WEEK 10: Critical Analysis of the Hairy Ape The Theme of Alienation and Loss of Identity Introduction Life in the United States of America became more difficult and complicated at the beginning of the twentieth century because of the technological developments, schools of thoughts, literary movements and wars which influenced modern man's life. Modern literature and specifically modern drama paid attention to man’s relation to himself and to his society. The playwrights tried their hand to reflect the bitterness and suffering of people at that time. Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) is one of the prominent figures that anchored the basis of the American drama. He tried all the types and styles in writing his plays; he dealt with many important themes and issues of the American society. In fact his themes extended to more than the American people. O'Neill's plays portray the American life, race relations, class conflicts, sexuality, human aspirations, disappointment, alienation and psychoanalysis of American life. He is distinguished among American dramatists for the diversity of his characters throughout his dramatic career. O’Neill brought to the stage a richness of detail and psychological depth of portraying the various types of American characteristics that shape the American identity. In the Hairy Ape, O’Neill exposes an important problem that was common in the world in general and in the America society in particular. It discusses the alienation of the American individual in the modern technological age and the lost identity of those individuals. The Hairy Ape is a one character play which shows the reality and the bad conditions of the American society. The play talks about the reality of the working class. Yank, Paddy, and Long are the central characters with Mildred, the representative of the upper class. Yank is the leader of the firemen on a steamship. Early in the play Yank is strong, powerful and confident of himself and his existence. He glorifies himself and his strength; he resembles himself with the machines that he serves. He thinks of himself as the leader and the prime mover of all machinery, he is the maker of the steel. Yank's world is shattered and turned upside down by the appearance of a young, pretty women in the stokehole. Mildred Douglass is the daughter of the owner of the stokehole and all the steel that Yank produces. Mildred is curious "to discover how the other half lives", she wants to have a new experience. But when she sees Yank's face and clothes she is terrified and fainted with fear. She is appalled, frightened and cries out "the filthy beast". Mildred does not expect to see a man in this miserable situation. When she sees Yank; she is shocked by his clothes, face, and his hairy chest. At this moment Yank realizes his real status in the society, he is shattered, confused and he has to reconsider his thoughts of himself. He is destroyed psychologically by this experience because it forced him to revaluate himself and his existence in the world. O’Neil shows how Yank and his fellow men live, and how they spend their time working day and night without any appreciation from their social system in the first scene. The play dramatizes the American society taking the typical American people. O'Neill's vision of the American society is dramatized through the character of Yank and his fellowmen. The Character of Yank The Hairy Ape dramatizes the theme of alienation and loss of identity. O'Neill draws a character, Yank, a stoker who lives in the bellow deck in the stokehole of an ocean liner. Yank leaves his home when he was a child, becomes homeless, an outcast; he thinks that he has finally found his warm home which is the stokehole. In the play, Yank thinks that he has found his real place in the world and he can achieve something valuable for himself and for society. Having this feeling, Yank thinks that he belongs to the society and he is important and counted. O'Neill puts the stokers in the bellow deck and at the bottom of the social ladder and even so they are satisfied and convinced in their lives and positions because they think that they do something for society and society is grateful in return. Yank thinks that he and his fellow men are more important and stronger than the others and they can achieve many things for their society, for this he thinks that he belongs and feels proud for his real and valuable identity. Long supports Yank's ideas that they are better guys and they belong, their real home is the stoker and they have no home other than this one. At this scene Mildred utters three words enough to shatter the world of Yank and enough to shake his faith in himself. When she sees him, she is frightened, appalled and cries out "take me away! Oh, the filthy beast"(Scene Three: 20). Yank at this moment is shattered; he loses his confidence, dignity in front of his friends and his entire world is confused. O'Neill here uses Mildred as a symbol for her class, for the capitalists. She wants to be sincere, "she wants to help them", but in fact, she destroys them especially Yank. "The filthy beast“ as Mildred calls Yank, loses his fake identity and his respect in front of his friends. Yank realizes that he is no more than a filthy beast in the eyes of Mildred and her class. He knows his real value in