最新A Comparative Study on The Journey to the West and The Pilgrim’s Progress《天路历程》与《西游记

A Comparative Study on The Journey to the West and The

Pilgrim’s Progress

1. Introduction

Necessarily, different cultural characteristics of nationality derive from varieties environment, lifestyle, tradition, faith and appreciation. However, cultures of different nationalities have something in common for people’s thought, emotion, and behavior. As Mr. Meng Zhaoyi points:

Human development is a trend which brings about a transnational or trans-regional culture exchanges. Characters of cultures, such as development, synchronism, transmission, enculturation and backwardness make it progresses. The development of culture bursts the restrains of communication. Nowadays, we can not find nothing where a culture is impacted by others.

Throughout the world history literature, the suffering processes of believers is one of the main themes of religion works, such as The Pilgrim’s Progress and The Journey to the West. Absolutely the writing of the Pilgrim’s Progress is based on Christianism particularly The Bible, while The Journey to the West is based on Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Similar historical circumstance and religion atmosphere coincidentally make the two authors choose religion subject and the form of imagination to write which makes the works a carrier of religion ideology, salvation concept and people’s acknowledgment and exploration to the other side of the world. The Pilgrim’s Progress is honored as “a perfect work of allegory” by westerner, while the Journey to the West is honored as “a medieval legendary of China”. They are written according to social matters. They criticize on social evils, greatly show the sense of mission social responsibility. The two works differ from each other for their heroes aims to the journey, authors’ attitudes toward rising businessmen and writing techniques. We could have a better understanding of the two works by exploring their similarities and differences.

2. Differences of the two novels

2.1 Different imagery of names

The first section of The Pilgrim’s Progress tells a story in form of dream where the christian knows the ruin of hometown from a book. A man called “preacher” warns him of leaving for heaven. Then he starts his journey. The second section of the book tells a story about Christian’s wife, whose name is Woman Christian, taking a journey to heaven with her children. She is guided by a man called Fearless. Based on The Bible, the two sections of The Pilgrim’s Progress has many symbolic names. For example, there are the Pond of Despair, Mountain of Difficulty (difficulties that the christian must to overcome), Village of Doubt, Giant of Despair (the Christian is held back by Giant of Despair at Village of Doubt), and Vanity Fair, Preacher(who guides the journey of Christian) and Mr.Fearless(who guides the journey of Woman Christian).

Having suffered from countless difficulties, and dangers, the Christian arrives in heaven, making his dream of salvation come true. He is modeled as an incarnation of virtue and an example of puritans at revolution age. Mr Brave, modeled as a representative for rightness as well. As for negative roles, there are Arrogant, Haughty and so on. They are hated by God according to The Bible. Besides, conceptualized roles are used to imply the figures in real society. For example, Devil Apollyon is a tyrant. Mr “Bashfulness” is a saint when being at outside but a devil when being at home. They are the symbols of evil and guilt. Many names and roles in the book originate from the history of Christianity. For example, the Christian’s four kids, they are Mathew, Samuel, Joseph and Jacob. According to The Bible, Mathew is one of the 12 apprentices of Jesus, Samuel is a famous prophet at judges age, Joseph is the twelfth son of Jacob and Jacob is Jesus’ brother.

In The Journey to the West, Tang Monk’s three apprentices represent three kind of bad habits, they are avarice, anger and simpleton. Pig represents people who have a strong desire of avarice. He lust for wealth, beauty, fame, profit, food and sleep. Pig is warned to observe the eight commandments so that he can quit the desire of avarice and gain wisdom. As a result, he is named as “Eight Commandments”. Conversely, Pig fails to observe. Monkey King represents anger, he always wants to control when

an accidents happen unfairly. But he will be angry when he is misunderstood and blamed by his master. Being endowed with magic power and having an ability of seventy two metamorphoses, Monkey King is more powerful than Tang Monk, nevertheless, Tang Monk is the master while Monkey King isn’t. When I was a little boy, I couldn’t understand why Tang Monk is the master as he looks so weak, rather than Monkey King is as he is so powerful. But finally I got it after I study Buddhism, which tells me that the ultimate pursuit of Buddhism is not being powerful but to eliminate human’s anger. Monk Sha is a man of simpleton and honesty, being lack of common sense. He has no idea of what is right or wrong. Studying Buddhism can help him avoid confusion.

