Brotherhood In Eugene O'Neill's Plays

Eugene O'Neill is known for his profound description of characters' internal world, especially in the context of the characters' relationship. Viewed vertically, O'Neill's plays are found to reveal brotherhood in a subtle way; besides, brotherhood in plays shares the same evolution with the O'Neill brothers: from idealization to disillusionment and to forgiveness. This thesis, based on Eugene O'Neill's personal experience, intends to study the brotherhood from three aspects, and by three phases.In the Introduction, there is a brief account about the reason why I choose Eugene O'Neill as my studying figure and why his brotherhood becomes my research subject; and about the status quo of brotherhood study in the literary study field both at home and abroad. There follows the research question. They are: why did the playwright always focus on the brotherhood? And how is it embodied in his plays?In Chapter One, idealization of brotherhood is concluded to be an important feature during the playwright's adolescence. It lasts so long and affects him so profoundly that his plays have been marked with it. The brotherhood between the playwright and his brother will be firstly discussed; and then followed by that of Beyond the Horizon, both of which give rise to the purest brotherhood full of love and trust in this phase.Chapter Two will focus on disillusionment of brotherhood. Based on the playwright's personal disillusionment of his brother, three plays will be discussed in this phase. They are Desire under the Elms, The Great God Brown and More Stately Mansions. Here, brotherhood has been confronted with conflicts that are characterized by Oedipus...