الفهرس 
PrefaceOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 10 |  |  |
| | | from | 10 | | |
Abstract
The present research deals with some of Eugene O’Neill’s and David Rabe’s plays reflecting the psychological and the social suffering of man in the two halves of the twentieth century. O’Neill examines the socio-economic conditions that affected the American society after the two World Wars, while Rabe handles the socio-political issues that occurred in the Post-Vietnam-War era. The main focus of the research is the lost self that creates a fragmented psychology which results in neurosis. The thesis is divided into four chapters preceded by a preface and followed by a conclusion. The first chapter includes the cultural, economic aand the political influences that affect the modern man psychologically and socially through O’Neill’s and Rabe’s theatres. It represents Sigmund Freud’s, Carl Jung’s and Karen Horney’s theory of neurosis. Besides, the chapter involves the influences of the two playwrights and their techniques that shape the suffering neurotic person.The second chapter deals with O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms (1921) and Rabe’s Sticks and Bones (1967).These plays tackle the dysfunctional and the broken family due to the capitalistic system and the codes of convention in the two plays respectively. In O’Neill’s play, the characters’ goal is to achieve their materialistic success regardless of any values. A matter that leads the protagonist, Eben, to suffer from psychoneurosis. In Sticks and Bones, Rabe dramatizes the relation between a returned soldier, David, from the Vietnam War and his family. He aims to redirect his family’s concept about life but he fails. As a result, he becomes a neurotic person. In short, the two plays depict the social slavery that dominated the American society in the two halves of the twentieth century.The third chapter investigates O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape (1928) and Rabe’s The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel(1975). The protagonists in the two plays feel that they are lost and begin to search for their identity. In The Hairy Ape, Yank feels that he is an inferior creature after a capitalistic woman mocks about his appearance. Accordingly, he suffers from his sense of low self-worth, a matter that results in his suffering from neurosis. As to Rabe’s The Basic Training Of Pavlo Hummel, Pavlo decides to join the army in the Vietnam War to prove himself. His neurotic state appears when he exerts a great effort to establish himself but in vain. Finally, Yank and Pavlo die at the end as they cannot establish themselves and cannot belong to that modern society.The fourth chapter handles how the American female, in the two halves of the twentieth century, is marginalized. O’Neill’s Anna christie (1936) and Rabe’s In The Boom Boom Room (1989) demonstrate how women search for real love as they entirely refuse to be dealt as objects. As neurotic persons, Anna and christie, in both plays respectively, aim to find a healthy relationship based on a true love. Anna is the only neurotic person who overcomes her psychological suffering from neurosis because she succeeds to establish a pure relationship based on real feelings. Whereas, chrissy, in In The Boom Boom Room, is unable to achieve her goal of establishing a faithful relationship. So, she suffers from severe neurosis. The conclusion sums up the ideas that are discussed throughout the thesis. It also includes the similarities and the dissimilarities between the two playwrights.