Comparative Study Of Motif-Incest On Chinese And Western Literature

When human society came to civilized era, many social rules were established toprotect the harmonious and orderly coexistence among people. Therefore, various kindsof taboos came into being in which incest is a rule that can not be allowed to break.Taboos have different meanings to different people. Some think it defends civilizationand order, while others regard it as imprisonment and oppression. However, in thegeneral sense, people firmly believe that the breach of taboos will bring unavoidablecollapse of social ethical structure and tragic consequence. Thus, the old-fashioned bloodrelation marriage was always eluded. But in the meanwhile, the emotional drive of incestis hidden inside human nature, which can be seen from different literary works of alltimes. Incest is an important literary theme which is reserved by society. It is a themeloved and hated by people, a theme attracts people to read and explore.After making the deep and careful investigation and research into the Chinese andwestern literature, people find that the theme of incest began since the birth of literatureand it still has significant impact on our society. The theme of incest in Chinese andwestern literature has some similarities. For instance, both endings are tragic, bothemphasize the supreme power of father and males. However, there are also obviousdifferences between the two literary forms. Chinese literature lays great importance tofamily, where a child should be dutiful to his/her parents, where his/her own feelingsshould be subordinate. On the other hand, western tradition is greatly influenced byreligion. Western writers have deep feelings for religion which can be seen in their senseof guilt, their conception of redemption.This paper discusses the following five aspects:The first chapter illustrates the definition of incest, and the origin of the incesttaboo.The second chapter divides incest into two kinds---passive incest and active incest.While in the second narration, incest is subdivided into rapacity incest, lust incest, loveincest and spirit incest.The third chapter analyzes the similarities of incest, presents the tragic endings and males’ power above females in Chinese and western literature.The fourth chapter analyzes the differences of incest between Chinese and westernliterary works. Comparing Chinese patriarchal clan system with western religion, theauthor deeply examines the meaning of social culture and explores the narrativedifferences between Chinese and western literature.The fifth chapter digs deep into the aesthetic meaning of incest in Chinese andwestern literature and explores the meaning of tragic aesthetics and death aesthetic.