On The Absurdity In Mourning Becomes Electra

Mourning Becomes Electra（1929-1931）is a modern tragedy adapted by Eugene O’Neill according to the ancient Greek tragedy Oresteia with new elements.Up to now,scholars at home and abroad have analyzed this play from various perspectives,but the absurd elements in Mourning Becomes Electra deserve further study.This thesis interprets the absurdity in Mourning Becomes Electra from the perspective of Sartre’s Existentialism.Firstly,this thesis explores the absurdity of the environment,including the analysis of eeriness and repression of the Mannon House.And then the thesis discusses the absurdity of characters and analyzes the existential state of characters under the look of the group and the individual.Finally,the thesis expounds the absurdity of the ending.Ezra’s silence,Christine’s suicide,Orin’s compromise and Lavinia’s self-punishment all end in death.According to the research on the absurdity of the environment,the absurdity of characters and the absurdity of the ending,it is observed that the Mannons’ s escape from the existential crisis in bad faith and the limitation of free choice caused by their ambiguous attitudes towards freedom lead to the family’s tragedy eventually.In brief,the analysis of the absurdity in Mourning Becomes Electra is enlightening for modern people to get out of the existential dilemma and find the meaning of personal existence.