A Comparative Analysis of Vinegar Tom and Snow in Midsummer

Abstract

For a long history, women were oppressed in the patriarchal society as the second sex. Through analyzing Vinegar Tom and Snow in Midsummer, we make a research on the serious status of women. Interestingly, these two plays were written in different eras and in far distant countries, and the basic plots of these plays share a lot in common: the hierarchial relationship between women and men, the inhumane treatment on female bodies, the way of considering “good” or “bad” woman in a society, and the way in which these “bad” women are punished. Despite the similarities between these two plays, there are some differences found as well, which reflects each cultural and social background. Most “so-called bad” women are hanged to die in Vinegar Tom regardless of differences among female characters while two primary female characters have different fates in Snow in Midsummer due to their age. The ending of Snow in Midsummer manifests the cultural fact that the old is prior to the young in China. Besides, the innocence of the dead women in Vinegar Tom are not revealed while that of the dead female is proved in Snow in Midsummer through a male figure’s help. Grounded on this comparative analysis, the paper suggests how systematically the oppression on women both in Western and Eastern countries has been undergone.