| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 外國語文學系 === 81 ===
This thesis aims at discussing Self and Death in Yeats's five Cuchulain Dramas, At the Hawk's Well, The Green Helmet, On Baile's Strand, The only Jealousy of Emer, and The Death of Cuchulai. Self and death are two main themes in human existence. Cuchulain's journey to self draws out the tensions between self, a world of freedom, potentiality, and authenticity, and the other, a world of standards, conformity, and superficiality. And in his journey to death, Cuchulain must face the conflicts of two worlds: one, a real world, a world of mutability, and the other, a spiritual world, a world of spirits and magic. Cuchulain's reaction to the environmental force and the inevitable death releases an archetypal response of human beings. And by encountering these two authorities, the mythic hero confronts the question "who am I?" as a self in human world, and as a mortal in the universe.
In the Introductory Part, I state Yeats's position as a mythopoeic writer and as a dramatist. Cuchulain's character and his historical meaning are included as my focus. Chapter two goes further to explore Cuchulain's journey to self. Here I apply Sartre's concept of the "authentic person" to define Cuchulain's journey as a quest for freedom of an absolute choice. Chapter Three deals with Cuchulain's journey to death. Here I intend to analyze Cuchulain's response to the challenge of old age and death, his frustration and escaping, and finally, his self-overcoming and affirmation of huamn existence. Chapter Four concludes Chapter Two and Three by perceiveing the conflicts and sufferings in Cuchulain's journey as the universal tragic human condition. However, suffering itself has the meaning. Through Cuchulain, Yeats claims the spirits of human will and action. Moreover, he confirms mortal life, dignity and value of being a man.
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