毕业论文正文 (3)

Introduction

As a well-known dramatist, Eugene O‘Neill has ever won the Pulitzer Prize for drama four times and is also the only dramatist who has ever won the Nobel Prize in American literature. He is quite noted both at home and abroad in the 20th century. His fame in drama can be compared to Irish novelist James Joyce in fiction and British poet Elliott in poetry. Desire under the Elms, written in 1924, is considered to be a gr eat milestone of O‘Neill‘s creations. As the first and most important American tragedy, its success lies in its characterization, plot description and consistent pursuit of life disillusion as well.

Since its publication and being put on the stage, it has received much concern and lots of reviews from different perspectives. The famous critic Chothia said: ―In O‘Neill‘ insistence that his realistic manner must be real realism‖ Some other scholars studied it from the aspects of psychology. Ester M. Jackson concludes in his book: In Eugene O’Neill. ―Although this play did success in revealing the contour of the universe in which modern man lives they also exposed the failures of their protagonists to achieve humanistic goals.‖This paper aims to make a study and analysis of the three characters –Cabot, Abbie and Eben in Desire under the Elms and the causes of their tragic fate.

1. A Brief Introduction to E.O Neill and Desire under the Elms

Eugene O‘Neill was born in New York. After a rich experience in academic study（at Prince-ton, 1906－1907 and at Harvard, 1914－1915）, he began his career as a dramatist in 1916. Desire under the Elms, a drama written by him was completed in 1924. It reveals the destruction of strong material possession and lust of people in human nature through the

exquisite description of the land and struggle within Cabot‘s farm.

Ephraim Cabot, one hero in Desire under the Elms, is an unsparing and miserly old man. He works in a New England farm inherited from his second wife with the help of his three sons. Eben, the youngest son, blames his father for his mother's death, insisting he killed her with overwork. Simeon and Peter, Eben‘s older half‐brothers, want to get a better life in California. When the seventy‐five‐year‐old Ephraim appears with his third wife, Abbie Putnam, an ambitious young widow, the older boys sell their shares to Eben and head for the gold-rush. In order to possess the farm, Abbie seduces Eben. And when their son is born, Ephraim believes the child is his, making the baby as his heir. Eben denounces Abbie who has fallen into love with him. To show her strong love for Eben, she kills their child. Eben calls the police angrily, but recognizes that he has come to love Abbie too. So he claims he also assists in the killing. As the young couple is taken away, Ephraim prepares to tend the farm alone.

The desire in human nature is the basic reason that leads to destruction of human. Human ca n‘t get rid of the desire in their basic nature, and all heroes—Ephraim Cabot, Eben, Abbie Putnam in Desire under the Elms has a strong desire to material and sex. Therefore, they are all unable to escape tragic fate.

2. The Tragic Fate of the Main Characters in Desire under the Elms

In the process of pursuing material, the three main characters -- Ephraim Cabot, Abbie, Eben in Desire under the Elms all make use of any means avaiable. It makes their tragidies inevitable. This part aims to analyze their tragic fate respectively.

2.1 Ephraim Cabot

Ephraim Cabot is a symbol of patriarchal authority. And as he has a strong Puritanism, he can‘t get rid of tragic fate.

2.1.1 A Symbol of Patriarchal Authority.

Ephraim Cabot is a representative with a noble character. Even though frustrated many times, he never gives up. He is over 70, but energetic which can be learned from E.O Neill‘s description about him. ―Cabot is tall and gaunt, with great, witty, concentrated powe r (i)

face is as hard as if it were burn out of a boulder……‖(O Neill, 1924:14) It gives us an impression that Ephraim Cabot must be a powerful man. Even though he is old, he also can defeat his youngest son Eben in combat. Not only his two ex-wives but also his three sons must obey him. It shows that he is the symbol of patriarchal authority.

