Abstract:Love is an enduring topic in the world literature. In the history of Chinese and Western literature, there are two literary masterpieces on the theme of love. That is, the British Romeo and Juliet and China's Butterfly Lovers. These two works are very typical love tragedies. There are many similarities between the two, but because of their different cultural backgrounds and different personalities, they also make a lot of differences. These two works have many differences in expressing the theme, character, story content and so on. Many differences in expressing the theme, character, story content and so on. The root cause is the difference caused by the differences in cultural background between China and the West. 

In this article, we will talk about their differences from a cultural perspective.

Therefore, studying these two classics works of Chinese and Western literature let us learn about the differences between the deep cultural and social backgrounds hidden behind literary works. And it can help us to more vividly understand the differences between Chinese and Western cultures and thus better communicate.

Key words: love tragedy; characterization; cultural background; comparison

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Introduction-1

I-Study on Butterfly Lovers and Romeo and Juliet-3

A.-Introduction to Butterfly Lovers-3

B.-Introduction to Romeo and Juliet-4

C.-Researches on Butterfly Lovers and Romeo and Juliet-4

II. Comparative study of characters’ differences-7

A.-Flaw in Romeo and Juliet-7

B.-Flaw in Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai-8

C.-Research on the causes of tragedy caused by differences in characters-9

III. Comparative study between Chinese and Western cultures-11

A.-Chinese traditional feudal though-11

B.-Western humanism-12

C.-Analyzed the Causes of Tragedy Caused by Differences Between Chinese and Western Thoughts and Cultures-12

Conclusion-15

Bibliography-17

Acknowledgements-19