English and Welsh Dragon

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCIES AND HUMANITIES

ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

CULTURE & SOCIETY



Welsh and Vietnamese Dragons

Instructor : Phan Thị Kim Loan

Student : Nguyễn Thanh Hiếu

Class : 06tb1

2009

I. INTRODUCTION

Dragon - the most powerful, fantastic and universal creature of all time in the world. At the beginning of lifetime, children have heard about dragons in fairy tales. In fact, there is no creature which is able to gain such a popularity, as well as mysteriousness as dragons are. Almost countries have their own dragon appeared in old legends, depicted on architectural art and literature. However, it is not in many countries where you can see a dragon – The Red Dragon, on the national flag as you can in Wales, neither will you be introduced about the origin of a nation as the children of dragon as you are in Viet Nam.

It is said that dragons are only the imagination used to explain natural phenomena about which people had no idea and to express wishes of people in the early time. In western countries dragons represent the most powerful monster which knights have to fight with to save someone and to show their bravery. Gradually, in western culture dragons are regarded as something bad that one person, especially a man, has to come over if he wishes for a better life. In eastern countries, in contrast, people talk about dragons as weather-God. Dragons can make rain and rough, they bring crops with abundance and provide people with prosperity, therefore, they are loved and respected most.

Still, according to all those things mentioned above, it will be interesting to find out why the welsh chose a monster as the national symbol and the reason why the vietnamese are so proud of talking about themselves as the posterity of dragons. Moreover, it is not always an absolute contrast between the two images of the welsh and the vietnamese dragons. Actually, going back to all kinds of dragon legend you will find the answer for all...