2.1.2 A Typical Puritan

E.O Neill shaped this character according to his father. In 1950s, his father lived in New England, in which Puritanism was popular. Puritanism advocates inexhaustible labor and active self-control. In this play, old Cabot‘s harsh and cold character is based on the Puritanism. He has a firm belief: living is to serve god according to its will. The god is not the god of the religious significance, but Cabo t‘s pursuit for the l ife meaning. Fifty years ago, he ran away from the desert, because he couldn‘t stand the hardship of creating business. However, as crops were mature in the fertile plains of gold, he heard the call of go d:―There is no meaning for you! Go home.‖ (O Neill, 1924:18) He did not hesitate to go back to his desert. So the farm with stones enclosed is not only his wealth, in the deeper meaning, reflecting the will of god. He always acts according to god‘s will.

No one day in his whole life is in a relaxed mood. Cabot has a strong desire for the land, believing the land is only one wealth that can depend on. Not only he works desperately, but also forces his family to work just as his slaves. In his eyes, his families are just farming tools like animals. To some extent, he has lost all life pleasure and meaning. He doesn‘t love anything expect the farm. He can‘t understand emotions and family love. Even though he marries Abbie, he just regards her as a tool of giving birth to an heir for controlling the farm forever.

But if I could, I would, by the Eternal! 'R if I could, in my dyin' hour, I'd set it afire an' watch it burn--this house an' every ear o' corn an' every tree down t' the last blade o' hay! I'd sit an' know it was all a-dying with me an' no one else'd ever own what was mine, what I'd made out o' nothin' with my own sweat 'n' blood! (O Neill, 1924:22)

Those descriptions show old Cabot is poisoned deeply by Puritanism.

2.1.3 The Tragic Fate of Cabot

Cabot tries to become a person as strong as the rock. Life is harsh and meaningful for the stronger; but the stronger are always alone in the process of pursuing the life meaning. Not only the people around him don't understand and laugh at him, but also his three wives and three sons do. In the struggle of understanding god and pursuing survival value, Cabot is destined to be a loser. He calmly accepts the fate that family is not exist any more and leave him alone—continues to farming in this desert land. The man with strong Puritanism is doomed to be a loser. As E.O Neill said, it should use the way that makes their wishes satisfied to punish the people who only pursue accomplishment. Leaving Cabot alone to own this farm is a harsh punishment to him.

2.2 Abbie

Abbie is a tragic character. And she is characterized by rebellion and strong desire for material and sex.

2.2.1 Abbie Putnam, a Rebellious Female

Abbie is a rebellious female who also can‘t escape the tragic fate. Due to traditional biological determinism, women are thought to be born with femininity and inferior to man both in the physical and mental aspects. As the founder of ―Global Gender Issues‖, Peterson V.S summarizes the main different characteristics of feminine and masculine qualities. In their opinion, women are passive, tender, dependent and irrational; while men are active, brave, independent and rational. Abbie, strictly speaking, is free from the traditional femininity. She is a tragic role with qualities of active, brave, independent and rational.

First of all，Abbie is not passive. Her active behavior is reflected in her passionate attitude toward sexuality. In Scene Two, ―Abbie opens Eben‘s door and puts her arms around his neck; she pulls his head back and covers his mouth with kisses.‖ (O‘Neill, 1924:19)The subjects of these sentences are all ―she‖. It is she who leads Abbie to her trap. They make love in the room where Eben‘s mother died. What‘s more, in the Part Two, Scene One, Abbie talks with him actively when Eben is going out. ―As he passed her, gives a sneering, taunting chuckle. Eben: stung-turns on her furiously. What air yew cackin about?‖(O‘Neill, 1924:16) From these we can see how active Abbie is.

Secondly, Abbie is brave enough. In Part Two, Scene Three, Eben and Abbie step into the parlor. From O‘Neill‘s description, we can feel the sense of horror which is caused by the

ghost of his mother. ―A grim，repressed room like a tomb in which the family has been interred alive.‖(O‘Neill, 1924:27) After lighting all the candles, Abbie ―looks awed and frightened now, ready to run away.‖(O‘Neill, 1924:27) Finally, she stays down. It needs a great effort, because we know that Ephraim Cabot is powerful from the following description. ―Cabot is tall and gaunt, with great, witty, concentrated power. His face is as hard as if it were born out of a boulder.‖ Even though he is old, he also can win his youngest son Eben. Not only his three strong sons but also his two ex－wives must obey him. However, Abbie is not afraid of the symbol of patriarchal authority- Cabot. She is the only one who bravely subverts him. And she even wants to get the farm from Cabot at any cost. In order to get the right of inheritance, she seduces his son to give a birth. These turnaround behaviors show her brave.

