Abstract:

Intertextuality first appeared in the 1960s, which was coined by the poststructuralist Julia Kristeva. Today, it has been one of important literary theories. Intertextuality holds the idea that “any text is the absorption and transformation of another”. It is not restricted to literary texts, but in a broad sense, it includes history, social life, and so on.
Cao Yu and Eugene O’Neill play important roles in the field of literature in China and America. Although they are different from nationality and educated in different culture and society, both of them are influenced deeply by Greek classics and Shakespearean tragedies. Therefore, their own woks, Thunderstorm and Desire Under the Elms are similar in the main characters and tragic themes. At the same time, they also absorb and transform social reality into their works, endowing their works with different cultural values.
This thesis aims to explore and study the internal relationship between the two plays from the perspective of intertextuality, which can help the reader to understand the intrinsic value of them. Above all, the thesis studies the intertexts of the two plays, including some historical classics and social reality. On the basis of the above research, the thesis discusses common personalities of the main characters and goes deeply into the tragic themes. The thesis tends to give readers the richer understanding of the plays from a new perspective.

Key words: Thunderstorm; Desire Under the Elms; intertextuality; tragic themes

摘要：

互文性的概念出现于20世纪60年代，由法国后解构主义学家朱丽娅•克里斯蒂娃于1966年首次提出，经过不断的发展与完善，已经成为文学研究的重要理论之一。互文性有广义与狭义之分，主张“任何文本都是其他文本的吸收与转化”，狭义的互文性指文本与文本之间相互的联系，而广义的互文性则将这种联系延伸至社会文化等方面。
曹禺和尤金•奥尼尔是20世纪上半叶在中国和美国文坛各领风骚的戏剧大师。虽然二者所处的国家和历史文化背景不同，但他们各自的代表作《雷雨》和《榆树下的欲望》却在人物性格和主题方面有着许多相似之处。他们的作品都深受古希腊神话和莎士比亚悲剧的影响，却又融入了各自的社会文化现实，形成了各自独特的风格。
本文旨在从互文性这一新角度，探索和研究两部作品的深层次联系，帮助读者深入理解两部作品的内在价值。首先，本文对这两部戏剧的互文文本及他们对各自社会现实的吸收和转化进行了深入探讨，包括古希腊神话和莎士比亚悲剧等。此外，通过解读其互文文本，本文对作品中主要人物所表现出的共通之处及两部作品的悲剧主题进行深入的对比研究。通过以上的比较分析，丰富读者对这两部作品的人物及主题的理解，加强对这两部作品深刻的社会意义的认识。

关键词：《雷雨》；《榆树下的欲望》；互文性; 悲剧主题