PRISONERS OF DREAMS AND DEFEATED DREAMERS: DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS VS. THE CONSUL, THE TANNER, AND THE ACTRESS

PRISONERS OF DREAMS AND DEFEATED DREAMERS: DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS VS. THE CONSUL, THE TANNER, AND THE ACTRESS

Duban, Adriana Carina

The present paper attempts to offer a comparative study between Eugene O‘Neill‘s drama Desire under the Elms and Diplomatul, tãbãcarul Ģi actriţa (The Consul, the Tanner, and the Actress) by Carol Ardeleanu. I will undertake to compare two stories about aspiration towards high-class status, beauty, happiness, freedom, and justice paid for by sacrifice, suffering and extreme passion that dominate the characters‘ lives. Both in Desire under the Elms and in The Consul, the Tanner, and the Actress the characters are prisoners of their own passions, vices and dreams. The walls, the ground, the protagonists‘ manner of speaking, etc. become signs of imprisonment as well. Eugene O‘Neill‘s drama and The Consul, the Tanner, and the Actress therefore draw their ‗life‘ from what is genuine in the human experience and existence. In the end, the characters cannot find a way to escape from their houses and environments, and become prisoners of disillusionment, coffins, or unrealistic aspirations. Both authors share a tragic vision of existence, and focus on tragic stories about ―prisoners‖ of dreams and defeated romantic dreamers.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2011-05

696