Female Tragedy-----Comparative Analysis On Cultural Differences Of Lin Daiyu And Clarissa

The comparative study of A Dream of Red Mansions and other works is not so common. The comparative study of Clarissa is rather rare in the angle in the comparison of West and East. In China, only Han Jiaming comparatively analyzes Lin Daiyu and Clarissa in his article "Clarissa and Daiyu:tragic character and death of the will." So I think the comparative study of Daiyu and Clarissa has considerable literary value. This paper will do some parallel comparative study on the tragic figure of Lin Daiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions" and Clarissa in "Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady" by close reading and analyzes the surface causes as well as the underlying causes of their tragic fate, in order to prove that the individual fate is affected by the cultural factors and social factors.This paper firstly introduces the basic information of "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady", including the writing background, the author’s introduction and their literature status."A Dream of Red Mansions", is one of the four famous works in ancient China, having a higher influence in the international literature. It narrates the daily life of Rong and Ning mansions and the love and Marriage tragedy between Baoyu, Daiyu and Baochai."Clarissa", is the longest epistolary novel in English literature and called the source of the British sentimental novels."Clarissa" narrates the love and marriage tragedy in a misfortune beauty Miss Clarissa Harlowe. Her family agreed to force her to marry an ugly and vulgar wealthy man Somles. Clarissa got away from the family by the help of Lovelace. Finally Clarissa failed to escape his talon and lost her virtue. She died at home in a small retailer leisurely.In the second chapter, we can recognize clearly the excellent charm and melting lifetime of the two women. Lin Daiyu and Clarissa both have brilliant appearance. They have fallen in love with a man whom they shouldn’t love. They are betrayed and tortured by their family. They have self-awareness and the rebellious spirit beyond the era of that society but have give in to social pressure. Finally, they choose the self-liberation by death. In the third chapter, this paper analyzes the surface reasons that caused the tragic life of Lin Daiyu and Clarissa. Parents passed away, Daiyu got along with her grandmother, forming a sensitive and suspicious temper. She liked Baoyu, but Baoyu’s mother chose Baochai as the daughter-in-law for the power of family. Daiyu died in despair. Clarissa, received a good humanistic education, is the favorite granddaughter of her grandfather. Her family forced her to marry to Solmes. She ran away from home under Lovelace’s help, but fell into his trap, lost her innocence. She left this world and devoted herself to the God.In the fourth chapter, the paper comparative analyzes the underlying causes of their tragic life. The contention of family property, exposes the unfairness of the social inheritance system. Controlled strictly the daughter’s marriage reflected the unequal status of men and women in the patriarchal society and women’s enslavement awareness. The inner life and the spiritual world of Daiyu and Clarissa show the seed of feminist consciousness and the hope of social progress. Their self-deliverance death reflects the religious and ethical rules as well as subconscious effect on female. Through the analysis of their tragedy and causes, we can see that the cultural background and social consciousness of that time, and we can get to know the huge difference in western and eastern culture as well as the guide of culture and surrounding to individual.In conclusion, different cultures and society lead to Daiyu and Clarissa’s different life tragedy. Culture can affect a person’s character, and the character of a person can change the fate. So by comparative analysis of different literary works, we can realize the cultural differences in different times and areas, and we can also know different nations and region’s unique develop track. Personally I think this is an important value of comparative literature.