2.2 Different attitudes toward rising bourgeoisie

The Journey to the West was written when capitalism rises, while The Pilgrim’s Progress is written at the time of England bourgeois revolution. Inevitably, rising businessmen are involved in both works. Although the Journey to the West is a story about Tang Dynasty, it presents a situation of flourishing development of capitalism at middle and later Ming Dynasty. Being at the feudal age, Wu Cheng’en, the author, dare not to advocate business activities directly. So he just holds a cautious attitude toward the promotion of capitalism. Yet, we can find the author’s promotion to the rising businessmen in the book. Every destination of the journey owns praise from the author, even pubs are described as paradise. It is a breakthrough that the author equate the lowly-considered business activity with the lofty journey of Tang Monk. For example, when Tang Monk sees a group of businessmen walking on dangerous layer of ice, he says, “Benefit is more important than anything. They risk their life for gaining benefit while my emperor brother be loyal to fame. It makes no difference”. Meanwhile, there is much praise for humanity and aspiration for freedom spirit. Monkey King, whatever he represents in the book, represents the liberation of personality. The author is a person of lower-level. He has a close experience to the benefit brought by development of bourgeoisie therefore, he advocates the rising bourgeoisie. Some writers of history regard The Journey to the West and The Plum in the Golden Vase as works of two age. But that is incorrect. Greatly The Journey to the

West continues to tell the kind of story of The Plum in the Golden Vase. Both the novels have a similar attitude toward rising class.

To the rising businessmen, Bunyan accepts and criticizes. If there is no description of Vanity Fair, The Pilgrim’s Progress would be a mere religion work written to exhort. It is the description that presents features of that age. Vanity Fair is described as a materialistic and vile place. There are many goods such as country, desire, happiness, whore, children and anything to be purchased. When the christian and his partner Mr Loyalty buy truth, they are mocked, attacked and even be sentenced to death. In fact, the “Vanity Fair” mirrors the life of England bourgeois noblemen. And is the author, weather or not, an opponent to the capitalism class as he describes the Vanity Fair such a corrupt place? Bunyan had joined the Cromwell’s New Model army and edified with bourgeois ideology. He is not the opponent to capitalism but an opponent to “those people who are opposed to the supreme of God”. Namely, he is opposed to those noblemen who disobeys the edification of God, and the clergy who exploit churches. 2.3 Different aims of journeys

Although the two novels reveal reality by religion, they have different cognition to it, which hat can be explored in protagonists’ aim for their journeys.

The Journey to the West is a subverting work for it satires feudal culture of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. And the author expresses his satire by another buddhist and taoist works as well. The Journey to the West is “a work of game”, it contains “sharp realism”, and conveys the truth by games.The satire is radiated by author’s unsatisfied tone to feudalism society. At the period of middle and later Ming Dynasty, emperors become more and more incompetent and corrupt. The country falls down and their people live in misery. That situation generates thoughts of salvation and loyalty that are greatly advocated by the author. Therefore Tang Monk starts his journey. However, it is not for himself but for the salvation of all and for his emperor’s everlasting power. Jambudvipa, where Tang Dynasty locates, is a place filled with avarice, slaughter, deception, lies, cheat, ingrate and murder.

Obviously the place is not a real place of Tang dynasty. It is a plot conceived to

show the degeneration of middle and later period of Ming Dynasty. Faced with that situation, the author wants to find a way to reform, which means to change the situation and people’s soul by good ideologies and moral cultivation.

At Bunyan’s age, the emperor of England was a believer of Roman Catholic, and Christian church was badly corrupt. It is not the same as what is described in The Bible. Therefore, what Bunyan wants to do is to correct the wrong reality with his pen. Just as it is written in this book, “Why the christian starts his journey? He is oppressed by the great burden. He worries about the ruin of his hometown by heaven’s fire. He cries, “How can we be saves?” .

Although the ways of salvation is different, it differs from the ideologies between China and foreign countries. The aim of The Journey to the West lies in helping from others, while the aim of The Pilgrim’s Progress lies in self-rescue. Anyway, as long as everyone get rescued, all get rescued.

3. Similarities of the two novels

3.1 Similarity of techniques

The creation of the two novels. In the novels, romanticism is widely adopted. It expresses authors’ feelings and imagination to life, namely the perception and perspective for beauty and ugliness, the true and the false, the good and the evil. In order to transcend the reality, authors have to take peculiar imagination, bold exaggeration and fancy plot to radiate their feeling to real life, because they are reluctant to face the odiousness of reality. There are some common features of romanticism in both novels, for example, fancy circumstances and plots, which makes the two novels popular around the world.

Most Christians have an imagination of a paradise. John Milton, exactly, imagines in Paradise Lost, looking far into the distance, the kingdom of heaven looks like an earthly paradise with tall city walls and magnificent buildings.

Full of imagination, Bunyan starts to write The Pilgrim’s Progress with a dream, develops the story with a full scroll of fancy circumstances, including fierce fighting,