Abstract

Both Romeo and Juliet and Butterfly Lovers are two famous love stories in the western and Chinese literary history. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play of Shakespeare, most of whose works came from true life and reflected profoundly the appearance of times and the essence of life. Romeo and Juliet is no exception. Butterfly Lovers is among Four Folklores of China. The story of Butterfly Lovers has circulated in China for more than 1,460 years and it has a far-reaching household name. In addition, Butterfly Lovers ranks as a poetic masterpiece of love through the ages. And Butterfly Lovers is also called China’s Romeo and Juliet.
Because both of these two works have occupied important positions in the western and Chinese literary history, and they have similar tragic endings, many people in the western countries and China are willing to compare them. Most people compare them from the plot, the characterization to the main idea. They hardly compare the endings of these two works because they think their endings are the same. In face, the endings of these two works are apparently the same but are different from a deeper level. This paper focuses on their tragic endings and aims at finding out the differences of the endings and the factors leading to the differences of the tragic endings, which include the influence of different views of death in the western countries and China, guilty culture in the western countries and comfort-oriented culture in China and different ways of literature writing in the western countries and China on these two works. I hope the paper will further not only the understanding of these two great works but also the cultures related to these two works.

Key Words: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Butterfly Lovers, comparison of the endings

摘   要

《罗密欧与朱丽叶》和《梁山伯与祝英台》是东西方文学史上脍炙人口的爱情名剧。《罗密欧与朱丽叶》是英国剧作家莎士比亚的著名剧作。莎士比亚的作品多从生活真实出发，深刻反映了时代面貌和生活本质，《罗密欧与朱丽叶》也不例外。《梁山伯与祝英台》是中国古代四大民间传说之一，梁祝故事在民间流传已有一千四百六十多年，可谓家喻户晓，被誉为爱情的千古绝唱。因此，《梁山伯与祝英台》也有着东方的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》之称。
由于两者在东西方的文学史上都占有非常重要的地位，特别是其悲剧性的结局，很多学者都对两者进行了深入的比较研究。但是，大多数学者主要从整体上进行比较，如情节方面﹑主人公形象方面﹑主题思想方面等等。而本文着重对两者的悲剧性结局进行了比较，探讨这两者看似相同但却不同的结局产生的原因，特别是中西方对死亡的不同看法﹑西方的罪感文化和中国的乐感文化以及中西方不同的文学写作手法对其的影响，加深人们对这两部作品的理解以及与其相关的文化的理解。

关 键 词：莎士比亚，《罗密欧与朱丽叶》，《梁祝》，结局对比