Emperor Jones the Hairy Ape and Mourning Becomes Electra ( Cliffs Notes )

214 Pages·1988·0.68 MB·English

by  Eugene O'Neill James L. Roberts

The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape &
Mourning Becomes Electra : Notes,
Including O'Neill's Life and Background,
title: Brief Synopses, Scene-by-scene Summaries
and Commentaries, Character Analyses,
Critical Notes, Questions for Review,
Selected Bibliography
author: Clark, Peter.; Roberts, James Lamar
publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US)
isbn10 | asin:
print isbn13: 9780822009108
ebook isbn13: 9780764513183
language: English
O'Neill, Eugene,--1888-1953.--Emperor
Jones, O'Neill, Eugene,--1888-1953.--Hairy
subject ape, O'Neill, Eugene,--1888-1953.--
Mourning becomes Electra.
publication date: 1966
lcc:
ddc: 812.09
O'Neill, Eugene,--1888-1953.--Emperor
Jones, O'Neill, Eugene,--1888-1953.--Hairy
subject:
ape, O'Neill, Eugene,--1888-1953.--
Mourning becomes Electra.
Page i
Page 1
The Emperor Jones,
The Hairy Ape &
Mourning Becomes Electra
Notes
by
Peter Clark, Ph.D.
Department of English
Newark College of Engineering
and
James L. Roberts, Ph.D.
Department of English
University of Nebraska
including
O'Neill's Life and Background
Brief Synopses
Scene-by-Scene Summaries and Commentaries
Character Analyses
Critical Notes
Questions for Review
Selected Bibliography
INCORPORATED
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68501
Page 2
Editor
Gary Carey, M.A.
University of Colorado
Consulting Editor
James L. Roberts, Ph.D.
Department of English
University of Nebraska
ISBN 0-8220-0910-2
© Copyright 1966
by
Cliffs Notes, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Printed in U.S.A.
1995 Printing
The Cliffs Notes logo, the names "Cliffs" and "Cliffs Notes," and the
black and yellow diagonal-stripe cover design are all registered
trademarks belonging to Cliffs Notes, Inc., and may not be used in
whole or in part without written permission.
Cliffs Notes, Inc. Lincoln, Nebraska
Page 3
CONTENTS
O'Neill's Life and Background 5
Naturalism 6
Expressionism 7
The Emperor Jones
List of Characters 9
A Brief Synopsis 9
Summaries and Commentaries 10
A General Evaluation 23
Questions for Review 26
The Hairy Ape
List of Characters 27
A Brief Synopsis 27
Summaries and Commentaries 28
A General Evaluation 52
Questions for Review 57
Page 4
Mourning Becomes Electra
List of Characters 58
A Brief Synopsis 59
Summaries and Commentaries 61
Character Analyses 96
Naturalism 102
The Greek Myth 103
O'Neill's Use of the Greek Myth 106
Questions for Review 108
Selected Bibliography 109
Page 5
O'NEILL'S LIFE AND BACKGROUND
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born in New York City October 16,
1888. O'Neill's father, James, was a matinee idol of the melodrama
school who specialized in portraying the count of The Count of Monte
Cristo. Together with his family James O'Neill toured the entire
country for sixteen years in this production. Baptized into the theater
in this manner, Eugene utilized the technological background in
becoming America's pioneer of expressionistic and naturalistic drama.
O'Neill entered Princeton University in 1906, but left shortly
thereafter to work on a tramp steamer at sea. During this period of
travel, O'Neill formulated many of the ideas and characterizations
which are found in his works. His obsession with the mystical
attractiveness of the sea plays a central role in the S.S. Glencairn
tetralogy and in Anna Christie. It was not until O'Neill was stricken
with tuberculosis in 1913, however, that his thoughts turned to
playwriting. The following year he studied the art of playwriting
under George Pierce Baker at Harvard University. In 1916 Bound East
for Cardiff was produced at the Wharf Theatre in Massachusetts by
the Provincetown Players.
Four years later, O'Neill was on Broadway with the Provincetown
production of Beyond the Horizon, for which he received both popular
acclaim and the Pulitzer Prize. In the course of his profuse dramatic
career (47 plays) O'Neill was the recipient of three more Pultitzer
Prizes (Anna Christie, 1922; Strange Interlude, 1928; and Long Day's
Journey Into Night, posthumously) and the coveted Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1936. Desire Under the Elms, perhaps the greatest of his
works, represents a milestone in American Drama.
Shortly before he died of bronchial pneumonia in 1953, O'Neill set
out to destroy all of his remaining manuscripts. Fortunately for the
world of the theather, three completed plays were uncovered among
his papers: Long Day's Journey Into Night: Hughie: and A Touch of
the Poet.