An Analysis Of Conceptual Metaphor In The American Drama Desire Under The Elms

Desire under the Elms is Eugene O’Neill’s representative drama which has received great attention and praise since it was put on the stage. Scholars in different research fields devote themselves to study the drama from different perspectives such as feminism, symbolism, fatalism, human desire, etc. However, there are few studies that have been conducted linguistically on the aspect of conceptual metaphor.When it comes to the conceptual metaphor theory, the book Metaphors We Live by written by Lakoff and Johnson should be mentioned because it is a masterpiece in the metaphor development. Lakoff and Johnson in the book hold the view that metaphor is not only a figure of speech in language, but can help cognize the world and think deeply. Besides, they argue that language is closely related to cognitive ability and this kind of ability will play a significant role in language research. On the basis of the above opinions, they put forward the conceptual metaphor which is classified into structural metaphor, orientational metaphor and ontological metaphor. The aim of the present thesis is to do a research on the play Desire under the Elms under the framework of the conceptual metaphor theory, discussing three kinds of conceptual metaphors in order to find the conceptual metaphor features in the play and reveal their cognitive functions associated with the philosophical basis—embodied philosophy. Moreover, in examining of the conceptual metaphor in the play, some further findings will be found and discussed. All in all, research on the conceptual metaphor in the play Desire under the Elms mainly focuses on the drama language presentation which will be helpful to readers’ literature appreciation.