Language and the divided self: Ethical and psychoanalytical readings of selected plays by Eugene O'Neill

Of all the disciplines that concern the self, the theories of Charles Taylor and Jacques Lacan illuminate our interpretations of this subject from ethical and psychoanalytical perspectives. Taylor's theory emphasizes that orientation to the "moral good" is the ontological nature of the self. He holds that there are three moral sources that constitute the Western modern identity, and the identity problems faced by the moderns are caused by the collapse of the theistic vision---a supportive moral source among the three. Lacan's elaborations of the psychic structure of the self, for instance, the mirror stage, and the construction of the unconscious, reveal that the self is alienated by nature, and that it is both reliant on the reflection of the Other and subject to the influence of the Other.;The purpose of this dissertation is to interpret the selves represented by Eugene O'Neill in the light of Taylor and Lacan's theories. My research shows that O'Neill's interest in selfhood can be found on both the ethical and psychological aspects, though his dramatic focus shifts in different periods of his career. In his early plays, O'Neill dramatizes the features of uncertainty and fluidity, which is caused by multiple and irreconcilable "moral goods" harbored by the self. In the middle period, O'Neill's concern remains on the moral problems that exist in American culture. But in his drama he explores the psychological experiences of the self in order to demonstrate the connection between the fragmentation of the self and the influence of society. In his late plays, O'Neill focuses on the "displaced" selves---those who live in social, temporal and spatial displacements so as to reveal that the displacements are strategies employed to cope with modern man's spiritual loss. Through staging the aimless and meaningless existence of the "displaced" selves, O'Neill deals with modern man's identity crisis as related to the moral malaise of Western culture---the "death of God" and the collapse of the Western moral order. In his drama, O'Neill has unconsciously reflected the moral and psychological truth about the self that is revealed by Taylor and Lacan. Nevertheless, his opinion on the self is too complex to be explained in any single theory. This dissertation thus will include a discussion of O'Neill's views on selfhood and his contribution to modern drama in terms of the quest motif.