On The Conflict Between Rationality And Irrationality In Eugene O' Neill's Tragedies

Eugene O'Neill, Father of American Theatre and the winner of Nobel Prize for literature in 1936 and four Pulitzer Prizes, has created more than 50 plays during his writing career, most of which are tragedies; therefore he is also called"Father of American Tragedies". The power of tragedy lies in its conflicts. But what conflicts cause tragedy? With a detailed examination of his three family tragedies in different periods, Beyond the Horizon(1920),Desire Under the Elms(1924),Mourning Becomes Electra(1931) and his living experience, this thesis aims to explore the causes for his tragedies from the perspective of philosophy, because human beings can find the root of their thoughts in philosophical concepts. And the gradual maturation of O'Neill's artistry is also appreciated through his individual works.The introduction to this thesis conducts a literature review about O'Neill's works, defines the research objectives and significance of the thesis and introduces the thesis methodology.The body of my thesis consists of four chapters.The first chapter is an examination of O'Neill's family and the contemporary social background. The unhappy family is the source of his family tragedy, while the conflict between his rational father and irrational mother is the cause of his family tragedy. We can find the theory in philosophy that rationality and irrationality are the basic conflicts in human beings. And the conflict between rationality, especially the Puritanism, and irrationality is the main stream of idea of the contemporary society; it should be inevitably reflected in his works.Chapter Two surveys his representative work in his early writing period, Beyond the Horizon. The conflicts in this work are simple. Robert and Ruth are the characters full of a particularity of irrationality.;and the father is the representative of Puritanism.The conflict between them ends in tragedy.Chapter Three analyses Desire Under the Elms, the representative work in his second writing period. The conflict tends to be more complex. Abbie and Eben both have the characters of rationality and irrationality. But finally they are controlled by irrationality. The father Ephraim is a puritan, so the conflict is inevitable, and the end is tragedy.Chapter Four explores his masterpiece, Mourning Becomes Electra. The vivid description discovered the deep reason of the tragedy. The puritan girl, Livonia, used to be vacillating in the first part and the second part of the story, but finally she returns to be rational. The irrational character, Christine, is doomed to death in the conflict. The fate of the puritan family of Mannon also ends in tragedy.On the basis of the interpretation of these three plays, in the fifth part, the author of this thesis reaches the following conclusion: with the development of his philosophical thoughts and arts, O'Neill has got a deeper understanding of the source of tragic life--- the conflict between rationality and irrationality, and portrays it for us in his works of deferent periods.