Contents

Acknowledgements

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction.1

1.1 Introduction to Eugene O’Neill ..1

1.2 Introduction to Long Day’s Journey into Night.1

1.3 Literature Review....2

Chapter Two Tragedy.5

  2.1 Definition of Tragedy.5

  2.2 Development of Tragedy6

Chapter Three Mary’s Tragic Fate in Long Day’s Journey into Night.7

  3.1 Mary’s Unfortunate Marriage.7

  3.2 Loss of Family Belongingness.8

  3.3 Mary’s Never-lustrating loneliness9

Chapter Four Causes for Mary’s Tragic Fate11

  4.1 Female’s Habit of Depending on Male.11

  4.2 Disillusionment of Mary’s Dream11

  4.3 Mary’s Wrong Choices of Life.12

Chapter Five Conclusion.15

References.16

Abstract

 Eugene O’Neill is known as the “father of American drama”, who is one of the expressionist representative writers. Long Day's Journey into Night is one of his masterpieces, which has been called “the best American tragedy” by some critics. In the play, O’Neill painted a family picture wracked by tragedy. The play depicts the life of Mary, her husband and son within one day in detail, with sympathetic strokes, shows readers a desire to get rid of the tragic fate of a woman’s helpless struggle and resistance. The paper is based on Long Day’s Journey into Night, deeply analyzing Mary in the journey of seeking sense of belonging in the psychological course of the last desperate from hope to despair.

    Long Day’s Journey into Night reveals the tragedy of modern life in the United States. Through the analysis of each characters’ miserable life, he concluded that the tragedy of modern times mainly is the desire of the heart and the difference between the real life. Life seems to have played a joke on everyone, what you want is so different from reality, there seems to be an “invisible forces” in the control the destiny of every person. That is the core content of Eugene O’Neill’s view on tragedy. The drama fully shows the view of O’Neill’s tragedy.

Key words: Long Day’s Journey into Night  Mary  personal tragedy