Eugene O'Neill's Tragic Vision A Lifelong Quest For Real Tragedy

Tragedy is closely associated with the name of Eugene O'Neill both in his private life and his literary creation. His family life is haunted by tragedies and he is best known for his tragic plays. In this dissertation, the author traces the development of the tragic vision in his literary creation.As illustrated in the division of the chapters, the works of O'Neill could fall into several groups and by analyzing the most acclaimed works of each type, the artist's view of the world and his artistic ideal clearly present themselves. In the first phase of his career, the ambitious young artist was fascinated by the great potential of the stage and experimented inexhaustibly with different theatrical techniques. The structure of the works tend to be fragile and some critics pungently classified them as O'Neill's "pet tragic situations", such as those between gentleman and prostitute or drunkard and spinster. Compared with his more mature works, they seem more arbitrary or abstract since they ostensibly fix on one idea or concept and try to have the problem resolved by itself, which oftentimes does not work out. Yet his experimentations greatly enrich the modern American stage. He makes use of masks as a means of characterization. Multiple settings better explore the subtle feelings of the characters and the juxtaposition of soliloquy with dialogue leads the audience into the labyrinth of the character's inner world. Even at this stage, most of the plays of O'Neill's show a gloomy and tragic view of the world.With the acclamation from the critics and the audience alike, the artistis more confident with his stagecraft and he starts to work on grand themes as adapted from the Greek tragedies. He intends to revive the Greek spirit on the modern stage by proving to the public that the noble feelings and lofty ideas could survive in the most debased environment. What concerns him is the truth under the surface of life. Despite the curse of fate, the heroes or heroines retain their integrity and even get purged by undergoing catastrophes. The exploration of the tragedy is not to satisfy human curiosity for fabulosity, it is a quest for the meaning of life. Tragedy is not sad because it wakes all the strong feelings in human hearts and experiencing tragedy is like a purgatory spiritual uplift.As years advance, the tragic-laden personal life deepens the tragic vision of O'Neill's. Drawing upon his own experience and his family life, O'Neill completes his greatest works Long Day's Journey into Night and the Iceman Cometh. In the last stage of his literary career, O'Neill returns to the plainest form and there aren't any experimental elements in these plays. The theme in these plays is that in the confrontation with fate, and life is tolerable only when hope is gone. The value of these works lies in their insightful and truthful regeneration of the life picture, which would provide an enlightening experience to the audience and the readers.