Understanding Conflict in Shakespeare’s Plays and Chinese Daoist Texts

Comparing cultures by Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory

Abstract

This paper discusses how conflict is dramatized in some of Shakespeare’s plays and is implied in the Chinese Daoist texts. Within the framework of Geert Hofstede’s (2001) five independent dimensions of cultural theory, the paper specifically addresses the teachers of Shakespeare to adopt cross-cultural approaches to Shakespeare. My purpose is that teachers of Shakespeare’s plays might consider adding the introduction of Chinese Daoism into their class and unfold the understanding of conflict as more productive than disruptive. By bringing Shakespeare’s plays into an intercultural dialogue with the Chinese Daoist works, I hope that the study will open up new possibilities of understanding and interpreting conflict in the literary curriculum.