Mourning Becomes Electra And The Mythos Of Motherhood

Eugene O’Neill, an outstanding American playwright in the twentieth Century, wrote numerous domestic plays full of memorable women characters. Whether the women protagonists have motherhood or not is his permanent measurement of commenting and criticizing the female. From the image of the mother Christine in Mourning Becomes Electra, not only the subversion of the mythos of motherhood will be analyzed, but the relationship between maternal power and natural power implied in the drama will also be elucidated in this paper. O’Neill has been regarded as “Modern Moses” in the history of the American drama. After the emergence of the spiritual predicament symbolized by faith breaking in the 1920 s, his reconstruction of the mythos of motherhood has a profound significance.This thesis is composed of three parts. The first part contains a brief introduction to the research methods, the author and his writings. Then it critically summarizes the scholarship on Mourning Becomes Electra, which is classified into three trends: comparative studies, psychoanalysis and tragic aesthetic investigations.The second part is divided into three chapters, which are: the origin of O’Neill’s preference for motherly women, the subversion of the mythos of motherhood and O’Neill’s reconstruction of motherhood in Mourning Becomes Electra. In chapter one the origin of O’Neill’s preference for motherly women is discussed. From the female characters portrayed in O’Neill’s plays, we can see the playwright eulogizes the great motherhood from the perspective of maintaining the traditional social culture. The reasons for him to give a strong motherhood instinct for the female in his works are related to the playwright’s own life experiences and family environment as well as historical context of the twentieth century that was filled up with the spiritual crisis. O’Neill, a playwright, attaches much importance to pure love. He thinks that tragedy, most likely, results from selfish or utilitarian love. With maternal love as an effective means, O’Neill expresses his reflection of modern civilization. Although we humans have made a rapid progress in civilization, the negative factors along with it also appear, to which a full consideration and reflection as well should be given.In the second chapter the subversion of the mythos of motherhood in Mourning Becomes Electra is investigated. The mythos of motherhood in Mourning Becomes Electra is firstly expressed in the subversion of the maternal images. Mother Christine betrays the traditional motherhood, so she is neither celebrated as the human creator or the source of life, nor regarded as the representative of kindness and mercy. The mother, who is full of possession and desire, has eliminated the “maternal virtue” that is attached to her by the traditional ethical culture according to deformity of Eros; Cultural conflict makes the opposition between motherhood and mother’s own desire reach its peak; while the pressure from her family members wearing masks becomes the last straw that overwhelms the camel. Motherhood under the repression of human civilization causes the tragedy of the whole Mannon family. The image of Christine is a subversion and deconstruction of the traditional sacred and noble motherhood.In chapter three, the potential force of the island mother is discussed first. Then through the discussion of island mother imagery, the present paper tries to clarify O’Neill’s motive to develop such an image as he wrote in his working notes: “the south sea island represents release, peace, security, beauty, freedom of conscience, sinless, etc—longing for the primitive—and mother—symbol—yearning for prenatal non—competitive freedom from fear, and love.”The conclusion part sums up the entire thesis. In addition, it points out that O’Neill combines his personal motherhood infatuation together with his mundane consideration of spiritual belief because of his special personal experience and harsh family environment. That’s why his drama has a thrilling power and can arouse audience’s deep emotion.