| Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is written by T. S. Eliot, who is one of the most influential literary figures of his generation and is considered to be the most important poet of the twentieth century by many people. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. Eliot is well known for his serious works, such as"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,""The Hollow Men"and"The Waste Land."Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats differs from these ones, for it is written for children. The work was once an ignored work of this celebrated English poet.The immense worldwide success of the stage production of Cats changed that situation dramatically, popularizing the humorous, seemingly nonsensical verse of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The musical Cats has been performed all over the world, with a huge number of performances and tours that allowed about 50 millions of people to see it. In 2003, the musical had its first tour perfo rmance in China and aroused the amazing enthusiasm of Chinese audience. The song"Memory", which is the hit song of the musical, is now very familiar to Chinese audience.Though in 1983 Eliot posthumously received the"Tony Award"which is the highest prize in the theatre circle for the best script for the musical Cats, up till now few of us have taken notice of the verse Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats which is the groundwork of the musical. It is very meaningful, therefore,not only for him, but also for people who want to do some research on the poet laureate to make a penetrating study of the relationship between Eliot's poetic Cats and Webber's musical Cats.After a close reading of the text of Old Possum's book of Practical Cats and the lyrics of the mu sical Cats, the thesis author intents to explore the continuation and development of t he archetypal women characters and the themes in the musical.Webber ado pts the"Good Mother"image in the poetic Cats, and develops the"fallen woman"image based on the description in one of Eliot's unpublished manuscripts. The reason s for this development are discussed to achieve a better understanding of this woman character who is the soul of the musical.As for the themes, Webber follows the theme of T. S. Eliot's poetic Cats and creates a mysterious cats'world on the stage which represents the human society full of good and evil aspects. Moreover, Webber gives the musical a more centralized theme, that is,"Morality and Redemption". This gives the musical a sacred odor.It is by creating an archetypal"fallen woman"image in the musical and by giving the story of her redemption from the immoral past that the whole musical is sublimed. Tolerance and forgiveness are given to the ones that have done something wrong or even vicious. The order of the world can be constructed not only by force or moral doctrines but also by the tolerance and forgiveness. The problem of the demoralization can not be solved thoroughly by the constraint of the mind and indoctrination of the social members with morality. Webber pointed out a way in the musical for the salvation.In writing the thesis, the author wants to achieve three aims. The first one is that more attention will be paid to this minor work written by T. S. Eliot, especially for people who are interested in him and are now doing some research on him. The poet embedded in his habitual seriousness in this seemingly light work. The second one is that a better understanding of the musical Cats can be achieved after watching it, especially for the audience who are not familiar with the musical and Webber. Besides the fun obtained from the musical, the author hopes the thinking can go on. The third one is that some educational function can be fulfilled. A right view towards the society and the morality should be cultivated.
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