| Relying on Rene Girard's Violence and the Sacred, this thesis examines violence in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, Desire Under the Elms, and Long Day's Journey into Night. Each play is viewed in the light of Girard's concepts of "collective murder," "ambivalence," "mimetic rivalry," "sacrificial victimage," and "generative violence." For O'Neill, Violence is generative only if it leads to a spiritual communion between people. This explains why it is generative only in Long Day's Journey into Night. Violence triggered by selfishness and materialism cannot be generative, for it leads to the destruction of society. The factor that drew O'Neill's attention to the cyclical nature of violence could be the pattern of failed relationships in his family. The three plays could be seen as attempts to break that vicious circle. Only in the autobiographical play, is his attempt successful. |
