Comparison of the Themes of the Two Novels Pilgrimage to the West and Pilgrim’s Progress.doc

comparison of the themes of the two novels: pilgrimage to the west and pilgrims progressabstractas the mid-ming dynasty novel, to a certain extent, reflect the prevailing religious culture and religious thought. this novel, buddhism, taoism, confucianism, three cultures together, reflect the three religions was confluence of social thought. be traced by the time the land should be the king of heart and the political, economic and cultural implications. the novels playful mockery of religion is reflected in the unique religious beliefs and the chinese society at that time enlightenment of personal liberation. pilgrims progress by john bunyan is a landmark work in both christian theology and english literature the pilgrims progress demonstrates that knowledge is gained through travel by portraying christian and his companions learning from their mistakes on their journey. since its publication in 1678, it has encouraged countless christians on their journey from this world to the next, and its impact on the literary tradition of england has been profound. the two books different in this way or that way. this paper is just concerned the a comparison between the themes of pilgrimage to the west and pilgrims progress and analysis of the reason of the difference of the two themes.key words：pilgrimage to the west ，pilgrims progress ，theme摘 要 西游记作为明朝中叶的小说，在一定程度上反映出当时的宗教文化和宗教思想。这部小说中佛、道教、儒教三种文化融合在一起，反映出当时三教合流的社会思想。究其根源，应是受当时的陆王“心学”以及政、经济、文化等方面的影响.而小说对宗教的戏谑嘲讽则反映出中国人独特的宗教信仰和当时社会个性解放的启蒙思想影响。天路历程讲述了一个基督徒踏上救赎的道路，通过基督徒途中所犯的错误和经历的事情向我们展示了基督徒所应具备的品格和知识。班扬的天路历程是英国文学史和基督教作品的一个里程碑。从它1678年出版至今，已经鼓舞了无数的基督教赌徒踏上救赎的道路，并且它对后世的文学作品产生了了深远的影响。虽然两部作品有各方面差异，本文着重从两者的主题进行比较，并试图论述其原因。关键词：西游记，天路历程 ，主题contentsacknowledgementsiabstractii摘要iiichapter one introduction11.1 brief introduction of wu chengen and pilgrimage to the west1.2 brief introduction of john bunran and pilgrims progresschapter two comparison of the themes of the two novels2.1 as theme of pilgrimage to the west 2.1.1journey to the west in the religious culture2.1.2 journey to the west reflected in religious thought2.2 theme of pilgrims progresschapter three reasons of the difference between the two themes3.1 historical roots3.2 traditional cultural rootschapter four conclusionbibliography chapter oneintroduction1.1 brief introduction of wu chengen and pilgrimage to the westwu was born in lianshui, in jiangsu province, and later moved to nearby huaian. wus father, wu rui, had had a good primary education and shown an aptitude for study. wu rui continued to devote himself to literary pursuits, and as a child wu acquired the same enthusiasm for literatureincluding classical literature, popular stories, and anecdotes. he took the imperial examinations several times in attempt to become a mandarin, or imperial official, but never passed, and did not gain entry into the imperial university in nanjing until middle age; after that he did become an official and had postings in both beijing and changxing county, but he did not enjoy his work, and eventually resigned, probably spending the rest of his life writing stories and poems in his hometown. during this time he became an accomplished writer, producing both poetry and prose, and becoming friends with several prominent contemporary writers. wu remained poor throughout his life, and did not have any children; dissatisfied with the political climate of the time and with the corruption of the world, he spent much of his life as a hermit.wu is best known for his connection to the classic journey to the west, one of the four great classical novels of chinese literature. journey to the west has been enjoyed by many generations of chinese and is one of the most popular chinese classic folk novels. it is also the earliest chinese novel whose authorship is officially known.monkey king (or sunwukong) was born from a stone. he wanted to be like the immortals and be free from death. he was extremely smart and capable, and learned all the magic tricks from a master taoist. he could transform himself into seventy-two different images such as a tree, a bird, a beast of prey, or a bug as small as a mosquito so as to sneak into an enemys belly to fight him or her inside out. using clouds as a vehicle, he can travel 180,000 miles a single somersault.he claimed to be king in defiance of the great emperor of jadethe only authority over heaven, the seas, the earth, and the subterranean world. that act of high treason invited the relentless scourge of the heavenly army. after many showdowns, the dove faction of the heavenly court persuaded the emperor to offer the monkey an official title to appease him. the monkey accepted this offer on a trial basis. however, he learned a few days later that he was cheated and being jeered all over the heavenly court: the position he held was nothing but a stable keeper. enraged, he revolted, fighting his way back to earth to resume his own claim as a king.eventually, the heavenly army subdued him, only after many a battle, with the help of all the god warriors. however, all methods of execution failed. one attempt to kill him actually gave him a pair of fiery golden crystal eyes that can see through what people normally cannot.at last, the emperor asked buddha for help. the buddha moved a great mountain known as the mount of five fingers to fall upon him. still, the tenacious monkey survived the enormous weight and pressure, except he could not move! five hundred years later, there came to his rescue the monk tripitaka. to insure that tripitaka could make the journey to the west to get the buddhist scriptures, buddha had arranged for the monkey king to become his disciple and escort him, along with two other disciples they later came across. there the four started their stormy journey west which was packed with actions and adventures.in