earticle

영어

This study presents an interpretation of Eugene O’Neill’s femme fatale as one of his tragic vision
that man’s defeat is inescapable. Femme fatale is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desires, often leading them into compromising,
dangerous and deadly situations. She usually drives the male to the point of obsession and exhaustion so that he is incapable of making rational decisions. In O’Neill’s Plays many females are recognized as a femme fatale who had such a common character as enticing a man with her fatal attraction and destructing the victim. In the light of femme fatale like this, O’Neill’s female image is the symbol of the challenge and resistance against the reality of male’s culture. So O’Neill’s femme fatale is tempting to concur with the tragic vision of life that man is doomed to be defeated and life is nothingness, and the inevitability is the only substance of life. (Wonkwang Health Science College)