Eugene O'Neill and the search for a classical form

Abstract

This thesis considers the influence of classical Greek tragedy on the plays of Eugene O'Neill. His admiration for Greek tragedy and his desire to emulate the achievements of the classical dramatists is established from his own comments and several factors which influenced him in this matter are put forward; they include personal and literary associations and frustration with the contemporary theatre, O'Neill's work is then examined to see how this concern with Greek tragedy is worked out in the plays themselves. O'Neill was very concerned that his plays should on the one hand he the spiritual successors of the great Greek dramas, and on the other, that they should speak to his contemporaries in ways and on matters of vital relevance to them By consideration of O'Neill's work in the light of the Greek plays, it is shown how he tried to achieve this aim. O'Neill's use of classical themes ms investigated, first in Mourning Becomes Electra and Desire Under the Elms with their explicit Greek themes, and then in other plays where he follows the method of the Greek tragedians in reinterpreting a religious myth familiar to his audience. Because O'Neill was not an ancient Greek but a modern American, he draws on the mythical heritage of contemporary western society, in addition to the Greek myths, yet he is still following the practice of the Greek dramatists. His use of some techniques of the Greek theatre is the considered, with particular reference to the introduction of a chorus, music, dance and masks. Finally, some estimate is made of how successful O'Neill was in trying to emulate Greek tragedy. In connection with this, the melodramatic nature of his plays is considered and linked with bothe Greek melodrama and nineteenth-century melodrama.