Quests For Real Self

The American playwright Eugene O'Neill is considered one of the greatest playwrights in the English-language theatre. Many critics compare him with William Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936 for his "dramatic works of vital energy, sincerity, and intensity of feeling, stamped with an original concept of tragedy." He is also noted for the powerful effects of psychological conflicts and intense emotions in characterization. Throughout his lifetime, O'Neill tries to explore through his characters the inner workings of the human self. His later play A Touch of the Poet sees deeply into human inner self, which tells the readers and audience not only the problems of assimilation and identity confirmation of the Irish immigrants, but also the spiritual torture caused by the loss of belief, of Real Self, and of being humanness.O'Neill creates so many masterpieces in his lifetime that most of the O'Neill critics attach great importance to the most famous plays, like Mourning Becomes Electra, Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape, The Iceman Cometh and Long Day's Journey into Night. However, the significance of A Touch of the Poet cannot be neglected. Laurin Porter discusses the theme of origins in his essay "A Touch of the Poet: Memory and the Creative Imagination," mainly focusing on the analysis of the protagonist in the play in search of the reasons why Con Melody at last returns to his origins. Besides Porter, Virginia Floyd and Donald C. Gallup also talk about the general ideas of A Touch of the Poet, like the story, the themes, the characters and the alike. Among the Chinese O'Neill critics, their researches on the play mainly focus on the themes of the conflict between the Irish immigrants and the American bourgeoisie, and the tragedy of the protagonist.This dissertation discusses the tragedy of A Touch of the Poet from a different perspective concerning human nature and morality and goes deeper into the inner self of the protagonist through psychological analysis in an attempt to explore the root sources for the tragedy of the protagonist to reveal the significance of the play that humans should maintain their pursuit of belief, of Real Self, and of being humanness. Chapter 1 is a general introduction, introducing the viewpoint of the playwright and its influence on the play. It also gives a general idea of the significance of the play and of this dissertation.Chapter 2 deals with the brief analysis of the protagonist and puts forward what should be discussed in the following chapters. Chapter 3 attempts to discuss the pseudo-self of the protagonist trying to find the social root sources for it, while Chapter 4 discusses the repressed Real Self of the protagonist from the psychological perspective. Chapter 5 is an attempt to quest for Real Self in a materialized society. Chapter 6 points out the potential danger in the protagonist's loss of self which can result in egoism, dissimilation, and even anthropocentrism. On this basis, this dissertation comes to a conclusion humans should not lose their belief and their pursuit of Real Self;otherwise, they will lose their souls.