"white Snake" Study

A historical review of the origin of The Serpent Lady and its transformation stories consequently reveals the dramatic changes in such a process. What constitute today's The Serpent Lady, i.e., the oppressed love between the Serpent Lady and a mortal and their struggles against oppression, are found to be far different from its archetypal constituents. Therefore, reflections on the transformations of The Serpent Lady in different ages and the sharp contrasts between different versions will undoubtedly prove to be fruitful and inspiring.One of the main causes of the aforementioned phenomenon is the conflict between rationality and emotion, which, for both the main characters and the readers, had long been highly problematic. As a result, an ideal The Serpent Lady naturally demands on-going transformation until the conflict is properly handled.In the close reading, the present thesis summarizes the important versions of The Serpent Lady, outlines the history of its transformation and discusses the similarities among those versions, and points out differences in characterization and structure in those versions that belong to different genres.In different ages, the theme of The Serpent Lady has undergone drastic changes, i.e., a shift from a moral issue to an aesthetic issue. On the one hand, in its evolution, much attention has been paid to the rebelling spirit of the main characters; On the other, since the conflict between rationality and emotion remained to be solved and the different attitudes were taken by those adaptors, such an evolution was not linear. Instead, explorations and experiments have been interwoven into the rewriting of The Serpent Lady, in which different genres contribute to the transcendence of The Serpent Lady in various ways. In characterization, plot and structure, those versions endow The Serpent Lady with abundant connotations and new lives.