Interpretation Of The Hairy Ape From Discourse System Perspective

The Hairy Ape is an expressionistic masterpiece written by Eugene O'Neill, who is the father of Modern American drama and also an American Noble Prize winner and the winner of Pulitzer Prize for four times. This drama has been the hot topic under discussion from the literature perspective because it's the concentrated reflection of the techniques and devices of expressionism. Without following in others'footsteps, this thesis aims to analyze and interpret the drama The Hairy Ape from the discourse system perspective, which is a linguistic concept put forward by the American linguists Ron Scollon and Suzanne Wong Scollon in 1982.This drama mainly conveys the theme of a man's search for his identity in the money-dominated and hypocritical society. The man is just the protagonist Yank, whose psychological changing process is the principal line. Yank is a nobody living at the bottom of the society who is content with his living conditions and blindly optimistic at first, but with the humiliation from the ship owner's daughter Mildred as the transition; he's converting to take personal revenge and struggle to seek his own identity in the society. Finally, he realizes his lamentable position in the society with the death in the embrace from the gorilla as its ending.This thesis mainly consists of five chapters. Chapter one briefly introduces the purpose, significance and organization of this thesis. Chapter two is the general literature review of the linguistic theories on the analysis of drama at home and abroad and the studies on The Hairy Ape carried out by other researchers at home and abroad. Chapter three minutely introduces the theoretical framework adopted in this thesis, including drama theory, dramatic discourse and the four aspects of discourse system: ideology, socialization, face system and forms of discourse. Chapter four is the main body of this thesis. It can be divided into three parts. The first part focuses on introducing the great American dramatist Eugene O'Neill and his writing techniques and thoughts in drama creation. Part two is a brief introduction to the background and plot of The Hairy Ape. Part three is the detailed appreciation of this drama from the four aspects of discourse system respectively. The interpretation from each aspect contains several parts, attempting to explore the theme, implied meanings, conflicts and personal relationships among the characters of this drama. The last chapter is a conclusion of the whole thesis.This thesis is a tentative attempt by analyzing the drama from the discourse system perspective with the hope that it will throw a flood of light on the interpretation and appreciation of drama from the discourse system perspective.