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¶ … Breakfast by Eugene O'Neill
Tragic drama, it is said, must aim at unsettling an audience's emotions in order to be effective. Before Breakfast, a play written by Eugene O'Neill in 1916, succeeds in achieving this aim through brutally dramatizing the tragic results of a marriage between two clearly flawed characters.
In fact, the setting of the one-act play itself signals that all is not well with the Rowland household. Several significant touches such as potted plants "dying of neglect," "clothing ... hung on pegs," and a haphazardly strung clothesline (p. 245) reveal that the Rowlands are not house proud by any stretch of the imagination. These touches also tell the audience that the Rowlands are likely to be slovenly and lazy by nature, and, therefore, unlikely to be the kind of people who wish to lead a meaningful life. This inference can particularly be drawn because the setting is very clearly that of a small, dreary apartment,...
Rowland's entry. For, the shabbiness of her appearance, drowsy eyes, and pinched expression (p. 245) all serve to tell the audience that she is likely to be both a lazy and very unhappy person. Before Breakfast may be a play that is structured to tell a story through Mrs. Rowland's monologue, but it is apparent that O'Neill intended for the play to be seen from the audience's perspective alone. Indeed, this is evident by the manner in which Mrs. Rowland character is portrayed.
While Mrs. Rowland's appearance cues her unhappiness, the full extent of her character is revealed in her monologue, which is actually one long grumble about her marriage. Full of bitterness, she rails and rants about her spouse's lack of job and pleasure seeking ways: " ... going out to sew every day while…
Works Cited
O'Neill, E. Plays: Beyond the Horizon; The Straw; Before Breakfast. New York: Boni &
Liveright, 1925.
Her personality is opposed to that of her husband; she is a pragmatic whereas he is a dreamer and an artist. This opposition in terms of personality and lifestyle is what makes their relationship unbearable for both of them. Also, it is this difference in temperament and ways of channeling anger that drives a wedge between the spouses. Mr. Rowland chooses to be quiet and not leave the bedroom whereas
Journey into Night It is an irony of Eugene O'Neill's career that his large-scale expressionist dramas of the 1920s and 1930s -- which earned Pulitzers for works like Strange Interlude and ultimately the Nobel Prize in Literature for O'Neill himself -- seem to have fallen entirely out of the repertory, and O'Neill is remembered chiefly for his least characteristic plays: Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Iceman Cometh. O'Neill's
The audience at this time could remain entirely unsuspicious of what is actually happening to Alfred, if it weren't from the casual commentaries Mrs. Rowland drops as to his appearance and gestures. Also, the event is intentionally trivialized; the title deceives the audience to think that the play is about the domestic life of a family "before breakfast." The suicide is done again at a trivial moment, when Alfred
Eugene O'Neill's play, "The Emperor Jones (1921)," is the horrifying story of Rufus Jones, the monarch of a West Indian island, presented in a single act of eight scenes of violence and disturbing images. O'Neill's sense of tragedy comes out undiluted in this surreal and nightmarish study of Jones' character in a mighty struggle and tension between black Christianity and black paganism (IMBD). Jones is an unforgettable character in his
The victor in this clash was definitely the Texans who suffered far less physical damage and reported only casualty and one severe wounding after the clash. The Mexicans, however, were not so lucky and reported heavy losses in both their artillery and soldiers. The day ended with no more exciting events (Williams; Barker). Santa Anna Reinforced Under the command of General Cos, a large force was advancing from the direction of Vince's