Eugene O'Neill's Tragedy Creating And Dionysian Spirit

Drawing nourishment from east arts enriched Eugene O'Neill' creative techniques in tragedy, while absorbing various west ideas and thoughts intensified the connotations of his works. Of all these, his acceptance of Nietzsche's tragic aesthetics was the most initiative and profound. Especially the characteristics of Dionysian spirit—indulgence, orgiastic, intoxication, resistance, etc—elaborated in Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, pervaded his plays. This was especially evident in his creation of tragic figures and render of tragic atmosphere. This paper will focus on this, discussing it in detail through three chapters.First part:Refining the connotation of Nietzsche's Dionysian spirit, analyzing the relationship of it to tragic aesthetics and the different expression of this spirit in ancient times, modern times, and especially contemporary tragedies, and finding out the reasons of this difference.Second part:Based on text, analyzing Dionysian spirit in O'Neill's tragedy from three aspects. First, excavating the root of Dionysian spirit from such universal characteristics as the repressive self reflected in tragic figures, the psychology of despair and retiring in difficult positions, and strong sexual passion and material desire. Second, digging out the radiance of Dionysian spirit from the opposite relationships between the figures and their fates, the resisting spirit of characters in difficult situations, and the optimistic attitudes of figures in front of death and destruction. Third, feeling Dionysian spirit atmosphere from the use of music, diversity of stage language, and variety of theatrical arts. Third part:In Nietzsche's tragic Aesthetics, Dionysian spirit and Apollonian spirit is inseparable. So, the last part will explore the radiance of illusion and rationality of Apollonian spirit in the Dionysian intoxication of characters. Here, the flash of brilliance of Apollonian spirit comes from O'Neill's writing skills of defamiliarization and blankness.Epilogue part:Starting from Nietzsche's Dionysian spirit, summarizing the representation of Dionysian spirit in O'Neill's tragedies centering on the characteristics of the Dionysian spirit in O'Neill's tragic figures, the Dionysian spirit atmosphere with many drama elements, the pervading note of Dionysian spirit in the plots, and the brilliance of Apollonian spirit emanating from Dionysian spirit, and pointing out the rich and profound aesthetical value of Dionysian spirit represented in O'Neill's plays.