Unpredictable Human Nature

These three famous dramatists are seen as the pillars of the modern American theatre. In their plays, one can find ongoing endeavour to confirm the individual's real existence. So, it is necessary to discuss each play separately. In The Emperor Jones, O'Neill displays how the escapist killer from the Negro origin becomes an emperor by exploiting his shrewdness and ingenuity in planning to deceive his primitive indigenous natives. Eugene O'Neill is always concerned with the sea plays but in this play, he left the sea to dwell on the island to expose his protagonist's hysterical conducts. In Treadwell's Machinal, Treadwell explores the woman's chaotic psychology that leads to disastrous end that reflects the insufferable status of a woman in a time which is greatly affected by unemployment, low production, and poverty that create intensively sensitive psychology. In this play, Sophie Treadwell looks great not merely in her employment of expressionistic technique, but in allowing audience to pinpoint the troubled psyche of her protagonist. Treadwell, as an American playwright, has dealt with the family as a type of her own society.