오닐의 작품에 나타난 신화: 『상복이 어울리는 엘렉트라』를 중심으로

Mythic Elements in O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra

Eugene O'Neill modernized the stories of the house of Atreus in his tragic trilogy Mourning Becomes Electra. He integrated the legend of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra into relatively familiar situations of America in the late 1800s. O'Neill's direct model was Aechylus' Oresteia which relates the suffering of the individual to that of community as most Greek tragedy does. But O'.\"eill redefined the focus of his tragedy on the individual and this change in focus makes the meaning of tragedy singular. His trilogy is powered not only by the actions of the individual characters, but also by the underlying psychological motivations that drive each individual character. AJI members of the house of Manon fall as they can't escape a generation-old family curse and fate. But in Greek myth, community and gods interfere whenever an individual tries to make important decisions as we can see in cases of Clytemmestra and Orestes. In O'Neill's work, with the emphasis on individual actions and psychological motivations. we witness the tragic result of a family attempting to understand and come to terms with its past, present, and future. O'Neill has reinterpreted classical Greek tragedy within the modern framework of family that doesn't operate harmoniously. This dysfunctional family deepens alienation and isolation of all members. Ultimately, O'Neill reworks Greek sources to present modern tragic heroes.