society and what is his position in the ladder of evaluation. O'Neill intentionally brings Mildred to the stage though he knows that her role is limited and minimal. Mildred's importance in the play lays in her few words that are intended by O'Neill to awake Yank from his illusion. She was a catalyst to shake Yank from within, to make him realize his reality and his value in society. Mildred's appearance represents an awakening from the lethargy and the dormancy of Yank. Yank at first has his world, he belongs to the stokehole as he says in the first scene, and he has his identity. But then this identity is dragged forcedly from him because it is not for him, he is abandoned by society. Yank takes his identity from the mechanized world but this sense of belonging is a form of oppression imposed on him. When his world view is changed his power fails him, he can do nothing. The first thing that Yank wants to do after his insult is to "think". He begins to question himself; he tries to think who he is, "Can't yuose seeI'm tryin‘ to tink?" .Then he begins to hate, he falls in hate as he puts it, "I've fallen in hate, get me?"(Scene:4, 22). Yank still clings to the ideas of belonging just because he is in his world, the world of coal and smoke, he is still in the stokehole, he has not moved yet to the upper world. Yank does not know that Mildred is asymbol of her class, later he discovers that if he wants to fix someone then he should fix the whole class. His revenge is not upon Mildred individually but upon her class entirely, the capitalist system. As Long tells him, he should avenge the whole class not only Mildred. Yank's feeling at this situation of frustration and alienation is symbolic of the feeling of the industrial worker in that contemporary machine age. Yank's personality begins to disintegrate and he feels that he is a prisoner in a cage of steel which he himself produces. In Scene Four Yank starts his journey looking for his identity in the Fifth Avenue, it's the first time for him to see people since months or years. This shows Yanks reality, how he speaks, how he wears and how he behaves with other people. He tries to attack men and women, he just wants to fight anybody but their reactions shock him severely because no one seems to see or hear him. He begins to speak about his glories and his work in the stokehole; Sure! I'm steel and steam and smoke and de rest of it! It moves –speed….". Yank tries to attack people in his way but they seem even not seeing him and unaware of his existence, they ignore him and just passed him, they seem neither to see nor to hear him. This negative reaction of those people annoys Yank so much so he jumps into fury and begins to insult them. Yank is taken to the prison for misbehavior and there O'Neill draws an ironic picture of the American character. Yank is the maker of the steel and it's him "who makes it move, roar"….etc. in the prison he realized that for the second time that the society has rejected him, first by Mildred and then by the people. He still wants to avenge himself from that harsh ungrateful society. He tries to find someone who can understand him in this society. In prison Yank learns about the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Yank, after getting out of the prison, joins IWW in an attempt to avenge himself upon Mildred by blowing up the steel company of her father. However, Yank's suggestion is too violent even for the IWW, they think that he is a spy; they just give him another name, a brainless ape, and throw him on the street. When Yank realizes that his search to belong to somewhere has been futile, and he has been rejected by all segments of society, the wealthy represented by Mildred, the imprisoned in the prison and the representatives of the masses, the IWW, he is confused and bewildered, where should he go and what should he do in this cruel society?. He realizes that he has no place in this mechanized society and this world is not for him. He remembers Mildred's words and applies her theory and goes to the zoo. Yank , in the final scene passes through a desperate phases. He with his desperate identities of filthy beast and hairy ape decides to go to the zoo. In the zoo, he approaches the gorilla. There he sees the real hairy ape and he realizes the ugliness that Mildred has seen in him. He starts talking to the gorilla, he envies it because, he says, gorilla can think of the past and should not have to question its being. He envies the gorilla because it has a place and he does not; the gorilla belongs and he does not as he says. O'Neill suggests that man becomes equal to animals yet sometimes even the animal is better than man, says Yank to his “brother”. O'Neill's dramatization of the American character is revealed in this scene. Society is not the only one that rejects Yank, but even the animals do. The gorilla, Yank's brother, also rejects him. The American individuals according to O’Neill, have no place neither with the humans nor with the animals. This is the question of the modern American man, he does not fit in society, he cannot live with animals even, so what is the answer of Yank's question? O’Neill suggests death to this question; he says death is the only solution to this situation because man cannot live in this industrial monstrous world. But O'Neill adds