1.1 The significance of the study

Different cultures have generated different dramatic forms, and they often have unique traditions. For example, eastern and English drama are quite different because of their different social, cultural and religious background, and as well as the expression of emotion. 

Domestic and foreign scholars have detailed their research on Chinese and English drama, such as Charles Lewis Arlington and Harnold Action’s Famous Chinese Plays, Dong Jian and Ma Junshan’s Drama: Fifteen Lectures, in which they researched the development of Chinese and English drama. However, few have done any research on the comparison between Hamlet and Chinese Orphan. Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Chinese ancient drama Chinese Orphan both are the representatives of tragedy. Herein the research is carried out to analyze and explore the differences in tragic characteristics between English and Chinese tragedy. It may help people understand the cultural significance of the drama in the field of literature or even the society. For English learners, understanding the differences between Chinese and English drama can also enhance the level of their English attainments.

1.2 The Organization of the Study

The main part of this paper is the comparative analysis of tragedy. Firstly it will briefly introduce what drama is, why people should understand drama. In the following section it reviews the history of Chinese and English drama briefly, and the major characteristics of drama. The third section is comparison of tragic characteristics between Chinese and English drama. They bring the audience different experience and feelings. The fourth part in this paper is the main part. This section is the expansion and extension of the third part. It illustrates the differences by comparing Hamlet and Chinese Orphan in the four aspects: the spirit of tragedy, ending, conflict and the characters. Different characters will result in different tragic outcome. The fifth part makes a conclusion of the above.  源Y自Z吹冰W.论~文'网·www.chuibin.com

2. Literature review

2.1 A Brief History of Chinese and English Drama

For Chinese drama, it contains the primitive flavor, which means it has the existence of gods in ancient China, with the primitive hunting practice and respect to God. The word “drama” appeared for the first time in the ancient China in Du Mu’s poem. It showed Chinese ancient drama in the embryonic stage. Then it experienced the evolution throughout several dynasties. In the thirteenth century, when Chinese drama and novel era came, people’s interest in drama finally awakened. The consciousness of drama formed dramatic views. Oriental drama was rich in entertainment. It reflected real life in the lyric style. It had not risen to the forefront of the times, but expressed personal feelings. There were a lot of dramas that reflect the love theme of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies and the story of the national hero. 

Chinese classical drama has not embarked on the road of realism. It seems similar to body performance art, which focuses on the beauty of the performance. In Song and Yuan dynasty, “singing”, “speaking”, “acting”, and “acrobatic fighting”, beautiful costume and setting finally have formed into a complete set of drama language. From Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing dynasty, it had reached to the legendary peak. The story always circled around gifted scholars and beautiful ladies, so it almost followed the same pattern in which there was a reunion ending. Fortunately, with the rising of local operas in eighteenth century, the theme of Chinese drama has become widespread. The content is more perse, and has also produced many styles especially in singing and music. There are different factions. However, there always are restrictive principles set for classical opera.