المستخلص: |
In O’Neill's trilogy, Mourning Becomes Electra, the subjects are acting in accord with the old legend. In the Puritan society, divine powers determine the course of life and shape the end of human struggle. Human bent to infringe moral laws results in bad conscience and guilt. For O'Neill, the puritan perversion culminates in a curse-"evil destiny"-which makes retribution imminent, ravaging the family clan. Life, then, is shaped by a web of lethal commitments, manifesting evil at the depth of soul. This tragic paradigm pinpoints O'Neill’s indebtedness to Greek mythology, insisting on the lack of blessedness and good spirits that may rule human beings. This paper argues that in New England, the subject's life is drawn on the flaws when s/he acts against taboos, violating the sacred. The end of the subject's struggle is determined not only by "evil destiny", but also by psychic forces. Indeed, the mythical properties are a vantage point from which O'Neill diverges to schematize the mysterious sources of passion, incest ( ) and the ambivalent effects of repression on the family's autonomy and order. In the prismatic oedipal compass, incestuous love, adultery and thirst for revenge lead to unconscious ( ) conflicts and fatal strives. O'Neill combines the ancient mythical plot-structures with modern psychology.
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