A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and Western Social Issue Drama Writing—A Doll's House and Lifelong Matters as an Example
Abstract
Social problem theatre refers to the use of dramatic works to analyse and critique a particular problem in society. In the long history of Western theatre development, the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen was the earliest dramatist to create "social problem plays", producing such realistic plays as A Doll's House and The Pillars of Society. Influenced by Western theatre arts, the Chinese literary scholar Hu Shi devoted himself to promoting the modernisation of Chinese theatre and wrote Lifelong Matters in 1919.The intention of this paper is to compare and analyse the two works "A Doll's House" and "Lifelong Matters".Analysing the differences in plot structure from a macro perspective and the direction of the story line, and focusing on the female figure, and analysing how the playwright constructed an anti-feudal discourse through the female figure from the two levels of the spirit of resistance and the end of the destiny, the self-worth emphasised by Nala's awakening and the resolute breaking of the feudal despotism of Tian Yamei become the manifestos of resistance of the two women in different dimensions.As well as analysing the root of the conflict between the two works, it is the unavoidable contradiction between individual freedom and the social system.
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