Taboo,Desire And Tragedy

From the beginning of the ancient myth,incest with its unique artistic charm long exists in the narrative literature.Because the creators expresses their unique insights through the important narrative motif of incest,many Incest literature works are still showing their own characteristics.Although Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms" is over half a century earlier than Liu Heng's "Fu Xi Fu Xi",but they both belong to the same motif of Incest.From the perspective of subject matter and narratology,there are many similarities between "Desire under the Elm" and "Fu Xi Fu Xi".In the theme of incest,"Desire Under the Elms" and "Fu Xi Fu Xi" are both through the triangular structure of "father-mother-son" to show that the relationship between father and son was turned to enmity due to revolt tradition,the dislocation of the relationship between mother and son caused love entanglements and the relationship between old husband and young wife led to lack of love and sex.In the narrative of incest,narrative time,narrative space and functional characters and other narrative elements all permeated the author's ethical consciousness.Finally,the reasons for the similarities and differences between the two books are analyzed: in the same way,the main reasons for the incest theme in the works of "Desire Under the Elms" and "Fu Xi Fu Xi" are the collective unconscious of the incest in the deep inside of mankind,the inter-textual influence although transcend the time and space still exists between the creators,and Eugene O'Neill and Liu Heng were both influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis.The main reason why the two books have similarities in the development of the plot and the same ending of the story is that Eugene O'Neill and Liu Heng both had learned and known Taoist reincarnation,Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's tragic thoughts in different degrees.In different aspects,the implicit and intense cultural differences lead that the character of the two books shown the difference between resistance and forbearance.The social background difference between money worship and individual liberation leads that the themes of the two books shown the difference between material and lust.Differences between Religious Society and Patriarchal Society leading to the final outcome of the main characters are doomed to salvation or destruction.