2.2.2Abbie’s Strong Material and Sexual Desire

Firstly, Abbie chooses to marry an old man for her material needs. Just as what O‘Neill describes: ―Abbie……full of vitality. There is strength in her jaw‘ a hard determination in her eyes and about her whole personality the same unsettled, unmated, desperate quality.‖ （O‘Neill, 1924:14）At the first sight of the house, she can not help exciting and repeating that the home is hers. She hopes to get the property as the identity of wife after Cabot‘s death. ―A woman‘s got her a hum！‖（O‘Neill, 1924:14）. Unfortunately, her husband refuses to give his farm and house to her even after his death. He prefers to burn everything with fire than give her. ―Ye‘re on‘y a woman‖ said Cabot. Even thought she is his wife, she has no right to get the farm. ―Cabot. That hain‘t me. A son is me－my blood－mine. Mine ought‘ git mine. An‘then it‘s still mine－even though I be six foot under‖（O‘Neill, 1924:14）. Wife is just ―that‖, a thing of husband. As marriage only promises her a temporarily stable life, she makes a decision to give a birth to a son in order to win the farm. Having a son will promote her

status in the family. Therefore, for fulfill her last plan－―own the farm,‖ she seduces Eben with no considerations of any consequence. In that period, adultery is a serious and sinful behavior. If she is discovered, she will be severely punished. However, she won‘t care anything thinking of the farm－the very thing she is longing for.

Secondly, old Cabot is so old that can‘t meet Abbie‘s sexual desire. And Cabot even abandons Abbie to hold a cow in arms to sleep. Because his main pleasure is work day and night to keep his farm. What‘s more, both Eben and Abbie are young; they are attracted by each other at the first sight. Abbie‘s desire is activated by Eben‘s beautiful face in her tender gaze. ―They stare into each other's eyes, his held by hers in spite of himself, hers glowingly possessive. Their physical attraction becomes a palpable force quivering in the hot air.‖(O‘Neill, 1924:19) It shows Abbie‘s sexual desire.

2.2.3 The Tragic Fate of Abbie

In the beginning of this play, she has a strong desire for the wealth. In order to get it, she prefers to marry an old man. As marriage can‘t promise her a stable life, she chooses to lust Eben to give a birth. However, she killed their little baby for her strong love to Eben at last. From the former analysis, the only purpose of having a son is to get the farm. Killing the son means that she will get nothing. However in order to state her sincere and pure love for Eben, she decides to get nothing except Eben‘s love. It shows that she gets out the limit of material. But she can‘t get rid of the tragic fate at last, because of his previous greedy for wealth and many other outside factors.

2.3 Eben Cabot

Eben is also a tragic role. He cherishes complicated emotions towards his family. For his father, he feels nothing but strong hatred. To Abbie, however, his heart is full of not only hatred but love.

2.3.1 Strong Hatred to His Father.

From the beginning of this play, ??Eben--(with a sardonic chuckle) Honor thy father! (They turn, startled, and stare at him. He grins, and then scowls.) I pray he's died.‘‘ (O‘Neill, 1924:3) We can feel Eben‘s strong hatred to his father who kills his mother with overwork. However, he doesn‘t allow his brothers to curse his father. This shows that Eben inherited kindness and sensitivity from his mother. Nevertheless, it is his kindness that leads to his failure in the battle with his father. At the same time, his sensitivity implies that he will fall in love with Abbie. For Eben, the core of his life is being loyal to his mother and taking revenge on his father. For this reason, he recaptures the farm and later has incestuous love with Abbie.

