A Comparative Study Of Plays Of Susan Glaspell And Eugene O’Neill From The Perspective Of Gender Theory

Susan Glaspell and Eugene O’Neill have occupied an unshakable position in the history of American literature and the world of letters. The former is the founder of modern American drama while the latter is a Nobel Prize winner of literature who makes American drama well-known all over the world. Two famous playwrights belong to the same period and theatre, and they have lots in common, such as their preference of one-act play in the early stage of their career; their prominence in arranging protagonists’ absence and their love in exploring marriage and family issues as well. As realistic dramatists with profound insight and a strong sense of social responsibility, Glaspell and O’Neill pay great attention on women’s survival in society. By showing the audience many brilliant females on the stage,their works definitely reflect the detention and resistance of various women in a patriarchal society.Glaspell, a female playwright herself, is good at using her female perspective and delicate brush strokes to observe and depict women. What is more, she explores the friendship among women and their pursuit of ego and life. Comparatively, female characters shaped by O’Neill are quite different from those kinds, tolerant, strong but lonely women created in Glaspell’s works. His women characters are usually audacious and even deviant, fighting against social dogmas of the patriarch society and pursuing their self-realization. In fact, the existence of those females reflects both O’Neill’s denial of traditions and sympathy for women.This thesis analyzes classical female images in Glaspell’s and O’Neill’s plays based on“gender” theory which is an important one in sociology. It mainly discusses the differences between natural sex and social gender and the influence of the differences on gender identity.Moreover, it deeply analyzes the underlying reasons hid behind the gender differences and inequalities status between men and women. Therefore, it reveals two dramatists’ writing motivations and their own gender differences reflected in the drama characters.Previously, many people studied Glaspell and O’Neill from the feminist perspective, and some of them also involved in the area of gender. However, few made a comparative study on their plays from the perspective of gender. Therefore, the analysis of the female characters in their plays and study on authors’ view of women cannot only provide a broader research perspective for Glaspell and O’Neill, but also help more people to understand the cultural andinstitutional reasons of gender inequality, so as to drive dramas to complete the transition from metaphysics to physics.