On The Study Of The Ethical Deconstruction In Desire Under The Elms

Eugene O’Neill was the first American playwright who was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature,honored as “the American Shakespeare.” His classic paly Desire under the Elms is regarded as O’Neill’s “first real American historical play,” which has attracted many scholars at home and abroad to make researches from the perspectives of archetype criticism,thematic analysis,feminism and comparison studies,but there have been few researches from the perspective of ethical literary criticism.Ethical literary criticism was put forward by Professor Nie Zhenzhao,which is a criticism method that reads,analyzes,interprets and evaluates literary texts from the perspective of ethic.The thesis tries to analyze the ethical structure in Desire under the Elms,exploring the formation process of the ethical lines and ethical knots from the perspective of ethical literary criticism,aiming to reveal the process,beginning and end of the tragedy in this play.The thesis firstly introduces the research background and literature review at home and abroad systematically,then generalizes the theoretical framework of ethical literary criticism-ethical deconstruction and ethical structure,and two key terms-ethical lines and ethical knots are explained in detail.The thesis lays emphasis on the exploration and interpretation of the ethical lines and the ethical knots in Desire under the Elms,deconstructing the formation of the two ethical lines,the three ethical knots and the reasons for the formation of the ethical knots.The two ethical lines are the family fight for the ownership of the farm and the lusts between Eben and Abbie.Each character in the play hopes to gain the ownership of the farm,which leading to the family fight.The lusts between Eben and Abbie intensify the family fight and quicken the formation of the ethical knots.The farm is full of the material desires and the primitive desires,thus causing the three ethical knots-the perverted love between the mother Abbie and the son Eben,the common love between the father Cabot and the son Eben,and the opposition between the father Cabot and the sons-Eben,Simeon and Peter.The reasons for the formation of the three ethical knots are the prevailing materialism and asceticism at that time.The thesis makes a research of Desire under the Elms with the employment of ethical literary criticism,aiming to help the readers know the ethical structure more clearly and understand the play better,and expecting to enrich the researches of Desire under the Elms to some degree.