2.3.2 Love and Hatred to Abbie

Eben‘s love to his mother always find expressions in taking revenge for his father and getting the farm back before he fell in love with Abbie. His b rothers‘leaving gives him a temporary hope for success, but he faces a more p owerful enemy after Abbie‘s arrival. Abbie announces that the farm once belongs to Eben‘s mother, but it‘s hers now and will always belong to her in the future. She flirts with Eben because of her desire for material. In fact, Eben has been attracted by Abbie in the beginning. But he thinks he will betray his mother if he longs for Abbie who will take the place of his mother and become the master of this farm.

Thus, Eben is dragged into the situation where love and hatred are mixed to Abbie, and he suffers much struggle in his inner heart. Finally, his love to his born mother was shifted to his stepmother. Abbie is not only a lover but also a mother at this moment, which can be seen from the linguistic description on their first adultery. Abbie comforts her child like a mother. She oppressed ―her overwhelming desire.‖ (O‘Neill, 1924:21) Instead of the sexual desire, ―there is a sincere maternal love in her manne r and voice－a horrifying frame mixture of lust and mother love.‖ (O‘Neill, 1924:21) The following actions show that she is his mother. She kisses him in the tender way. She adopts the two words ―Maw‖ and ―son‖ to comfort him.

Love and warmth have abated his desire for the farm, but it can not make it disappear totally. Therefore, acquisitiveness comes out again and takes on the whip hand when Eben mistakenly think that Abbie makes use of their love from beginning to end. Suddenly he was awakened from the dream, all feelings interwoven together—love to his mother, hatred to father, and love and hatred to Abbie, making him lose human nature.

2.3.3 The Tragic Fate of Eben

Eben is also a tragic character. In the end of this play, Eben runs to the police angrily and reports that Abbie has killed their child. However, after finding himself in love with Abbie deeply, he runs back to persuade Abbie to escape. But Abbie refuses his advice and decides to receive punishment. Finally, as love prevails in the heart of Eben, he decides to get punished together with Abbie. Finally, they stay together but lose both child and farm. They cannot escape tragic fate.

3. Causes of Tragedy

The three heroes all have flaws in character: Cabot is poisoned by Puritanism; both Abbie and Eben have strong material and sexual desire. Apparently, none of them can escape the tragic fate caused by their desires for material and sex, hatred and Puritanism..

3.1 Material Desire

Material desire is a major reason leading to tragedy. As the most essential factor in this play, land is the source of greed and conflict. Ephraim Cabot believes firmly that he builds the farm, so he deserves to have it. He even states that he would rather burn the farm to the ground than let it fall into other‘s hand. It shows Ephraim Cabot is extremely greedy and selfish. Eben thinks the farm used to be his mother‘s but his father robs it. Now as his mother is dead, he needs to get it back. So Eben seduces his brothers to seek gold in the west, primarily in California. Abbie wants to have a house, making others believe that she is the owner of the farm through lies and chicanery. Both of them want to get the farm at any cost. Everyone has material desire, but they go far beyond the limit. From this play, we know that irrational material desire leads to the final tragedy to a large degree.

3.2 Sexual Desire

Sexual desire is also an important reason bringing about tragedy. In this play, Eben and Abbie all want to occupy the farm. But after they fall in love with each other, Abbie kills their son to testify her pure but crazy love to Eben. What‘s more, selfish, violent and cold Cabot, is an abstinence activist. He marries a beautiful woman who is forty years younger than himself

out of his sexual desire. However, he just regards her as a farming tool. For keeping the farm forever, he works day and night. He even holds a cow in his arm when sleeping, because only the cow can give him warmth and spiritual support. So the author believes Cabot‘s ignorance to his wif e‘s inner sexual desire pushes Abbie into the moral abyss. Both being young, enchanting Abbie and dynamic Eben lack love from the opposite gender. Therefore, they are attracted by each other. Finally, as they fail to resist sexual desire rooted in their heart, they exceed the moral limit and fall into tragedy and destruction.

