Love and passion of the two heroines in <em>La Celestina</em> and <i>Romance of the Western chamber</i> of Wang Shifu

Abstract

Abstract: In this work we will first discuss the love and passion of the two hero- ines in La Celestina and Romance of the Western Chamber. We will then compare them with the aim of demonstrating the similarities and differences between the two pro- tagonists, Melibea and Cui Yingying, with respect to female curiosity and disguise, free will, lust and sensual love. Specifically, they are both maids locked up in their rooms, and they feel the same curiosity towards the other sex. They also feel the same dissat- isfaction with family restraints and feudal morality and aspire to freedom in love. This establishes a basis for the artistic creation of free love and feminism in later love literature.