an ambiguous note to the last direction of the play he says:"And perhaps the hairy ape belongs"(Scene Eight:49). WEEK 11 The Hairy Ape as an Expressionist Play Expressionism endeavored to express as intensely as possible. The author usually bitterly reacts to the world around him. Expressionistic writers are not optimistic due to their bitter experience in their art and literature. Expressionism art often depersonalizes and dehumanizes it's subject to convey the shock of unfortunately being alive in the cruel modern world. Instead of presenting the world as it is, an expressionist presents the world as it appears to his mind or to his literary character. Expressionism, the name itself suggests that the writer does not use more action on the stage but he uses minimum dialogues, and minimum characters to express his inner bent of mind. The action is less important but he believes in the expression of the characters. It is a dramatic technique which enables a playwright to depict the inner psyche or inner reality of a character. Basically, it is a very difficult task to portray someone's inner mind but through deft use of expressionism one can perform the task very meticulously. Among all the expressionistic playwrights, Eugene O'Neill is regarded to be the most outstanding playwright. He himself remarked: Expressionism tries to minimize everything on the stage that stands between the author and the audience. It strives to get the author talking directly to the audience……The real contribution of the expressionist has been in the dynamic qualities of his plays. They express something in modern life better than did the old plays. The Hairy Ape is a play where we can observe almost all the features of expressionism. The central figure in the play is Yank, representing all the human beings in the modern age. In Expressionistic play, much emphasis has been given on the central figure and minor characters seem to be secondary. Before Yank who is protagonist, Paddy, long, the secretary of I.W.W. is nothing but nameless entities. Yank, the central figure goes to the secretary of the I.W.W. and the other people in its office are equally lacking in individuality. The situation enables the dramatist to focus on the obsession of Yank and what goes in his inner mind. This is nothing but the autobiographical element of the playwright. This play is highly subjective. There is no development of relationship in the characters. They are only placed side by side, Yank and Mildred met only for a moment but it is enough to havoc with the soul of Yank. All these characters are present for a few moments but they stamp their impression on the audience. The use of dramatic contrivances like exaggerated gestures disturbing colors, sounds and movement was a significant component of the dramatic technique for shaking the audience. The dialogues are frequently repeated not only to emphasize the lack of sophistication but also drive it home to the audience. The expressionistic play is more realistic than the realistic plays because the action rapidly goes on the stage. The topsy-turvy condition of civilization is suggested by the distorted stage setting. The playwright lays focus on the suffering and anguished soul of the central character through 'interior monologue'. Yanks brooding on Mildred's word ' a filthy beast' continues in his mind throughout the play, which creates a feeling of indignation and gives rise to grudge against the sophisticated society. The inner brooding in his mind is the part of the psychological state of mind. It is not the inner reality of the Yank but the disintegration of all modern human beings. There is a strong condemnation of the capitalism in the expressionistic play. Yank is the representative of the masses and Mildred Douglas is the representative of the classes. Here we can find that how the masses were exploited by the classes. The eighth scene of the play is very crucial because it is the study of Yank's thought process. Yank suffers from inner emptiness, isolation and a feeling of insecurity. In his play, The Hairy Ape, the protagonist of the play, Yank who is in search of his own identity says; Oh! God where do I belong? 7 Yank fells uprooted and alienated from the society and tries to take revenge on that rejected society. But then he does not able to take revenge on the society. His thought are not connected with rationality or reasoning. After his disappointment from the whole materialistic world passing from Zoo, he finds a gorilla and think that even animal can realize his grudge against the society. On the contrary, Gorilla crushes him to death and monkey's in the other cages applause for the victory of the animal. It is one of the significant suggestive uses of expressionistic technique. Eugene O'Neill used the speedy technique of the German Playwright. The action follows a continuously forward movement. Each scene is well-defined. Eugene O'Neill once asserted that he has used the expressionistic technique in the play, but the character of Yank remains that of a man and every one recognizes him as such. The play ends with a note of affirmation at the death of Yank. Thus, the expressionists did not want to represent mankind grappling with outside forces rather they thought to dramatize man's struggle with himself. WEEK 12 Symbolism in the Hairy