Tragedy in the Comedies of Eugene O'NeillIn most plays, the genre of tragedy is created by the situation in which a heroine is breaking down obstacles that she wishes to remove. When a spectator witnesses a tragedy it instills excitement and even pity. Two key parts of a tragedy are the end of a tragic hero and a tragic hero. In Long Days Journey into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten, O'Neill really brings the drama of Greek tragedy into a modern sense. The long journey into the night can be linked to the Greek drama. Both involve a man or woman struggling with an immaterial entity. In Greek drama it is the gods and in O'Neill's comedy it is the past. The tragic heroes of this play are Freud and Jung. Their self-conscious ego is what leads to their tragic downfall. At the beginning of the story O'Neill opens with a typical day with the Tyrone family. They were once a close family, but over the years the addiction Mary developed tore them apart. Mary's addiction isn't the only thing that has affected the family greatly. The alcoholism developed with Jamie Tyrone and Edmund plays a role as does Tyrone's greed and the pessimistic attitude his son has towards the future. In the play the four main characters hate life. They resort to the past by drinking and doing drugs. They remember the past as a better life and that's why they do it. Mary is the only one who is normal among the four. She is the special one even though she is the most tragic. He had big dreams and a strong belief in his faith. She wanted to become a professional pianist and sister of God. Everything fell apart when she fell in love and got married. It was his marriage that destroyed his bi...... middle of paper... being. He has no more dreams and the only thing that could ease his pain and this weight on his shoulders is sweet death. These comedies have people who have just lost their way. They have traveled paths on which they cannot turn back and have returned to being who they were before the pain and agony. As stated in the introduction of this essay, tragedy is created by the situation a heroine is breaking down the obstacles she wishes to remove. Although they were not heroines of others, they were heroines for themselves. Their addictions or burdens were simply too much for them to handle and it was their downfall. I close with what Eugene O'Neill wrote to Carlotta, his wife of just a month. He said: “To finally face my dead and write this play…. write it with deep pity, understanding and forgiveness for all four haunted Tyrones”.