The Triple Spaces Of Modern Tragedy

From the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century, the expression "modern tragedy" appeared several times in western critical reviewswithout, anyhow, a clear definition. But since Nietzsche's alleging thattragedy died, what it constitutes, or even whether it exists has become acontroversial problem. On one hand, those who oppose it often takeGreek tragedy as the norm, insisting that due to the anti-tragedy tendencyof modern religion, philosophy and science, genuine tragedy cannot beproduced in an age lacking belief and courage. On the other hand, a greatmany scholars hold their belief in modern tragedy following Camus'Lecture Given in Athens on the Future of Tragedy. In their opinion, theproblems we are facing now are quite different from those of Greek orShakespearean time, thus leading to the change of tragedy essence.On a positive stand of modern tragedy, the author of the thesisbelieves that it might not be sensible to examine each play in the light ofclassical Aristotelian dictates since tragedy developed and experiencedgreat changes in the 20th century. People came to realize suddenly in thelast century that both the Glory of God and the Glory of Man havedeparted. Never before has human being's existence become such asuspectable problem. The collapse and reconstruction of spiritual being has become the two poles of confrontation in the creation of tragedy,leading naturally to the change of tragedy concept.Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to examine carefully the newpredicaments in tragedy, or in detail, the new adversities which blockman from fully realizing the highest possibilities of himself.The new paradigm employed in the thesis is proposed by RenShengming, a Chinese scholar on tragedy, who, in his monograph,believes that tragedy is the tension when a man deals with his adversities.On one hand, it is man himself who is seeking his freedom and happiness;on the other hand, there are numerous factors outside or inside whichendanger his pursuits. Man walks from one predicament to another,resisting against these adversities, and during the course, tragedy occurs.Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill is considered tobe a monumental tragedy in modern America literature, presenting anaccount of an ordinary American family plagued with numerous problemsand enmeshed in a tragic net. Interpreting the play from the newparadigm, the thesis endeavors to explore those adversities which makeup the second pole of tragic tension. Unlike the ancient work, tragedy inthe play come in three dimensions: the conflict between man and thesociety, man and his spiritual crisis, man and himself, implicating that thepredicaments modern people facing now are far more complex thanbefore. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals withthree traits of social tragedy: loss of personal value, including the wastedvalue of Tyrone, deceptive value of Jamie, and unrealizable value ofEdmund; no sense of belonging due to loss of home and loss of socialstatus, loss of free will of the whole Tyrone family. The second chapterfocuses on spiritual tragedy in two aspects: impersonality of thepersonality and disintegration of the personality. The former is reflectedin loss of the self and loss of cultural identity; the latter finds evidence inthe dual personality in Mary and Jamie. The third chapter attempts toexplore into noumenon tragedy. Symbols and quoted poems in the playhelp to highlight the absurdity of existence, still the Sisyphean struggle ofthe Tyrone family dredges meaning from meaninglessness.The thesis concludes that among the triple spaces of modern tragedy,noumenon aspect is obviously the core, revealing embarrassingpredicaments that human beings have never met before. Yet moderntragedy is not pessimistic in spite of so many adversities. The tragicvisions and perspectives contain a hidden philosophy which lendsmeaning to an otherwise meaningless doom, thus enlightening humanbeing's future.