A Comparative Study of The Main Characters in Desire under the Elms and Thunderstorm_英语论文

摘要

奥尼尔和曹禺都是在当今世界上有着非凡成就和影响力的两位戏剧大师，虽然他们彼此之间从未见过面而且他们所处的民族也不相同，然而他们的作品所体现出来的悲剧观念却有许多相似之处。例如他们都精心刻画底层人物，打破传统的悲剧形式，让家庭式悲剧获得了社会的认可。事实上，奥尼尔对于中国戏剧的发展做出了很大贡献，而且他对曹禺的创作产生过不小的影响，在曹禺所著的《悲剧的精神》一书中就有一章内容专门谈奥尼尔。例如在俩人的作品：《榆树下的欲望》和《雷雨》中，卡博特与周朴园，艾比与繁漪，埃本与周萍这三组人物形象。不过因为两位作者所处的不同的社会背景和家庭环境，虽然两部作品中的主要人物有不少相似之处，但其中更有不少值得探讨的不同点。

关键词：《榆树下的欲望》 《雷雨》 人物形象  

Abstract

Cao Yu and Eugene O’Neill are two excellent dramatists with great achievements and influence in the world. Although they lived in different national and cultural background, there are many similar conceptions of tragedy in their works. For example, they are both good at depicting the ordinary people, which break the traditional form of tragedy and make the subject of family tragedy gain wide social significance. In fact, Eugene O’Neill contributed a lot to the development of Chinese drama. Even though the two masters had never met each other, Cao Yu was influenced by O’Neill and Cao Yu also referred to O’Neill in his book The Spirit of Tragedy. What’s more, in Desire under the Elms and Thunderstorm, the main characters, such as Cabot and Zhou Puyuan, Abby and Fan Yi, Eben and Zhou Ping, all show something in common. However, due to the difference of the social background and family environment, there are some similarities between these characters in the two dramas, but there are also lots of different points worth discussing.  

Key Words: Desire under the Elms; Thunderstorm; Characters

Contents

1  Introduction 1

2  Comparative Analysis of the Main Characters 5

2.1 Cabot and Zhou Puyuan: Representatives under Patriarchy 5

2.2 Abbie and Fan Yi: The Pursuit of Material and Freedom 8

2.3 Eben and Zhou Ping: The Misunderstanding of The Absence of Mothers 12

3  Conclusion 14

Bibliography 15

Acknowledgments 16