Abstract：Love is an eternal theme in world literature. In the Chinese and Western literatures, many plays focus on this theme. Both Romeo and Juliet and The Butterfly Lovers have been very popular in the West and China.
These two works share many similarities: the pursuit and commitment toward love and the description of women anti-feudalism, but there are many differences in love attitudes, expressions and the endings. The western people pursue freedom, independence and happiness, while Chinese are reserved and have strong collective consciousness. This paper intends to have an analysis about their similarities and differences and some different cultural orientations related to them.
Key words: Romeo and Juliet; the Butterfly Lovers; comparison
中文摘要：爱情是世界文学的永恒主题，在中外文学史上，以爱情为主题的文学作品俯拾即是。《罗密欧与朱丽叶》和《梁山伯与祝英台》是倍受中西方人喜爱的两部爱情悲剧。
这两部作品存在着许多相似之处，如对美好爱情的忠贞和追求以及女性反封建进步思想的描写，由于不同的文化背景，主人公对爱的态度、表达方式及结局设置上也存有诸多不同。西方人追求的是自由、独立及幸福，而中国人重视含蓄、注重集体。本文将对此作一探讨并揭示两部作品所体现出的相同点和不同点以及不同的文化和价值取向性。
关键词：罗密欧与朱丽叶；梁山伯与祝英台；比较
However, on the other hand, Chinese culture is characterized by collectivism, which is considered to be more important than the individualism. The individual find no justifications to claim for their rights. As far as collectivism is concerned, "Chinese culture, especially the Confucianism emphasizes the subordination of the 'self' to society by formulating the hierarchical relations between the individuals"(Wei Mina, 2006:48). The Confucianism regards the ethics, morality and family harmony as a social value orientation and uses them to analyze and judge other people's ideas and behaviours. When there is a conflict between individuals, we should treat the family interest as the most important thing. This is the reason why Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai burn their love in their heart all the time and do not fight for love like Romeo and Juliet. They think that the ethics is more important than their love, and they choose to die together to protect both the ethics and their love.
