| Eugene O'Neill is known as the father of modern American drama. He is remarked for"the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works". His plays have always been focused on by literary experts and scholars at home and abroad. They have studies his work from many perspectives, such as the sources of his plots and characters, the characteristics of his language, his understanding of Greek tragedy, his relationship to other writers, to mention but a few. Much attention has been drawn to the fatalism that pervades his play. O'neill definitely is not an optimist when dealing with life. But, as we read his plays, he is not all that fatalistic. Instead, he has been seeking the liberty for all his characters all the time. Nevertheless, few scholars have made any investigation of O'Neill's dedication to a search for liberty.Chinese scholar Wang Jianye, in his article A Wise Choice, points out that"O'Neill believed that people do have free will and free choice in a world controlled by fate."To our pity, the author doesn't offer his expanation.The author of this thesis attempts to prove that since O'Neill showed his sincere concern for man with hope for man's future, there exists a conflict of fatalistic view and liberal thoughts concerning his creation concept.This thesis contains three chapters.To start with, the thesis gives an overall introduction to Eugene O'Neill and his representative plays. Then, it reviews and analyses briefly the present studies of O'Neill and his works. Its research direction is thereby given.In Chapter Two, The paradox of fatalism and liberalism in O'Neill's works is numerated. This chapter consists of three parts:Part One is about the theoretical contexts of fatalism, the formation of O'Neill's fatalistic thought,which includes four major factors, and the reflection in the plays.Part Two will provide the enlightenment O'Neill get from many thoughts on liberty in the east and the contemporary west, some of which are thoughts of the philosophers, like Nietzsche's"will to power", Schopenhauer's negation of individual freedom of will, Sartre's existentialism, etc, some of which are Oriental thoughts, such as views on liberty of Buddhism and Daoism. The last enlightenment is owning to the feminist's sense of identity, and the quest of equal discouse power.Part three is my breakthrough in the interpretation of O'Neill's play. By close reading of all the representative plays, I'll examine the liberal thoughts permeating in these plays, illustrating how he breaks the fetters of fatalism. It will be demonstrated from 4 points: In Point 1, by analyzing some plays, the spirit of struggle against tragedy and the characters'sense of death of is revealed. So their soul is set free. We can see from this piont that O'neill gets a clue from Nietzsche's view of"power of will""to estimate whole value again". By having nearly absolute freedom to make choice and take responsibilities, the characters get the freedom of action. They believe the freedom of human beings and claim that the possibility of choice is the central fact of human nature. Here O'Neill shares the same understanding of the meaning of existence with Sartre. Point Two analyzes the two plays Mourning Becomes Electra, the Great God Brown. Through the employment of masks, O'Neill"reveal the human individuality as directly and profoundly as possible", giving a free and bold display of the nature of person beneath it. To a certain extend, the obsession of frequently imploying the masks in the plays indicates O'Neill's being influenced by Jung's Archetypal Criticism, especially his persona theory. The secret hehind the mask is the real show of self with no reservation. In Point Three, Characters'longing for"island paradise"in some plays becomes the focus of attention. In Beyond The Horizon, Mourning Becomes Electra. Both islands are located in the far east. Island embodies the paradise in their mind, where peace and quiteness can be found. O'Neill attempts to search for spiritual sustenance from the oriental religion and the traditional Chinese philosophy, to search for a place far away, where he could live as if in a paradise. Point Four focus on two plays Long Journy Into the Night, Beyond The Horizon, analyzes some characters'escaping from the reality by dwelling on the past, influenced by the Apollo spirit and Dionysian Spirit of Nietzsche philosophy. Only beautiful memory give the characters meaning of life and freedom. Here, O'Neill shares the same understanding of Schopenhauer's negation of individual freedom of will, seeking for nirvana by negating reality and will. The last point focus on the analysis of the plays Desire Under the Elms, Anna Christie, All the God's Children Got Wings, illustrate that the road to freedom of women is the sense of identity and the equal"discourse power".Chapter Three attempts to justify my discovery that as O'Neill's life changes, his thought of liberalism in his plays also changes, which goes through a journey from active to inactive.
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