A Mad Life:Study On Desire Under The Elms From The Perspective Of Michel Foucault’s Madness Theory

Desire Under the Elms is one of the masterpieces of the "Father of American Modern Drama" Eugene O’Neill. It is a tragedy of family ethics. The protagonist—old Cabot, although old in age, is ambitious in wealth possession. He, strong and tyrannical, has toiled his two former wives to death, and been toiling his three sons on the farm as free slaves. He is "God in the Stone" and the only voice at home. His third wife, Abbie, has gone through poverty in childhood and youth, with an unhappy marriage. She marries old Cabot in hope that she could own this farm to her own. On her way to realize her plot, she commits incest with her stepson Eben, and the incest further transforms to pure love, which eventually results in her infanticide. Eben is the youngest son in Cabot’s home. Over-possessed with the desire to get back the farm that he thinks should belong to his deceased mother, he broods love with Abbie while struggling for the occupation of this farm.The French philosopher Michel Foucault theorized "Madness" in his Madness and Civilization, which provides a fresh understanding of this classic play. In his opinion, madness is an ordinary spiritual phenomenon in human beings, co-existing with "reason", and in constant combat with it, the consequence of which is usually tragedy.Foucault categories madness into three main kinds:madness of vain presumption, madness of just punishment, and madness of desperate passion. The development of the plots in Desire Under the Elms shows that the behaviors of the three protagonists are deviating from the normal, are totally mad. From the analysis of the protagonists’different madness, the thesis comes to a conclusion:Since rationality and madness coexist in human beings, when confronted with attractions, we should let reason reign our judgment, otherwise, a similar tragedy will occur.The thesis includes Introduction, four chapters and Conclusion. Introduction is a brief introduction to Eugene O’Neill, the literature review on the play Desire Under the Elms home and abroad, and the aim and significance of the thesis.Chapter One is the overview of Foucault’s Madness theory, in particular his categorization of madness and its implications.Chapter Two analyzes old Cabot’s madness of vain presumption. He is strong, stingy, haughty, a down-to-earn "God in the stone" and the only voice at home.Chapter Three probes into Abbie’s madness of just punishment. In order to occupy the farm, Abbie commits incest with the stepson Eben, which further develops to genuine love. All this will surely make her uneasy ethically and morally. At last, her infanticide will incur just punishment by the law.Chapter Four is about Eben’s madness of desperate passion. His former obsession with inheritance to the farm gradually gives way to Abbie’s sensual seduction, which turns him from a slave to wealth to a man of desperate passion. His mother’s will, his responsibility and even his own life become insignificant in the presence of Abbie, desperate passion has occupied all the space of his rationality, rendering him a madman of "love".The part of Conclusion summarizes that the tragedy of the Cabot’s family is caused by the different forms of madness of the protagonists:their life is a mad life. This tragedy sounds the alarm for modern men:While facing all kinds of attraction, we should have more rationality and less madness.