A Comparative Study On Two Desire Tragedies By Castelvetro’s Tragedy Of Personality

As Italian Renaissance humanist theorist and literary critic of drama, Castelvetro’stheory of tragedy has a far-reaching impact on the whole development of drama history.Although he is influenced a lot by Aristotle, his theory has a plenty of original view.He puts great emphasis on the status and value of the personality in tragedy. Hebelieves if tragedy does not show a person’s personality, it cannot be considered to be areal tragedy which should fulfill the duties of imitating human. With Castelvetro’stheory of tragedy, especially the tragedy of personality theory, this thesis analyzesDesire under the Elms and A Streetcar Named Desire comparatively.This thesis is composed of three parts: an introduction, the main body and aconclusion. The main contents are as follows:The first part is the introduction. It makes a brief statement of the origin anddevelopment of Castelvetro’s theory of tragedy, and gives a brief account of theresearch status quo of Desire under the Elms and A Streetcar Named Desire at homeand abroad. Finally, an introduction is made to the purpose and innovation of thisthesis.The second part is the body which consists of three chapters:The first chapter analyzes Castelvetro’s theory of tragedy: the action of tragedy,the species of passion in the tragedy, appalling events in the tragedy, especiallypersonality of tragedy in Desire under the Elms and A Streetcar Named Desire pavingthe way for Chapters II and III which analyze the similarities and differences’embodiment of the theory in the works.The second chapter studies the similar points of Castelvetro’s theory of tragedywhich are embodied in the two dramas and their reasons. Similarities include viciousspiral tragedy, unmeant outrageous and transmission of passion so that I analyze themain reasons for similarities including desire, moral strength and feminist socialatmosphere. What’s more, the most important part of this chapter is the analysis of thehero’s similar stubborn, headstrong, fearless personality which affects the similarity ofthe two works.The third chapter studies the different points of Castelvetro’s theory of tragedywhich are embodied in the two dramas and their reasons. Differences include: the interests of the struggle for interests, painful action and outcome, so the author of thisthesis analyzes the main reasons for differences including: the social melting pot, mythprototype and the author’s life experience. What’s more, the most important part of thischapter is the analysis of the hero’s different personality affects the differences of thetwo works.And the conclusion part summarizes the whole thesis and reaffirms the importanteffect of the personality in tragedy. Even though the tragic personalities are influencedby desire, moral, social and other factors, if they are not driven by internal character,such a tragedy cannot happen. Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said:“A person’scharacter is his fate.” This sentence contains two meanings: Firstly, the character whichis born for each individual along with lifelong cannot be gotten rid as the destined fate.Secondly, personality determines the fate of a person in the whole life; a person shouldunderstand their nature, living the most suitable for his nature of the life is the best lifefor him. Personality decides the fate of a person whose personality is multifaceted. Thefactors of similar personality motivate people to produce similar activities, resulting insimilar life, however, with different personalities, ways and means of persons identifyand solve the problems are different, so the direction of life is different naturally, then,their lives are bound to be different.