Tragic Vision

: Similarities and Departures in the Tragic Vision of O’Neill and Aeschylus

Abstract

: In this paper, I have explored the genesis of modern
tragedy through a comparison between t Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Eugene
O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra. O’Neill has reworked the
Oresteian Trilogy by placing his characters in the modern cultural
context. Although there are similarities in both the tragic narratives yet I
have focused on the points of departure to highlight the differences
between Greek and modern sensibilities. For the theoretical background,
I have drawn on the writings of Hegel, Schopenhauer and Frederic
Nietzsche to demonstrate that in modern tragedy, human existence is
fraught with the burden of cosmic loneliness and Man, and in the
absence of God/s, has been left with no other option but to mourn his
fate.