Eugene O'Neill's Religious View

This thesis attempts to use the Biblical archetypal criticism to probe into the mythological archetypes in Eugene O'Neill's three most important plays, mainly focusing on identifying the Biblical archetypal structures in them.The following plays are discussed in this thesis: Beyond the Horizon (1918/1920), Days without End (1932-1934) and Long Day's Journey into Night (1941-1956). Beyond the Horizon is from his early period, and proved to be a seminal play that established a theatrical pattern which endured for at least two decades (Berlin 65) . Days Without End is an expressionistic play. Although it failed on the stage, yet it appealed to many readers and critics sympathetic to its predominantly Catholic point of view (78). Long Day's Journey into Night is O'Neill's masterpiece. It is almost autobiographical and marks the climax of O'Neill's development, both psychological and artistic (96). It is a play about modern man's spiritual plight and crisis. These three plays are from O'Neill's early, middle and mature periods. More importantly, these plays trace O'Neill's spiritual road of puzzlement—returning—puzzlement, which obviously reflects his lifelong contemplation of religion.This thesis is composed of three parts, plus the introduction and the conclusion. The introduction gives a very brief review of different studies that have been done on these three plays. This review is followed by the reason why the writer of this thesis chose this topic. With a detailed explanation of using Biblical archetypal structures as the theoretical basis for the close study of these three plays, the question is put forward: With a background of a puritanical Irish Catholic family and having lost his faith as a Roman Catholic when he was a...