欧里庇得斯的《美狄亚》和尤金·奥尼尔的《榆树下的欲望》两部悲剧中,均有母亲杀婴情节。分析认为杀婴是母亲痛苦的无奈之举,更是社会逼迫的结果;真正杀死婴儿的是当时的社会,母亲只是它借用的一只手。同时这一情节设置,使婴儿联系了对立的两极,在结构上建立了冲突和解决冲突的可能条件,更是悲剧性得以体现的重要因素。 In the two tragedies of Euridibus’s “Medea” and Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire under the Elms,” there are mothers’ infanticide episodes. Analysis shows that infanticide is the mother’s painless helplessness, but also the result of social persecution; the real killing of infants is the then society, the mother is only a hand it borrows. At the same time, this episode set the baby in contact with the opposite poles, establishing the possible conditions for the conflict and resolving the conflicts in structure, which is also an important factor in tragedy.