Leiden University Student Repository

Wu, Sin-Yi (2015)

Loyalty and Filial Piety in The Tale of the White Snake: an analysis of Lady White's positive portrayal in drum ballads

Master thesis | Asian Studies (120 EC) (MA)

Marlon Hom demonstrates that Pu Songling’s portrayal of women can be divided into two categories: 1. mortal women and 2. mythical women. Pu's women show only one set of characteristics at a time. The morally good and chaste personality traits belong to the humans, while the independent and assertive women are usually mythical beings. Lady White in "The Tale of the White Snake" (bái shé zhuàn 白蛇傳) displays both the mortal and supernatural aspects: she exhibits proper human behaviour, but at the same time she retains the assertive traits attributed to her snake spirit nature. This thesis will explore why and how Lady White's portrayal in the drum ballads is shown in a much more favourable light compared to her depiction in the vernacular story "Lady White is imprisoned underneath the Thunder Peak Pagoda".

Tale of the White Snake

drum ballads

women in Chinese literature

Confucian ideals

Author

Wu, Sin-Yi

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Chinese Studies

Supervisors

Haar, B.J. ter
Keijser, A.S.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en