As one of the world-famous playwrights,Eugene O'Neill is no doubt the father of modern American drama.He is regarded as "American Shakespeare" and becomes the winners of Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize to...As one of the world-famous playwrights,Eugene O'Neill is no doubt the father of modern American drama.He is regarded as "American Shakespeare" and becomes the winners of Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize totally for four times.One of his classic drama desire under the elms denotes his attempts to place plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy within the conflicts among a Puritan family members.In the general plot,there is one special character that does not appear in the stage while leading the whole tragedy of the family.She is the ghost in the play.Actually,this ghost is nobody but human's desire,that is,desire of lust,desire of money and desire of monopolization are the real murders of killing those happiness.However,from O'Neill's whole personal life,it is not difficult to find the reason why this play filled with ghost shadow.Consequently,this paper will analyze the ghost shadow step by step,first in the play itself,second in the theme,and finally the author himself to reveal that desire under the elms has been the reflection of O' Neill's own family life.展开更多
This study is about Eugene O＇Neill＇s use of ＂medusation＂ as an effective metatheatrical device and foremost achievement in his art. Occurring onstage as an unexpected ＂anagnorisis＂, the medusation is a traumatic...This study is about Eugene O＇Neill＇s use of ＂medusation＂ as an effective metatheatrical device and foremost achievement in his art. Occurring onstage as an unexpected ＂anagnorisis＂, the medusation is a traumatic experience that engenders ritual death. This author argues that the medusation is a quintessentially metatheatrical act, insomuch as here O＇Neill carries out a commentary on the function and functioning of theatre, through the consciously fictitious events that unfold on the stage. In the ＂Introduction＂, the author reviews its development in O＇Neill＇s plays, from the more traditional melodramatic situations of the early works to the subsequent portrayal of a self-defeating pattern calling for psychological violence and symbolic death. In the section called ＂Medusation＂, the author addresses the concept of medusation in order to account for the process whereby O＇Neill＇s people, annihilated by their sudden glimpses into the other within themselves, undergo major physical and spiritual change In ＂Case Studies＂, the author analyzes the chief correlatives of medusation： the dead-in-life, the death mask and the dead double. The author＇s point in this paper is, thus, to show how extensively and pervasively O＇Neill deploys medusation in order to signify a rite of passage that engenders metatheatrical death. Its outcome may either be the perpetuation of an endless spiral of violence and self-defeat, or a premise for rebirth arising from the characters＇ assumption of responsibility as to their share of guilt in the evil of the world, together with the renewed human sympathy and understanding that this awareness brings along展开更多
O’Neill’s tragedy deeply rooted in his own life experience and his family heredity.He is an offspring of Irish immi grants,his homelessness as a child,his early education in the catholic school and his later break w...O’Neill’s tragedy deeply rooted in his own life experience and his family heredity.He is an offspring of Irish immi grants,his homelessness as a child,his early education in the catholic school and his later break with religion,his foreign expedi tion,life on the sea and his three marriages all influenced his life and his career and his theme decisively.展开更多
On the surface,Desire Under the Elms is a tragedy of the Cabot family which borrows its plot from the ancient Greek tragedy and legend Hippolytus and Medea by Euripides and the Greek myth Oedipus by Sophocles,about lu...On the surface,Desire Under the Elms is a tragedy of the Cabot family which borrows its plot from the ancient Greek tragedy and legend Hippolytus and Medea by Euripides and the Greek myth Oedipus by Sophocles,about lust,incest,Oedipus complex and infanticide,etc.enriched and elevated,however the root of all the tragedies in the family lies in Ephraim Cabot’s Puritanism.展开更多
文摘As one of the world-famous playwrights,Eugene O'Neill is no doubt the father of modern American drama.He is regarded as "American Shakespeare" and becomes the winners of Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize totally for four times.One of his classic drama desire under the elms denotes his attempts to place plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy within the conflicts among a Puritan family members.In the general plot,there is one special character that does not appear in the stage while leading the whole tragedy of the family.She is the ghost in the play.Actually,this ghost is nobody but human's desire,that is,desire of lust,desire of money and desire of monopolization are the real murders of killing those happiness.However,from O'Neill's whole personal life,it is not difficult to find the reason why this play filled with ghost shadow.Consequently,this paper will analyze the ghost shadow step by step,first in the play itself,second in the theme,and finally the author himself to reveal that desire under the elms has been the reflection of O' Neill's own family life.
文摘This study is about Eugene O＇Neill＇s use of ＂medusation＂ as an effective metatheatrical device and foremost achievement in his art. Occurring onstage as an unexpected ＂anagnorisis＂, the medusation is a traumatic experience that engenders ritual death. This author argues that the medusation is a quintessentially metatheatrical act, insomuch as here O＇Neill carries out a commentary on the function and functioning of theatre, through the consciously fictitious events that unfold on the stage. In the ＂Introduction＂, the author reviews its development in O＇Neill＇s plays, from the more traditional melodramatic situations of the early works to the subsequent portrayal of a self-defeating pattern calling for psychological violence and symbolic death. In the section called ＂Medusation＂, the author addresses the concept of medusation in order to account for the process whereby O＇Neill＇s people, annihilated by their sudden glimpses into the other within themselves, undergo major physical and spiritual change In ＂Case Studies＂, the author analyzes the chief correlatives of medusation： the dead-in-life, the death mask and the dead double. The author＇s point in this paper is, thus, to show how extensively and pervasively O＇Neill deploys medusation in order to signify a rite of passage that engenders metatheatrical death. Its outcome may either be the perpetuation of an endless spiral of violence and self-defeat, or a premise for rebirth arising from the characters＇ assumption of responsibility as to their share of guilt in the evil of the world, together with the renewed human sympathy and understanding that this awareness brings along
文摘O’Neill’s tragedy deeply rooted in his own life experience and his family heredity.He is an offspring of Irish immi grants,his homelessness as a child,his early education in the catholic school and his later break with religion,his foreign expedi tion,life on the sea and his three marriages all influenced his life and his career and his theme decisively.
文摘On the surface,Desire Under the Elms is a tragedy of the Cabot family which borrows its plot from the ancient Greek tragedy and legend Hippolytus and Medea by Euripides and the Greek myth Oedipus by Sophocles,about lust,incest,Oedipus complex and infanticide,etc.enriched and elevated,however the root of all the tragedies in the family lies in Ephraim Cabot’s Puritanism.