Ape The play is an expressionistic representation of human beings in different contexts and class limitations, who are searching for their place in the world. Yank, the main character, is an outcast of society. Yank‘s condition is reinforced through the heavy symbolism that O‘Neill chooses to use in the text. Symbols of the ship, the steel, and the white dress are expressionistic means to communicate and indicate the playwright‘s ideas and intentions behind the play. The Ship The setting of the first part is a transatlantic liner. The liner is not only a voyage ship, but is also a symbol of a wide gulf between the world of the worker and the world of the passenger. The audience experiences the two social spheres, the lower and upper social classes, through Yank and Mildred Douglas, who embody the worker and the aristocratic, over-privileged child. Yank and the firemen work within the cramped and hot stokehole where “one hanging electric bulb sheds just enough light through the murky air laden with coal dust to pile up masses of shadows everywhere”. In contrast, on the promenade deck, Mildred and her Aunt are able to see “the beautiful, vivid life of the sea all about – sunshine on the deck in a great flood, the fresh sea wind blowing across it”. Furthermore, the firemen‘s forecastle— workplace where coal is held—of the ocean liner is depicted as a cage: “The lines of the bunks, the uprights supporting them, cross each other like the steel framework of a cage” . The men exist in a symbolically cramped world, void of opportunity and the harsh division of classes in the machine age. The Steel Steel is a key factor in the development of the story. It stands for great power, industrialization, and the repression of the working class. Although Yank exclaims in the first scene that he is steel, ―the muscles and the punch behind it,‖ (O‘Neill 1183) he is at the same time closed into a virtual cage of steel created by the ship around him. In his conversation with Yank, Paddy concludes that the men shoveling coal aboard the steam ship are caged in by steel, without sight of land or sea like ―apes in the zoo‖ (1182). The steel also represents the technology that forces Yank and the firemen into slave-like jobs. They are reduced to work animals, who are caged and abused. O‘Neill presents this idea in the sixth scene. When in jail, Yank realizes he is trapped and imprisoned in a social identity by companies similar to the one run by Mildred‘s father. The White Dress Equally important as the first two symbols in The Hairy Ape is Mildred‘s white dress. Besides the black and white contrast that it provides between the coal-dusted men and herself, Mildred‘s white dress has a very strong impact on Yank. Through her ghost-like appearance, O‘Neill depicts not objective reality, but the subjective emotions and responses that Mildred‘s dress arouses in Yank. Mildred seems to represent “something,” to bring “something” out of Yank that he did not give any attention to before. He repeatedly confesses that “she was all white. I thought she was a ghost,” “she didn’t belong,” “she‘s new to me”. Mildred is different from raw, physical nature. To Yank‘s consciousness, she transcends nature; she belongs to the spiritual realm. She makes him feel subhuman, at the very core of his being. In the presence of this “white apparition” he is indeed crushed, debased. He feels inhuman, alienated from society. Due to the environment in which he works and spends his entire time, Yank becomes beast-like as his humanity is covered by dust and coal. Finally, the alienation that Yank experiences throughout the play, in his pursuit of belonging, is skillfully emphasized by O‘Neill through symbols like the transatlantic liner, the steel, and Mildred‘s white dress. The ship serves as a launching place for Yank‘s quest and also as a line of separation between his world and that of the aristocratic class. The firemen are deprived of human qualities. This irreversible process of degradation takes place in the bottom of the ship, where the men are covered in dust, without any connection with the world outside. On the deck, the image is quite the opposite. The passengers enjoy the sea breeze, ignoring the situation of the people below. The idea of separation is reinforced by the steel. Whether it is the coal shovels that the men use, the bars of the prison, or the bars of the gorilla‘s cage in the zoo, the steel represents division, and enslavement of the working class. Yank is a direct target of the powerful influence of the steel. The Hairy Ape is one of O‘Neill‘s greatest early works, a moving theatrical experience. In depicting Yank‘s struggle to find his place in the technology-driven world, the author successfully integrates expressionistic ideas and symbols in the play. As long as modern technology continues to take hold of whomever it encounters, society will find more dehumanized, Yank-like individuals who seek to belong. Regrettably, technology created to bring progress and beneficial changes, will inevitably devastate mankind. WEEK 13 REVISION 1 1- The impact of the industrial revolution on the literary movement, and in particular the art of theatre in the modern era. 2- The emergence of new literary and artistic trends which reflect the chaos and futility of the life of the modern man. 3- Eugene O’Neill