奥尼尔三大悲剧中的命运观

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摘要

美国著名戏剧家奥尼尔与古希腊悲剧解下了不解之缘。他自认古希腊悲剧对

他产生重大影响。他认为古希腊悲剧是最崇高的悲剧。其中，古希腊悲剧的命运

观纵贯整个奥尼尔一生的悲剧写作中并深刻影响了奥尼尔的悲剧思想。

命运观是迄今为止人类仍未解决的一个问题。它存在于各个时代，并深刻影

响了人们的生活态度和精神世界。对古希腊悲剧命运观而言，每个人的命运是在

他出生之前就定了的。古希腊悲剧中的英雄主人公，虽然面对多变的命运，似乎

束手无策。但是，他们依然与命运周旋抗争，力图主宰命运，虽然不得不屈从于

命运，但他们行动的背后，有着坚强的自由意志。正是在无情的命运主宰中的个

人自由意志，昭示了永恒的希腊悲剧精神。古希腊悲剧中的人物大多以死亡作为

自己命运的归宿。奥尼尔继承了这一点，并认为死亡是摆脱人生无价值的唯一归

宿，而且从中可以看到死亡的价值---正是死的胁迫，唤醒了麻木沉沦中的生命，

并驱使它净化升华。只有在死亡的时刻，生命才会展现它全部生存的价值。

本论文以古希腊悲剧命运观为主线，通过分析奥尼尔的三部戏剧：《天边外》、

《榆树下的欲望》和《悲悼》中主人公的悲剧命运来阐释导致他们悲剧命运观的

原因并以此说明奥尼尔对古希腊悲剧命运观继承性的发展。奥尼尔将他的视角转

移到人物身上，认为人自身的因素是导致他悲剧命运的关键，而不是像古希腊悲

剧那样，把主人公的毁灭归结于神祗的意志。

奥尼尔吸收了古希腊悲剧命运观的崇高意识，并用于其戏剧写作中，从而使

他的悲剧创作达到了古希腊悲剧的高度并成为美国严肃戏剧的创始人。

关键词：古希腊悲剧命运主题家庭诅咒死亡自我毁灭

Contents

Acknowledgements

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………….………..1

1.1 Eugene O’Neill’s Tragic Vision………………………………………….………..1

1.2 Greek Tragedy and the Theme of Fate…………………………………….……...3

1.3 Eugene O’Neill and His Critics…………………………………………….……..5

Chapter 2 Character Frailty as Fate in Beyond the Horizon……………………….…….9

2.1 Robert’s Fate…………………………………………………………………..10

2.2 Andrew’s Fate……………………………………………………………...…….13

Chapter 3 Desire as Fate in Desire Under the Elms………………………...………….17

3.1 Abbie’s Fate…………………………………………………………...………....17

3.2 Eben’s Fate ………………………………………………………….…………..20

3.3 True Love Redemption ……………………………………………….………....21

Chapter 4 Family Curse as Fate in Mourning Becomes Electra………………………..25

4.1 The Family Curse and Deaths in the Mannon Family……………….…………..26

4.2 Lavinia’s Fate……………………………………………………………………28

4.3 Christine’s Fate…………………………………………………….…………….34

Chapter 5 Conclusion…………………………………………………….…………….38

Bibliography……………………………………………………………..………..........40

在读期间公开发表论文…………………………………………………..……...........42

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Eugene O’Neill’s Tragic Vision

As a playwright who concerns mankind’s fate, Eugene O’Neill pursues the ideal

of ancient Greece and receives the tragic spirit of ancient Greek. In a letter to the

theater scholar Arthur Hobson Quinn, O’Neill once said:

“Where I feel myself most neglected is just where I set most store by

myself—as a bit of a poet, who has labored with the spoken word to evolve

original rhythms of beauty, where beauty apparently isn’t [in his plays of race

and class]—and to see the transﬁguring nobility of tragedy, in as near the

Greek sense as one can grasp it, in seemingly the most ignoble, debased lives.

And just here is where I am a most confirmed mystic . . . for I’m always,

always trying to interpret Life in terms of lives, never just lives in terms of

character. I’m always acutely conscious of the Force behind—Fate, God, our

biological past creating our present, whatever one calls it—Mystery

certainly—and of the one eternal tragedy of Man is his glorious,

self-destructive struggle to make the Force express him instead of being, as an

animal is, an inﬁnitesimal incident in its expression. And my profound

conviction is that this is the only subject worth writing about and that it is

possible—or can be—to develop a tragic expression in terms of transfigured

modern values and symbols in the theatre which may to some degree bring

home to members of a modern audience their ennobling identity with the

tragic figures on the stage. Of course, this is very much a dream, but where the

theatre is concerned, one must have a dream, and the Greek dream in tragedy

is the noblest ever!” (Bogard and Bryer 195)

The sublime of ancient Greek tragedy has permeated his tragic thought; O’Neill

believes that the tragedies in the period of ancient Athens represent the summit of the

whole drama history (Falk 105).

To O’Neill, tragedy reflects primarily the desperation of desire unaware of which

forces are driving it to self-destruction. In ancient thought, nobility is the height from

which one experiences a tragic fall. In modern society, democracy may be the theater

in which desire expresses its tragic struggle to rise.