addition to journey to the west, wu wrote numerous poems and stories although most have been lost. both his poetry and his prose have been described as stubborn and critical of societys corruption, and in one of his few surviving poems wu describes himself as having a defiant spirit. wus poetry focused on the expression of emotions, and for this reason his work has been compared to that of li bai. in addition to using his writing to critique society, wu also took pride in the worldly nature of his work, as opposed to the more fantastic writings of some contemporaries.1.2 brief introduction of john bunran and pilgrims progressjohn bunyan (1628-1688), english author. after a brief period at the village free school, bunyan learned the tinkers trade, which he followed intermittently throughout his life. joining the parliamentary army in 1644, he served until 1647. the reading of several pious books and a constant study of the bible intensified bunyans religious beliefs, and in 1653 he began acting as lay preacher for a congregation of baptists in bedford. in this capacity he came into conflict with the quakers led by george fox and turned to writing in defense of his beliefs. in 1660 agents of the restored monarchy arrested him for unlicensed preaching, and he remained in prison for the next 12 years. during this period bunyan wrote nine books, the most famous of which is grace abounding to the chief of sinners (1666), a fervent spiritual autobiography. soon after his release in 1672 he was reimprisoned briefly and wrote the first part of his masterpiece the pilgrims progress from this world to that which is to come, published in 1678. a second part appeared in 1684. by the time bunyan was released from his second imprisonment, he had become a hero to the members of his sect, and he continued preaching and writing until his death. pilgrims progress takes the form of a dream by the author. in this he sees christian, with a burden on his back and reading in a book, from which he learns that the city in which he and his family dwell will be burned with fire. on the advice of evangelist, christian flees from the city of destruction. part i describes his pilgrimage through the slough of despond, the interpreters house, the house beautiful, the valley of humiliation, the valley of the shadow of death, vanity fair, doubting castle, the delectable mountains, and the country of beulah, to the celestial city. on the way he encounters various allegorical personages, among them mr worldly wiseman, faithful, hopeful, giant despair, apollyon, and many others.part ii relates how christians wife, christiana, moved by a vision, sets out with her children on the same pilgrimage, accompanied by her neighbour mercy. the work is a development of the puritan conversion narrative (see grace abounding), drawing on popular literature such as emblem books and chapbooks, as well as foxes book of martyrs and the bible. it is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of its language (bunyan was permeated with the english of the bible, though he was also a master of the colloquial english of his own time), the vividness and reality of the characterization, and the authors sense of humour and feeling for the world of nature. remarkable for its simple, biblical style and its vivid presentation of character and incident, pilgrims progress is considered one of the worlds great works of literature.there are two characteristics of bunyans style that even the most cursory reader cannot fail to notice, his constant use of the phraseology and the imagery of the bible and the frequent occurrence of provincial and colloquial expressions. bunyan wrote the language as he heard it, and there is surprisingly little that is unfamiliar to a modern ear. many of his expressions still survive in colloquial and illiterate usage; drownded, would a done it, there is no turnings, have not yet disappeared from the language of daily life. but a racy and colloquial diction alone would not have made bunyan a great writer. his real achievement is that he makes the reader see the thing that he describes. the vividness of the descriptive passages (they are usually sentences or merely phrases) in the pilgrims progress has often been pointed out. it is the vividness that absolute sincerity combined with imagination is sure to effect. a study of these passages will show that they reproduce scenes from the bible, as bunyan understood them, or scenes from provincial and rural england. it was not necessary for him to go outside of his own experience for the slough of despond, the palace beautiful, and vanity fair. none of them was far away from bedford. in many respects christians journey was just such as any bedfordshire countryman might have taken. the characters, too, are drawn from the life. worldly wiseman, by-ends, lord hategood, and christian himself would be recognized as faithful portraits. this does not mean, of course, that definite places and actual persons are represented in the book. probably they are not. but both persons and places are typical of what bunyans readers were familiar with. this realism, this closeness to everyday life, undoubtedly has much to do with the immense vitality of the book.chapter twocomparison of the themes of the two novels2.1 as theme of pilgrimage to the west the mid-ming dynasty novel, to a certain extent, reflect the prevailing religious culture and religious thought. this novel, buddhism, taoism, confucianism, three cultures together, reflect the three religions was confluence of social thought. be traced by the time the land should be the king of heart and the political, economic and cultural implications. the novels playful mockery of religion is reflected in the unique religious beliefs and the chinese society at that time enlightenment of personal liberation.2.1.1journey to the west in the religious culturejourney to the west in the same time, including buddhism, taoism, confucianism culture, the three blend together throughout. 