The Analysis Of Zhuangzi's Thought Of "Wu Yu"("Being Desireless") Reflected In Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude And Desire Under The Elms

The title of my thesis is "the Analysis of Zhuangzi's Thought of 'Wu Yu' ('being Desireless') Reflected in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude and Desire Under the Elms." The purpose of this thesis is to show that Eugene O'Neill is greatly influenced by Zhuangzi's Taoist thought of "Wu Yu" (being desireless), which can find its full expression in Eugene O'Neill's plays—Strange Interlude and Desire under the Elms and can be, to some extent, adopted to form people's proper attitude towards desire—"moderation in desire", so as to avoid tragedies occurring in reality as a result of undue desire.Before my study, my predecessors have done some fruitful research into Taoist influence on Eugene O'Neill. The Taoist thoughts that have had effect on Eugene O'Neill are as follows: LaoZi's law of Negation of Negation, Zhuanzi's thought of Uniformity of Things, LaoZi's thought of Yin/Yang, LaoZi's thought of Non-action. However, the research on the influence of Zhuangzi's thought of Wu Yu (Being Desireless) on Eugene O'Neill has never been conducted. Based on my analysis of Eugene O'Neill's famous plays, Strange Interlude and Desire under the Elms, it can be seen that the female protagonists' tragic fates in the two plays are derived from their excessive desires. If the two female protagonists were able to moderate their undue desires, their miserable fates could be avoided. The result conforms to Zhuangzi's thought of being desireless. Therefore, I acquire my new finding: Zhuangzi's thought of being desireless can find full expression in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude and Desire under the Elms and prove that Zhuangzi's thought of being desireless is, to some degree, reasonable. In addition, on the basis of my study, Zhuangzi's thought of being desireless can be adopted to form people's proper attitude towards desire—"moderation in desire", namely, "suppressing undue desire."At last, I arrive at my conclusion: the female protagonists' tragic fates resulting from their undue desire in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude and Desire under the Elms mirror Zhuangzi's Taoist thought of "Wu Yu" ("being desireless"). Zhuangzi's Taoist thought of "Wu Yu" (being desireless) is, to some degree, reasonable and has a positive influence on reality today. Zhuangzi's thought of "Wu Yu" (being desireless) can be divided into two parts: firstly, Zhuangzi advocates that being desireless is able to keep intact people's inborn nature; secondly, Zhuangzi preaches that being desireless can help people avoid trouble and misfortunes and keep the body from being fatigued and the mind from being exhausted.