Expressionistic Techniques In Metaphase Plays Of Eugene O'Neill

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953), a well-known modern playwright in America, has been considered as an expressionist representative in the history of literature and drama both at home and abroad. When it comes to the studies of his expressionist dramas, the critics commonly focus their attention on the two main works, "The Emperor Jones" (1920) and "The Hairy Ape"(1922), analysing them as they stand. This thesis intends to interpret his drama's characteristic, starting from the relationship between O'Neill and expressionism, following his access to his creation, meanwhile, sum up his unique techniques on the basis of his middle creation and the techniques' significances and functions to convey the theme.As a matter of fact, O'Neill cannot simply be attributed to some literature school due to variety in style of his creation, nor can he to expressionist representative. As a literature movement, expressionism budded in Germany, flourished in Europe but very soon vanished. Not having been accessible to expressionism in Germany, O'Neill, influenced by various factors, formed his style in his drama creation. The three main factors mainly include: modern philosophy and psychology, Strindberg's drama and little theatres movement in AmericaJust because he differs from European expressionism in the process of formation, O'Neill embodies his characteristics of his own by rooting in people's realistic life to penetrate people's true soul rather than show off his techniques. Therefore his expressionism displays with no absurdity or unreality, at the same time all his means and techniques are employed to reflect human latent emotions, expose human soul secrets and pains in the bottom of their soul. His expressionist style in drama falls on his middle period of creation, that is to say, experimental and emotionally probing dramas throughout the 1920s, in which and when he introduced numerous new means and techniques from Europe in his creation and boldly innovated upon traditional ones. To be more exact, his striking features are as follows, that is, masks, sounds full of rhythm, stream-of-consciousness-like monologues, symbolistic scenes.Depending upon the above techniques, O'Neill further displays and exposes the dramas' theme. The techniques bring American theater with great vigour and vitality, making America catch up with Europe in theater. They also signify to broaden theater performance, enable it to reveal human subconsciousnes, display human inner heart, psychologically and emotionally. Just like a tache in drama history, O'Neill has inherited many fruits from ancient Greek and Shakespeare, especially he innovated upon long-existed ancient techniques, endowed the drama with charm, making it more...