The Difference between China's Ancient Comedy and Western Comedy

Similarities and differences between China s ancient comedies and western comedies;

(1) Western comedies are generally only used for satire. The second chapter of Aristotle's Poetics points out: "Comedy always imitates people who are worse than today." The anonymous outline of comedy in ancient Greece said: "comedy is an imitation of a ridiculous, flawed and quite long action." This traditional comedy concept has long been regarded as the golden rule, and it was not until Shakespeare in the Renaissance that this bondage was partially broken. All the comedies of the great comedian Moliere strongly mocked and attacked the laziness, vulgarity and shallowness of the nobility, the hypocrisy and meanness of the monk class and the selfishness and greed of the bourgeoisie. A high degree of irony and critical spirit makes him a banner of comedy kingdom.

(2) There are not only satire but also praise in China's comedy tradition. The ultimate concern of tragedy is the death of life (or the troubles of life), and the ultimate concern of comedy is the growth of life. Judging from the proposition that the ultimate concern of comedy is the development of life, China's classical comedies can reveal their own characteristics, because China's comedies not only deny ugliness and ridicule backwardness, but also express ideals to a great extent, especially the romantic sentiment of longing for beauty, which symbolizes the dawn of the future world. The ultimate concern of China's classical comedies is the growth of life. Contrary to the negative comedies in the west, China's playwrights always like happy endings in which one good turn deserves another, and the other evil turns around.