A Comparison of Dying for Love Between Oriental and Occidental Drama: Taking Du Liniang and Juliet as Examples

Abstract

Both The Peony Pavilion and Romeo and Juliet concern similar theme of eulogizing the beautiful and passionate love of a young couple, exploring the relationship between love and death, the value and significance of lovers’ dying for love. Both heroines, Du Liniang and Juliet, dare to pursue genuine love relentlessly even sacrifice their lives for love. Liniang’s death is not the final destination, and her resurrection meets the readers’ expectation in the view of Chinese culture. Juliet’s death not only sublimates love but redeems the sin of family feud, aiming to arouse audience’s pity and fear to achieve tragic catharsis in Occidental dramas. This paper attempts to compare the two heroines’ dying for love by tracing the different stages in their love process so as to reveal the similarities of seemingly-coincident scheme and explore the reasons which cause the differences. And this may facilitate the understanding of historical and cultural background in the orient and occident.