| Eugene O'Neill was a founder of American 20th century modern tragedy. He wisely and acutely thought about human sufferings and mental dilemma. He was profoundly hurt by human mental emptiness and individual's anxious call for a loss of soul. His tragic consciousness manifests strongly in the sepulcher atmosphere and characters' unfortunate fates and destructive ends. The tragic characters, in a world of belief breaking and mental emptiness, though encounter disappointment, dream failure, destruction and death, seek continuously and struggle incessantly. This point tinges his plays with sublime ancient Greek aesthetic consciousness. Consequently, his tragedies are centralized by consciousness of sufferings, consciousness of dream breaking, consciousness of nothingness, consciousness of death and that of sublimity. This paper explores the connotation of Eugene O'Neill's tragic consciousness from three aspects the formation of his tragic consciousness, themes of his tragedies, and aesthetic value of his tragic consciousness.1 N The formation of his tragic consciousnessO'Neill's tragedies root in the capitalist social-cultural reality of belief breaking, inherits the great tradition from ancient Greek tragedies to Shakespeare's, and absorbs the nutrition of western modern philosophy and psychology. As a result, the cross and merger of traditional consciousness and modern consciousness together formulate O'Neill's tragic consciousness; whereas, individual and family tragedy is the inbuilt factor.(l)Belief breaking -the realistic cultural context of his tragic consciousness. Good has passed away, and then belief breaking becomes mental dilemma of the epoch. The advanced industrialism, Science-technologies, and commercialism dehumanize human beings. The puritanical culture represses and warps humanity. The Irish culture conflicts with that of America, and black culture opposes to white culture. All these factors are the realistic social-cultural context.(2)Traditional influence------the inherit age of western great tradition.The sublime consciousness of incessant struggle and gallant fighting in ancient Greektragedy, and the vivid and colorful exhibition of human inbuilt universe in Shakespeare's tragedy deeply impact O'Neill's tragic consciousness.(3)Process and construction-absorption of western modern consciousness. Schopenhaver's "Lif Will" theory, Nietzsche's "Power will" theory, western Dionysus' Spiritual Philosophy, Freudian "Unconsciousness Theory", Jung's "Collective Unconsciousness" and western archetype theory all importantly influence O'Neill's tragic consciousness. As a result, his tragic consciousness is marked by modern consciousness.(4)Human sufferings-the inbuilt factorImpact of the individual and family tragedy over his tragedy temperament is the inbuilt factor that propels the formation of his tragic consciousness. He exhibits his tragic consciousness in his tragic comprehends and tragic ideology.2 The relation ship between God and man-an analysis of the tragic consciousnessfrom tragedy themes.O'Neill aims at a philosophical conclusion, and his works concern more about God and man. As a result, man and God is the theme and kernel throughout his tragic consciousness.(l)The conflict between man and instinctive desire. The vicious human desire, as a fatal determination Power leads to human mutual kills and death, whereas, the complexes, including Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex, are the ulterior factors that drive man. Hunan desire becomes an indifferent powerful God, and conflicts brought by desire be comes a theme of his tragedy.(2)The conflict and Opposition between man and material God In the capitalist society, machines come to determine human fate as a new God and dehumanize mankind. The gap between emotion and object leads to a loss of humanity and a formation of material worship. To explain the conflict between man and material is the second there.(3)The conflict between man and puritanical GodGod's death refers to the death of traditional... |
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