A Comparative Study Of Desire Under The Elms And Hippolytus

As one of the most famous dramatists in the twentieth century, Eugene O’Neill carried forward the spirit of ancient Greek tragedy and applied the approach of realism and naturalism in dramatic creation under the influence of Ibsen, Strindberg, Nietzsche, Freud and other writers, challenging the drama tradition in the nineteenth century. He concerned social issues and was good at digging human weakness, making efforts to explore the root causes of human desire and frustration.O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms was similar to one of the three ancient Greek tragedians Euripides’Hippolytus in many respects. In Desire Under the Elms, he re-interpreted the spirit of ancient Greek tragedy by means of combining American social issues and the techniques of naturalism and realism. This thesis will compare the two works in themes, characters and plot to find how O’Neill rewrote the ancient Greek myth in his drama. The Introduction summarized the current research background of Desire Under the Elms and the significance of this thesis. The previous studies cared the influence of ancient Greek tragedy on O’Neill but have not analyzed how O’Neill absorbed the spirit of ancient Greek tragedy and created an Americanized one by comparing the two plays.Chapter One describes the influential factors on writing Desire Under the Elms. First, the history of American drama provided a dramatic background of the development of American drama; from the colonial era to the contemporary America, from the initial spread of British culture to the reflection of American social problems, American drama gradually formed its own diversity and Americanization with the social changes; second, O’Neill’s life experience had a great influence on his writing, his family life, illness and work experience helped shape his concept of tragedy; third, ancient Greek tragedy provided a fine model for O’Neill’s writing; finally, the influence of Strindberg and Ibsen inspired him on the innovation of writing techniques and characterization.Chapter Two compares the themes of desire and fate of the two plays. On the theme of desire, Hippolytus exhibited Phaedra’s suppressed desire, while Desire Under the Elms displayed the desires of each character directly; on fate, both plays admitted the power of fate, but Desire Under the Elms paid more attention to the expression of the self in face of fate;Chapter Three compares the characters from the characters’ class, personality and ways of description to analyze O’Neill’s unique characterization; In Desire Under the Elms, the protagonists were all uneducated nobody, whose personality and behavior reflected the American Puritan culture, disclosing human weakness and social issues sharply.Chapter Four compares the two plays from its plots. From the beginning, the middle to the end, the two plays arranged the plots differently. O’Neill developed his plots with the actions of the characters, thus the conflicts were more fierce and direct. Also, the final recognition provided an approach for human redemption.In the comparison, it is shown that Euripides inspired O’Neill on the concern for humanity, while the development of American drama and the impact of Ibsen and Strindberg provided many techniques in writing Desire Under the Elms. Therefore, Desire Under the Elms manifested the localization of American drama.