Abstract: Long Day’s Journey into Night, Eugene O’Neill’s great tragedy, portrays a family bound with loneliness, guilt，accusation and remorse. This play is highly autobiographical, displaying O’Neill’s pessimism towards life and the whole society. This thesis considers the root cause of the Tyrones’ misery is their spiritual emptiness, which is reflected by the loss of artistic faith, loss of religious faith and dreams, loss of maternal love, and loss of hope for life. Besides, this thesis, considering O’Neill’s experience and the specific social circumstance, summarizes that the Tyrones is “Everyfamily”, and the spiritual emptiness is not only the root cause of the Tyrones’ tragedy.

Key words: Eugene O’Neill； Long Day’s Journey into Night; spiritual emptiness; tragedy

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Introduction-1

1 James Tyrone’s Tragedy: Lost in Materialism-4

1.1. James’ Abandonment of Artistic Pursuit-4

1.2. James’ Stinginess to His Families-5

2 Mary Tyrone’s Tragedy: Loss of Self-8

2.1. Loss of Religious Belief-8

2.2. Loss of Dream-9

3 Jamie Tyrone’s Tragedy: Loss of Psychological Comfort-13

3.1. Jamie’s Loss of Maternal Love-13

3.2. Jamie’s Deriving Solace from Alcohol and Prostitutes-14

4 Edmund Tyrone’s Tragedy: Loss of Aim in Life-16

4.1. Edmund’s Loss of Hope for Life-16

4.2. Edmund’s Escapist Attitude Towards Life-17

Conclusion-20

Bibliography-21

Acknowledgements-23