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

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