultural dialogue, because literature is the study of human beings, their souls and their relations with other human beings.” The earlier researchers studied the two works mainly from the theme, plot, characters and styles. For Romeo and Juliet, Haider said it is a “sweet love drama, it is in all the time and location relationship legend, dreams and poetry. In the 19th century British poet Coleridge on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the play is a tragedy, in fact, the development of the plot is full of “youth and the breach of spring. It has all sorts of stupid youth and virtue, impatience and carelessness, with all kinds of fragrance, charming spring, also has the spring ‘fickle’”. Only in the field of music, it will ignite the Berlioz, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and other music giants creative passion, spawned various articles immortal music, similar to such literary works produced for the music the great influence should be unique. Meanwhile, as one of the most active in the stage works of Shakespeare, it is the darling of the dance. Performance and other field is the Paris National Opera Praise for dancer’s dream.
After reading Romeo and Juliet and Butterfly Lovers, the writer finds that they have not only similarities but also differences from the cultural perspective. Both Romeo and Juliet and Butterfly Lovers are the classical love tragedies which enjoy high reputation in the West and in China for a long time. Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies, written in 1595. Butterfly Lovers, claiming to be Chinese Romeo and Juliet, The story plot of Butterfly lovers is one of the four great folktales in China. Although they come from the different cultural backgrounds, they rest on the astonishing similarities either in the theme or in the plot.
Concerning the theme, they both center on the true love between the heroes and heroines. Love ranks above everything, even their precious life. To pursue love, they defy the authorities of their families although the protagonists in Butterfly Lovers appear to be a little passive at the beginning in fighting for their happiness. Anything else seems to be insignificant compared with their love. In Romeo and Juliet, the young couple would rather give up their family names in order to stay together. Even the death of her dear cousin can not reduce the passions of Juliet for Romeo, and the threat of her father does not change her mind. She risks to take the powder to be feign-dead without hesitation only to hope to stay with Romeo. Finally, Romeo dies for the delay of the message and Juliet also commits suicide, for she can not bear the loss of her dear lover.
The love in Butterfly Lovers is more gentle but also strong enough to shake the very foundation of the feudal ethics. Zhu Yingtai attempts to reveal her love for Liang Shanbo through various means regardless of her social status although she is not bold enough to express her love to Liang Shanbo directly. She musters her courage to tell her mother that she has fallen in love with him, and even argues with her father and protests vehemently by refusing to take food. At last she expresses her deepest love for Liang Shanbo and strongest hatred for the feudal society by jumping into the crack of Liang Shanbo’s tomb. With regards to plot, these two love tragedies share a lot in common. Their protagonists fall in love with each other regardless of the strong opposition from their families. The fathers of the two tragedies are both obstinate enough to marry their daughters to someone else against the will of their daughters. In the end both of the protagonists die for love.
In fact, the differences at the depth of culture in these two tragedies are worth being explored, for they are the direct reflections of culture on its literary works. Yue Daiyun said “Literature has been one of the most important ways for cultural communication and cultural dialogue, because literature is the study of human beings, their souls and their relations with other human beings”. The earlier researchers studied them mainly from the theme, plot, characters and styles. It’s rare to compare them in the respects of image and structure from the perspectives of the tragic aesthetics and psychology. Based on the researches of earlier scholars, the writer will make efforts to further studies the aspects of the early researchers as well as explore the new respects by assimilating their earlier achievements. There is a tentative endeavor to provide inspiration for further writing, especially in aspects of the characters’ tragic aesthetics and national psychology. 从《罗密欧与朱丽叶》和《梁山伯与祝英台》探析中西方人文差异(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_7153.html