1. buddhist culture. buddhist culture is the most visible part of the novel, the novels themes is the monk in this story of mentoring four buddhist sutras, buddhist culture in which the entire novel will be everywhere. novels with monkey, the goddess of mercy the mouth of a large number of promotional characters such as buddhism, monk mentoring often help meet the catastrophe is the buddhist gods. monk of the three disciples to the monk by the demon, and eventually became immortal also explained the outcome of the buddhist culture and thought. novels by monkey mentoring daily life, do not eat meat reflects buddhism, not killing, not lust and other taboos. for example, the monkey king of the few times killing behavior (in fact, sometimes innocent) are severely punished by the master. the face of the opposite sex courtship, tang seng more than once expressed his firm belief, pigs lust and shake also punished the book describes many environments have declared the buddhist culture, and buddhisms term is more abound, many back from the head alone can be readily extracted in respect to . as for the specific zen buddhist chanting and the description of furnishings and other aspects of temple architecture text is too numerous to mention, the whole book, the contents of buddhist culture can be seen everywhere. 2. taoist culture. the novel has a lot of taoist cultural content. if the book men of gods and buddhist gods in there working with lord lao zi, the jade emperor, taibaijinxing other taoist figures. taoist magic, like alchemy, the room surgery, etc. is also reflected in the novel. monkey is eating a lot of elixir shaolian in alchemy, after which the furnace was a great magic. to help mentoring through the catastrophe of the september monk resurrection pills turn, will reflect the wind dan dengjun the taoist culture. novels like some banshee a relationship with the mining monk yang taoist yin tonic of thinking is also thinking. the original monkey king parameter visit mystical experience of the first zen master, though called subhuti, taoist cultivation is done, the skills taught to goku is starting from taoism. gyrus in section 2, wrote: so when you sleep for more than the founder, shu on two feet, the mouth from the yin said: difficult! hard! hard! road, the most mysterious, mo to be taken lightly saver. perfect human communication miaojue not met, the tongue of dry air trapped teach mouth! the zen master is a typical passage taoist culture. taoist terminology in the book appeared in large numbers, single heads from the back can be found. 3: confucian culture. novels confucian cultural content more concealed, but can also see through analysis. if 1 chapters: boulder sitting side: the order of ah, people without faith, i do not know . it can be . this sentence is a quote from the core of confucianism with the analects of confucius. the first 27 chapters, monk of the white-boned demon, said: the bible goes parents do not travel to distant lands, the son, the bible does not refer to the so-called buddhist, but the analects of confucius. in the novels story, we can see that the concept of confucian virtue and faithfulness in the monkey king who laid a deep scar . monkey king is the master filial respect, even by the master wronged, take him away, he was in very sad circumstances, but also to the division fuxing li take leave, and asked young to protect the master. was dead monk, he did not hesitate to come back is extended, so that even the white ma said: he is an jen are defined monkey. confucianism advocates benevolence and justice of the faithful who are fully reflected in the monkey king, and therefore, zhang qing gentry book in the new journey to the west the total grant said: today journey to the west is to college sincere attitude, self-denial to matilda the best to the fine, wrote a try, clearly visible, is surely to data, but by learn the issue to its meaning velvet apartment. 2.1.2 journey to the west reflected in religious thought journey to the west like a mirror, reflecting the mid-ming dynasty, people of religious thought. 1. religious pluralism thought. a journey to the wes tin confucianism, taoism, buddhism and the coexistence of three types of religious culture, and live in peace, peaceful coexistence, even integration with each other, take care of each other, reflecting the religious diversity social phenomenon. the book buddha, taoist immortals simultaneously, the jade emperor, the queen mother peach event invited the tathagata, goddess of mercy to participate in the jade emperor in trouble, please, if they visit, guanyin help, both with the closer. and two of the gods with buddhism working toward the jade emperor and the tathagata has no obvious hierarchy of points, the four kings in buddhism, which also became the jade emperors officials scold. a buddhist monk, although human, but always forget loyalty to their country, is wearing the mitral confucians (zhang jin chi language). confucianism, taoism, buddhism and thinking of the three religions are not mutually exclusive, fully reflected the ideological orientation of religious diversity in society. 2. religious confluence of ideas. the novel not only reflects the thinking of religious pluralism, but also reflects the confluence of the three teaching ideas. a character who often have two or three kinds of religious thought. the three religious thought in the novel mutual penetration mutual integration. monk precepts salford both buddhist thought, but also loyalty to serve the countrys confucian thought. monkey king from the beginning of monasticism immortality to later converted to buddhism has always been faithful in a confucian virtue. monkey kings first master is a meditation about huang ting of subhuti founder, and according to buddhist teach