Modern dramatists are no longer concerned with the protagonist of the nobility;

On the Theme of Fate in Eugene O’Neill’s Three Plays

they are concerned with the nobility of human nature. Krutch once said O’Neill was

the only American writer who closely approximates the Aristotelian ideal. He writes:

For a tragedy to purge the soul, the hero cannot be “a little man.” He must be a great

one who somehow represents an intimation at least of the nobility of which human

nature is capable. We may pity him but that pity must be for strength defeated, not for

weakness; he must seem to illustrate some irremediable rather than some remediable

aspect of the human situation. (Krutch 36)

O’Neill reminds the public that a profound pessimism is preferable to “skin deep

optimism”. Shunning a lesser success for the challenges of a “greater failure”

demonstrates again that “the noblest is eternally the most tragic.”(O’Neill 104–106)

O’Neill appreciates the sublime of Greek tragedy and in his opinion modern

drama lacks sublime religious spirit and firm belief towards life. For Eugene O’Neill,

he is devoted all his life to exploring the “force behind life.” (Berlin 163). Here,

“force” can be interpreted as some uncontrollable elements --- the combination of the

social circumstances and the character’s personality. For instance, in The Hairy Ape,

the force which Yank faces is the machine-controlled modern capitalist society in

which an individual is degenerated into a cog of the machine and thus loses his identity

as a human being. In The Emperor Jones, the force that Jones confronts is the current

and past societies in which the Negroes are oppressed and exploited. In Desire Under

the Elms, the Cabot family encounters the force of abnormal desires for both material

wealth and physical pleasure; while in Long Day’s Journey into Night, the four Tyrones

encounter the force memories of the unsatisfying past.

And O’Neill’s tragedy embodies the rich color of classical tragedy. For instance,

Desire Under the Elms contains certain plots inherited from ancient Greek tragedies,

such as the incestuous love of a stepmother towards her son. Therefore, Norman Berlin

called this play as O’Neill’s “first Greek drama”. Mourning Becomes Electra, one of

O’Neill’s enduring masterpieces, represents the playwright’s most complete use of

Greek forms, themes and characters.

Eugene O’Neill is greatly influenced by Greek tragedy spirit and the theme of fate

in it and he manages to write plays that almost have the same height as Greek tragedies.

I will give a brief introduction to the theme of fate in Greek tragedy in order to better

understand their definite influences upon O’Neill.

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.2 Greek Tragedy and the Theme of Fate

Tragedy deals with themes central to man’s fate, his place in the universe, his

relationship with gods and his struggle with the external forces that seemed to govern

his life. In respect of aesthetic effect, tragedy arouses feeling of pity and fear.

Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides are considered as the masters of the genre and

each has a unique perspective on the central themes of Greek tragedy.

Generally speaking, ancient Greek tragedy bears the following features: due to

the independent civilization of ancient Greece, the mythical world in ancient Greek

tragedy is relatively independent; concerning man’s fate, his bitterness, misery and

death are closely related to the turmoil of the universe governed by Gods, tragic heroes

take actions between the relationship of man and god and that of man and fate.

“Fate” is used as the key word to understand the Greek spirit world and it is used

to touch the essence of Greek tragedy. It cannot be ignored in studying Greek Tragedy.

Fate plays such an important role in tragedy that it achieves such significance that the

Greeks always put it with tragedy together.

Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides all show their opinions on fate. When we

examine the tragedies of Aechylus, it is discovered that the dramatist portrays human

action in order to justify the ways of God to man. To him, the will of Zeus is infinite

and just; hybris cannot go unpunished. Morality is based on the family and the polis.

Theological in tone, he gives great emphasis to the tragic flaw (hamartia) in man as a

contributing factor in his downfall. In his opinion, human being’s fate is under God’s

will and they cannot escape Zeus’ will since it is infinite and just. And another point he

wants to convey is that human beings’ own character frailty, that is, the tragic flaw of

the characters leads them to their destruction,.

As for Sophocles, there are two main points in his opinion on fate: man must

work out his own destiny, make his own choices, but under the guidance of the laws of

heaven. Contrary to Aeschylus, Sophocles subordinates his religious views to his

character studies. His heroes fall because of hamartia. Man is the helpless victim of

fate, but he can enjoy inner spiritual freedom in spite of the buffetings of fate, if he

allies himself with god. In their sufferings and even in their death, his characters are

ennobled. When God’s motives and human being’s motives conflict with each other,

the gods are supreme.

As for Euripides, the basic idea in his tragedies is that the uncontrolled passion

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摘要：

II摘要美国著名戏剧家奥尼尔与古希腊悲剧解下了不解之缘。他自认古希腊悲剧对他产生重大影响。他认为古希腊悲剧是最崇高的悲剧。其中，古希腊悲剧的命运观纵贯整个奥尼尔一生的悲剧写作中并深刻影响了奥尼尔的悲剧思想。命运观是迄今为止人类仍未解决的一个问题。它存在于各个时代，并深刻影响了人们的生活态度和精神世界。对古希腊悲剧命运观而言，每个人的命运是在他出生之前就定了的。古希腊悲剧中的英雄主人公，虽然面对多变的命运，似乎束手无策。但是，他们依然与命运周旋抗争，力图主宰命运，虽然不得不屈从于命运，但他们行动的背后，有着坚强的自由意志。正是在无情的命运主宰中的个人自由意志，昭示了永恒的希腊悲剧精神。古希腊悲剧...

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