Assignment for Comparative Literature course. I did it myself, taken from many sources. Sorry for unmentioned credits.

1. William Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet and
Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s
Sonezaki Shinju
A Comparative Literature Study on Tragic Love Stories

2. Introduction
• Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet, a drama by William
Shakespeare, is about a tragic love story of a
young man Romeo and a young woman Juliet.
The conflict between the two families,
Montague-from Romeo’s side and Capulet-from
Juliet’s side becomes an obstacle to their
unconditional love. When Romeo has to leave
Juliet because of the conflict, Juliet is forced to
marry a distinctive man her family had agreed,
Paris.

3. Juliet, who does not want to marry
Paris, sets up a plan with the help of a
preacher, Father Lorenzo. The plan is to
make Juliet seemingly dies of poison, but
after two days she will wake up again. All
of this is to stop the marriage between her
and Paris so that later Romeo can take
her outside the town. Unfortunately, the
news that comes to Romeo’s ear is the
death of his lover, not the plan.

4. Thus, when he arrives and sees Juliet
lying dead, he is very sad and angry so
that he kills Paris in the duel. Feeling
extremely sad and empty, he takes a
deadly poison and dies. Juliet, finally
awakes from her “death”, seeing her
Romeo died, takes a dagger and kills
herself. The family of the two lovers
realizes their huge mistakes finally regrets
it and be at peace with each others.

5. • Sonezaki Shinju
Sonezaki Shinju, a Japanese drama by
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, is a tragic love
story of Tokubei and Ohatsu. Tokubei is a
worker in his uncle’s shop and Ohatsu is a
hostess in the shop. They meet in a
temple and fall in love with each other.
Their relationship is not as easy as their
meeting. Tokubei’s uncle who is also his
master plans to match Tokubei with his
niece.

6. His uncle says that he will be
responsible for the cost of the marriage.
But Tokubei, who really loves Ohatsu,
refuses his uncle’s offer. Then his uncle
becomes very angry at Tokubei. He asks
Tokubei to return the money he gave him
as long he lives. Tokubei is very poor, but
he can collect all the money with his hard
efforts motivated by his love to Ohatsu.

7. Once it is enough to pay his debts to his
uncle, he is cheated by his best friend, Kuheiji.
He borrows Tokubei’s money with no intention to
return it. Tokubei is also tortured by Kuheiji’s
friends. Knowing that it is impossible to pay his
debts to his uncle, Tokubei tells all of the
problems to his lover. The loving couples finally
make their last decision to do shinju, that is to
end their life and have their marriage afterlife.
They put their best effort to go to Sonezaki
Forest where they end their life hoping that they
can be married in the hereafter according to the
belief of Buddha Zen.

8. Similarities
• The theme:
– Love story in a difficult time
– Love and faithfulness are more important than
life.
• The conflict: Family is the biggest obstacle
of their love
• The ending: They are both ended by the
death of the main characters

9. Differences
• The conflict in the family is triggered by
the social status in Romeo and Juliet.
Meanwhile, the conflict in Sonezaki Shinju
is based on the feeling of trust of the uncle
toward his nephew which is broken with
the refusal of the nephew.
• The meaning of death in Romeo and Juliet
is different from the suicide (shinju) done
by Tokubei and Ohatsu.
• The setting

10. Conclusion
The true love story is described in two
different place and time. However, they both
have similar theme, conflict, and ending in such
a way that Sonezaki Shinju can be said as
another version of Romeo and Juliet.
Nevertheless, the differences between those two
masterpieces as seen from socio-cultural
approach are the most important aspects to be
considered. Finally, it depends on our
understanding and appreciation to interpret
those literary works.

11. Thank You
Presented and created by Hilga Clararissa AS