Apollo, Dionysus, and three sets of brothers: Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy" as applied to O'Neill, Pinter, and Shepard

The mythological elements of the Apollonian and Dionysian in ancient tragedy as defined in Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy may be applied to the modern family, specifically Jamie and Edmund in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, Lenny and Teddy in Pinter's The Homecoming, and Lee and Austin in Shepard's True West. The conflict between the modern brothers is representative of the struggle between and eventual "mimetic reciprocity" of Dionysus and Apollo; each brother of each set is perceived initially to be the polar opposite of his sibling, but as the action evolves his antithetical position dissolves and each becomes a mirror reflection of his brother. But these companion forces have the potential for destruction, and violence erupts when the Apollonian brothers struggle to maintain their individual identities against the stronger force of their Dionysian counterparts.