Religion and Courtship Novels: A Comparison between The Story of the Stone and Mansfield Park in Spiritual Worlds and Secular Lives

Abstract

This paper compares how the different religious traditions in China and England shaped their courtship narratives in the long eighteenth century respectively. It finds that though the courtship novels in the two countries share the theme of temptation, the hero in The Story of the Stone is tempted by general worldly pleasures, while in Mansfield Park by sexual desire. When constancy plays an important role in the Chinese context, second attachment is central to character development in English courtship narratives. The English marriage plot usually embraces worldly happiness while The Story of the Stone’s tragic ending enables the hero’s experience of enlightenment and becoming a monk. Although Xueqin Cao’s and Jane Austen’s courtship novels address similar theme, the very different Christian and Buddhist-Daoist values in China and England shape their courtship plots decisively. Courtship novels, a popular genre in the long eighteenth century that has been widely recognised as narratives focusing on secular life and marriage practice, are unable to depart from the religious tradition in each country.