Eugene oneill essay

O’Neill explored the notion that there are many facets of personality and that people rarely reveal themselves unmasked to others—or even to themselves. When they do, they discover that others are presenting only masks in return, a response that can be disappointing and even frightening.

Desire Under the Elms is a traditional-length three-act play, but Strange Interlude is a very long play in two parts with fourteen scenes and a break for dinner. Mourning Becomes Electra is perhaps the longest, essentially consisting of three full-length plays, with a total of thirteen acts.

In The Iceman Cometh, written twenty years later, O’Neill draws characters surviving upon their “pipe dreams”: They believe that they will leave Harry Hope’s saloon in the near future and lead productive lives. When they are forced to face their illusions, they seek death. As might be expected, O’Neill is not universally admired.

Although O’Neill’s view of humanity was despairing and nearly tragic, there are no moral messages in his plays. He does not preach or promote causes. There are few villains in his works; instead there are characters of enormous energy, driven by huge passions—lust, greed, ambition, and love.