A Study on Tragic Theme of Desire under the Elms

杜曼丽?钱晓娟

【摘要】《榆樹下的欲望》是尤金·奥尼尔的代表作之一。本论文从悲剧主题方面分析欣赏奥尼尔的著名悲剧《榆树下的欲望》，揭示了在以金钱为主的社会里，物欲横流，人性被压抑以及导致情感扭曲的社会现实，并且指出拯救人类自我的，也只能是人性的升华与灵魂的净化。

【关键词】尤金·奥尼尔；《榆树下的欲望》；主题意义

【Abstract】Desire under the Elms is one of the master pieces of Eugene ONeill. The thesis analyzes and appreciates Desire under the Elms from tragic theme to highlight the destructive power of improper desires. It reveals how human nature is oppressed， how emotion is distorted in the money-dominated and materialized society. It indicates that only through sublimating human nature and purifying the soul can human rescue themselves.

【Key words】ONeil； Desire under the Elms； desire； thematic meaning

【作者简介】杜曼丽，女，硕士，咸阳师范学院外国语学院讲师，研究方向：英语语言文学，外语翻译理论与实践；钱晓娟，女，硕士，咸阳师范学院外国语学院讲师，研究方向：英语语言文学。

【基金项目】本文为咸阳师范学院科研资助项目：成长小说视域下贵妇的画像研究（项目编号XSYK17019）的部分成果。

1. Introduction

Eugene Gladstone ONeill （1888—1953）， an American playwright， and Nobel winner for literature， is regarded as Father of American Theatre. Most of ONeills plays are pessimistic. His outlook on life was heavily influenced by German philosophers Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. His miserable experience was similar to Schopenhauers pessimism， and Nietzsches “God Is Dead” made ONeill question the Catholic beliefs. Desire under the Elms reveals a tragedy of spiritual and survival desire of human being.Survival desire makes them struggle urgently without any extrication； the failure of spiritual desire makes them lost their normal humanity.

2. Tragic Theme

Desire under the Elms is only one classic representative of his plays， in which Cabot， who is over seventy， diligently strives after the meaning and value of life. Eben and Ebbie are ready to sacrifice everything to gain true love. Pursuit and destruction is the eternal theme of ONeills tragedy. And it is also the eternal theme of the life.

We know the play takes place on the Cabot farm in rural New England. The people in the play are low on the social ladder and not of noble birth or royalty. The play is based on the struggles of family members possessed by greed and revenge. Each of the characters believes that they are entitled to the farm. Ebben strengthens his rights to the farm by offering his brothers money he steals from his father. The arrival of Ebbie on the farm is the starting point of the conflict. Desire under the Elms invokes the playwrights own family conflicts and Freudian treatment of sexual themes. A lust for sex and a lust for real estate are familiar passions to many， not with standing the plummeting co-op market and those libido-dampening Dow numbers. But these primal drives take on an eerie， entrancing strangeness in the gutsy revival of Eugene ONeills Desire under the Elms. ONeill played down Freuds influence， the Oedipal instinct is front and center in the psyche of the young Ebben Cabot ， who still mourns his mothers death and bitterly blames his father， Ephraim ， for working her as hard as he works himself and his three sons on their New England farm. Ebbons brothers， loutish brutes who abandon the farm to pursue gold rush dreams in California. When Ephraim brings home a blushing rose of a new bride， Ebbie， Ebben is enraged at the potential loss of his inheritance， until the hypnotic allure of his stepmother begins tearing down his emotional defenses.

Desire under the Elms mirror the tragedies of the United States. It describes the conflicts between new desires and old traditions in American society. The play displays the deeply hidden soul o f characters so as to reveal the great spiritual pain of them and manifest that the individuals bitterly struggle and even destroy them selves in order to pursue the value of their existence. Pursuit and destruction is also the theme revealed in Desire under the Elms. In fact， this eternal theme is not only what ONeill tries to express， but also is the summary and embodiment of ONeills tragic thought. There are two key points in ONeills philosophy； one is “hopeless hope”； the other is “the spirit in man”. These two points are the soul of ONeills tragic philosophy， and is also his key difference from other tragic playwrights.

3. Conclusion

Society plays on its tragedy， and human being play bigger tragedy by themselves. As a member of society， everyone has his living desire， While what a pity that people lost themselves in these desires， and they can not extricate themselves from these desires ，which leads their destruction. Actually ， everyone has desire； However ， we human beings ought not to be the slaves of desire and to be controlled by desire.

References：

[1]Falk，Doris V：Eugene O' Neill and the Tragic Tension；an interpretive study of the plays[J].New Brunswick，N.J.Rutgers Univ.P， 1984.

[2]奧尼尔.论悲剧.美国作家论文学[M].北京：三联出版社，1984.