An Analysis Of Desire Under The Elms From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism

Eugene O'Neill is one of the greatest American playwrights.He was awarded Pulitzer Prize four times and the Nobel Prize in literature.His early play Desire Under the Elms is known as “the first great classic tragedy in American drama history”.The play depicts the farm life in the mid-19 th century New England,demonstrating the tragic fates of the characters under the oppression of puritanism and patriarchy in three-act form.From the perspective of spatial criticism,this thesis,taking Henri Lefebvre's spatial theory mainly to analyze Desire Under the Elms from physical space,psychological space and social space,attempts to probe into the spatial narrative features,meanwhile,explores its significance to characterization,plot development and theme construction.This thesis is composed of an introduction,four parts and a conclusion.The introduction is a brief overview on Eugene O'Neill and Desire Under the Elms,as well as the literature review and thesis statement.Chapter One clarifies concisely the origin and development of spatial criticism and makes a specific explanation of Henri Lefebvre's spatial theory.Chapter Two explores the construction of physical space in the drama,analyzing the synchronic feature of the drama.On the microscopic level,under the spatial metaphor of the elms,the parlor,the road and the other symbols,the outside and the inside of the farm form strong contrasts of the light and dark.On the macroscopic level,New England and California are embodied with the characteristics of spatial juxtaposition,breaking the linear narration of drama and forming spatial confrontation.These two narrative strategies represent the farm as an oppressive prison,deepening the tragic theme.Chapter Three analyses the reflection of psychological space,which carries the characters' feelings and thoughts.It reveals the protagonists' greed for wealth,eagerness for spiritual shelter and pursuit of true love,in general,the process from desire to redemption.The psychological changes of the characters enable the psychological space to extend and flow,constantly rising the plot into climax.Chapter Four discusses the connotation of social space.The farm is the social epitome under the the oppression of puritanism and patriarchy in the mid-nineteenth century.Human nature is gradually distorted and social relations are apathetic under the dominance of dogmatic puritan doctrines.The puritan thought disciplines the people on the farm,and people who break the discipline are supposed to get punished by God.As another repressing force,the patriarch utilizes the space(farm)as the means of dominance,making other people tools of production and reproduction in order to maintain the spatial supremacy on the farm.Under the influence of puritanism and patriarchy,the protagonists constantly struggle into tragedy.In conclusion,this thesis discusses the theoretical and practical significance of analyzing Desire Under the Elms from space criticism.Employing spatial criticism to analyze Desire Under the Elms helps the readers to grasp the tragic theme of the play from a new perspective,understand the characters' inevitable tragic fates under the spatial oppression,in the meantime,explore O'Neill's spatial narrative skills.Desire Under the Elms is a drama endowed with spatial form,the effect of which is achieved not only through a steady display of the crucial spatial setting,but also through a dynamic construction of theme in three dimensions of physical space,psychological space and social space.Through the spatial study of this drama,it is helpful to enrich the applications of the spatial theory in the dramas.Meanwhile,the spatial expression of this drama proves that spatial criticism as an integrated and interdisciplinary critical approach has a significant role in evaluating literary works and expanding the way of thinking.