3.3 Hatred

Hatred is another reason. Eben always holds the opinion that his father dominates the farm by deceiving and killing his mother. Eben said: ―(fiercely) an‘fur thanks he killed her! Eben—Didn‘t he slave Maw t' death?‖ (O‘Neill, 1924:6) Therefore he hates his father, and he wants to get back the farm to take revenge.

Eben said: ―She‘d got too tired. She‘d g ot too used t‘ being‘ too tired. That was what he done.

(With vengeful pass ion) An‘ sooner‘s later, I‘ll meddle. I'll say the thin‘s I didn‘t say then t‘ him!

I'll yell ‘em at the top o‘ my lungs. I'll see t‘ it my Maw gets some rest an‘ sleep in her grave! (He sits down again, relapsing into a brooding silence. They look at him with a queer indifferent curiosity.)‖ (O Neill, 1924:6)

In this play, Eben seduces his brothers to give up their inheritance and let them go to the West. He not only sweeps away obstacles, but also revenges his father. Later, he occupies Meddy, which means revenge his father to a certain extent. It is manifested in the following sentences. Eb en said: ??I was so drunk mad—an‘ she got scared—an‘ I jest grabbed holt an‘tuk her! (Proudly) Yes, soiree! I tuk her. She may‘ve been his‘n—an‘ your‘n, too--but she‘s

mine now! ‖ (O‘Neill, 1924:7) And then Eben has relationship with his stepmother, Abbie, which is retaliation for both his father and mother. Hatred to his father results in insect, infanticide and tragedy.

3.4 Puritanism

As a typical Puritan, old Cabot is poisoned deeply by Puritanism. It boasts living a poor life, working hard and being indifferent to sexual desire. This creed, in fact, represses human nature. Faced up with Puritanism, the repressed choose intense rebellion. In his whole life, Cabot enslaves himself, his children and wives to work day and night. His two ex-wives‘ death owing to excessive work reinforces his sons‘ hatred to him and leads to Eben‘s rebellion and revenge. Marriage is built on both sides‘ satisfaction with material, spiritual and sexual needs. But Puritanism restrains the instinct of people‘s sexual desire in marriage. It is no doubt that Abbie and old Cabot fall victims to Puritanism. Cabot has had one foot in the grave while Abbie is quite young. The gap of Cabot and Abbie in physiology can‘t be erased. The ideological origin of this tragedy lies in Puritanism.

Conclusion

Through analyzing three main characters in Desire under the Elms, the author finds O‘Neill wants to reveal human nature was destoryed by material and sexual desire. The farm is the root of every character‘s desire. These three main characters attempt to possess the farm at any cost. Old Cabot uses any means available, and doesn‘t care his family at all; Abbie

takes advantage of Eben; Eben deliberately seduce his brothers to seek gold. However, finally Abbie and Eben get rid of desire‘s control and sacrifice everything for love. Old Cabot holds the farm alone, which meets his desire: this farm is his and will belong to him forever. However, the loneness in his inner heart swallows the joy of his final triumph. It is their deep-rooted desire that makes them crazy and end in tragedy. This paper mainly illustrates the tragic fate of three main characters and classifies the causes into four aspects: material desire, sexual desire, hatred and Puritanism. O Neill regards life as a fight. In his opinion, the value of life lies in the fight with both inside and outside enemies. As these three main characters all have strong desire for material and sex, they lose their human nature in the process of pursuing them. The author thinks that is the most important specialty of Desire under the Elms.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor Ms. Ma for her invaluable guidance and support throughout the research and writing of this thesis. Her careful proof reading, timely feedback and pertinent suggestions are continual source of inspiration for me.

Many other people have helped me and contributed their time to the research of this thesis. I would like to thank all my group members for their invaluable comments and suggestions. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude toward everyone in the English Department, especially Miss Ye and Miss Wang for their valuable suggestions and help in the past four years of study as well as their friendship. And I want to thank all my classmates for their kind company.

I will always be indebted to my family, especially my parents. I would like to thank them for their support and confidence in me. This thesis would not have been finished without all their kindness and encouragement.