An Analysis of the Similarities between The Peony Pavilion and A Midsummer Night's Dream

Abstract

The Peony Pavilion and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are classic love plays created by Chinese Tang Xianzu and English William Shakespeare respectively. Their brilliant achievements in eastern and western dramatic literature have drawn widespread attention from many scholars so far. However, the comparison of the two works has not been studied enough. Although the two plays were created in China and Britain respectively, they shared a lot of similarities. This article aims to compare and analyze the two plays in terms of their setting of rebellious daughters and the tyrannical fathers and the employment of images, including dream and mythological imagery, and to demonstrate that under the influence of humanistic spirit and new cultural trends at the end of the 16th century. Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare, although living in different countries, were both committed to express the idea of opposing feudal ethics, fighting against asceticism, and advocating individual liberation. Their thoughts, together with Du Liniang and Hermia, the rebellious female characters in the plays, have influenced the literary creation of later generations. A comprehensive comparison and analysis of the two plays might help readers better understand the love thinking and ideological connotations of the two 16th-century writers in their different living environments.