Abstract: As the representative tragedy of Eugene O’Neill, the preeminent American playwright, Desire under the Elms has been a blockbuster since its advent due to its unique pulchritude in tragic art, and it is hailed as one of the greatest American tragedies. Critics generally ascribe the cause of Abbie’s tragedy to O’Neill’s deliberate design. This thesis attempts to probe into the cause of Abbie’s tragedy based on a relatively new perspective—androgyny, initiated by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and introduced into literature by English feminist writer Virginia Woolf, and therefore to remind modern people of the appropriate way to pursue happy life.  

Key words: Desire under the Elms; androgyny; Abbie; tragedy

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 About Eugene O’Neill-1

1.2 About Desire under the Elms-2

2. An Overview about Androgyny Theory-3

2.1 Evolution of Androgyny-3

2.2 Woolf’s Concept of Androgyny-4

3. Abbie’s Marriage Tragedy: Consequence of Her Excessive Femininity-6

3.1 Being Resigned in Her First Marriage-7

3.2 Being Covetous in Her Remarriage-8

4. Abbie’s Love Tragedy: By-product of the Eruption of Masculinity-9

4.1 Being Aggressive to Cabot-10

4.2 Being Manipulative and Over-obsessed to Eben-11

5. Abbie’s Social Tragedy: Continuation of Her Femininity-13

5.1 Being Fragile in Defending Against Patriarchy-13

5.2 Being Ambivalent in Fighting Against Puritanism-16

6. Conclusion-18

Reference-20