Moralism: The Study Of Lillian Hellman's Social Drama

Lillian Hellman,an important dramatist and social activist in America in 20~thh century,inherited traditions of social drama initiated by Ibsen,that topics of her dramas feature epochal character and involves issues like cultural conflict between the north area and south area,race,female problem,World War II,which are rich in critical consciousness and rebellious spirit.War drama,“Hubbard drama”,and southern drama are three main themes of Lillian Hellman,moral standing which throughtThe Introduction mainly introduces Lillian Hellman and her works,reviews domestic and overseas situation of researches on Lillian Hellman,and states the purposes of this study.Chapter One is developed based on Toys in the Attic.Hellman reflects on the values and traditions of the south and explores reasonable value criteria by studying cross-racial behaviors and alienation of family affection happening in families in southern area.Chapter Two selects two works The Little Foxes and Another part of Forest.In the“Hubbard drama”Hellman deems corruption of morality brought by individualism as the root of economic crisis based on the rise of Hubbard family and the disillusion of“the American dream”;then explores the liberation of female based on concept of“androgyny”,and takes the opposition between edge decomposition and the center as the beneficial try.Chapter Three selects two war dramas,pointing out the moralism is due to Lillian Hellman's potential Judaic consciousness.Nonlinear narration in The Searching Wind not only means Jewish trauma,but also appears power of introspection of Jewish time view which leads to build a“society of empathy”.In Watching on the Rhine,Hellman shows her inheritance and development of Henry James'styles on international topics,pointing out that the final purpose of“moralism”is to build a“society of empathy”.By means of connecting relationship between Europeans and American with American foreign policy during world war II,Hellman stresses the necessity of empathy.The Conclusion puts Hellman under the traditions of social drama in America.Lillian Hellman is an excellent playwright,moralism makes Hellman and her works become transcendent,and makes them unversal and eternal.Hellman dedicated to describe actual social situation and emotional response,that she always put macroscopic social problems under subtle moral situation to explore secrets of humanity,which formed a kind of“moralism”featuring cultural depth.Then she created arts accordingly to realize the“moral intervention”of art on the reality.