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A variety of studies of Eugene O'Neill have extended both the horizon of evaluation of him and that of meaning of his dramatic writings. Critical investigation has established him as the foremost influence in the shape and development of the modem American drama. This study aims at interpreting the later plays of Eugene O'Neill from the perspective of the Theatre of the Absurd and evaluating him on the context of "the absurd." O'Neill's vision of the absurd may be viewed as the con~cious and strenuous effort to face human existence as it really is in a purposeless universe. His vision of the absurd can be traced in all his plays, although its specific aspects are not altogether alike. And his later plays show his vision of the absurd well. His vision of the absurd converges into the context of the absurdity diagnosed and analysed, by Albert Camus, in The Myth of Sisyphus. The Iceman Cometh and Hughie can be employed as the most exemplary plays which reveal O'Neill's vision of the absurd. In these plays, O'Neill examines the absurdity of human life in our world and attempts to make the audience face the human condition as it is with deep confidence in man's ability to reach the genuine meaning of human life. Analyzing the specific aspects of O'Neill's vision of the absurd, we might call him the forerunner of the American dramatists of the Absurd, and that will help us extend O'Neill's influence on American drama as a man of the theatre as well.