Language and the Fragmented Self: A Reading of Eugene O'Neill's Plays

Author: Xie Qun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: In all research on the self, Charles Taylor and Jacques Lacan's theories have inspired our understanding of this topic from ethical and psychoanalytic perspectives. Taylor's theory emphasizes that the drive for goodness is an ontological attribute of the self. He argues that modern Western moral identity is composed of three moral sources, and the identity issues faced by modern people are caused by the collapse of the dominant religious perspective among these three moral sources. Lacan's explanation of the structure of the self, such as the mirror stage and the formation of the unconscious, reveals that the self is essentially alienated: on one hand, it must rely on the other to obtain its mirror image; on the other hand, it submits to the influence of the other. This book aims to interpret the self-image shaped by Eugene O'Neill with the ethical and psychoanalytic theories of Taylor and Lacan. My research shows that O'Neill's focus on the self includes both ethical and psychological dimensions, with different emphases in different creative periods. His early works reflect the uncertainty and fluidity of the self. These characteristics arise from the diversity and irreconcilability of the goodness inherited by the self. In the middle period of his career, O'Neill continued to address the moral issues existing in American culture, but his dramatic focus shifted to exploring the psychological experiences of the self, revealing the connection between the fragmentation of the self and the socio-cultural context. In his late works, O'Neill focused on portraying the migrating self—the self that has lost social roles and dwells in an imagined space. O'Neill interprets this migration as a strategy used by modern people to cope with spiritual loss. By depicting their aimless and meaningless existence, O'Neill reveals the connection between the modern identity crisis and the chronic diseases of Western culture, i.e., the collapse of the entire Western moral order brought by the death of God. In his works, O'Neill unconsciously expresses views similar to Taylor and Lacan on certain ethical and psychological phenomena of the self. However, O'Neill's understanding of the self is so complex that it cannot be explained by a single theory. Therefore, this book also includes an exploration of O'Neill's view of the self and his contributions to modern drama in terms of the theme of searching for the self.