O'Neill's Expressionistic Thearter (plays)

In the name of God

O'Neill's Expressionistic Thearter (Plays(

This thesis investigates Expressionism as a theatrical technique in the Emperor jones , the Hairy ape, and the Great god Brown.

The word Expressionism waz apparentiy first applied to modern wok of art in franle , where julien Auguste herve used it in 1901 to deignuteaseries of his paintings . Expressionism as an artistic movement, howerer, began in Ggermany verey eariy in the 20 the century (1905) in which a Nnumber of painters sought to avoid the represen tation of Eexternal reality and in stead aimed to project themseives and their personal vision of the world .

Expressonism was later applieer to literature as a reaction against realism although it was itself out growth of realism . In practice , it aimed to show the inner psychological realities instead of representing the world objectively . In this sense , an expressionist author expresses his inner exprience by representing the world as it appears in his state of mind or in the mind of one of his characters . Expressionism in theater is basically a technique of dramatic representation which attempts to project onto the stage an internal , subconscious or

symbolic reality . It is essentially a method of distertion of reality in order to represent a particular and personal point of view . It is infact a doctrine of individual and personal self expression . The charactristic of this doctrine include :

. A dream like and night marish atmosphere .

. A bizzar shaped setting which avoid the reproduction

of the detailed setting of Naturalistic drama .

. An episodic plot or structure.

. A colorless charactrization by which characters lose their in dividuality and are merely identified by nameless designations such as the man , the workman , the engineer , etc.

. A poltical , febrile , and rhapsodic dialogue .the form is staccto telegraphs-made of phrases or one two words or expletive .

. A style of acting which is deliberatly departing from realism .

The word expressionism entered american theater in spring of 1922 with eugene O'Neill's the experor jones .O'Neill had been influenced by the expressionistic techniques the swedish , dramatist , Auguest Strind berg ( 1849 - 1912) who inspired O'Neill to write many expressionistic plays such as The Experor Jouns(1920), The Hairy Ape (1922), and The Great God rown(1926).

As in painting an Expressionistic drama expresses the psychological and inner pains of its subjects.

The them of expressionistic drama includes :

machine-life dominance of industry over human societies , annihiliation of the individual identity ,refutation of war and massacre ,rejection of the exploitation of mankind and human lonliness in the world .An expressionist play wright penetrates into the characters' mind to reveal the disordered and private mental state of her/his mind to the audience .

O'Neill, One of the ochstanding American expressionistic play wrights,presents his reaction against the modern stste through charactrization . He presents an extremly negative view of the state of machinized American with depersonalized individuals . In the Hairy Ape O'Neill protrays Yank as a social outcaster or alien who is overwhelmedly by his frustration in facing the bariers which the society erect against him .

The play begins as Yank , a power ful and illiterate stoker on an ocean liner , is boasting to his shipmeat in the fore castle. Yank Thinks he makes the ship go , not only the ship but the whole civilized world is driven by his energy and his fellows'power . Yank - who scorns ,love ,home , burgeois standards every thing - is scorned by mildred Douglas . Mildred- whose capitalist father owns the ship and posse sses of the most steel bussiness of the world , desires to see how the stokers in fireroom live .She sees Yank ,she cries and call shim "Hariy Ape " This encounter has a profound effect on yank . He couldn't forget that mildred calls him horrible beast . He set out to deter mine just what his place in the universe is and where he belong to , at the end he is killed.This play is a free expression of human emotions . It concenterates on the mutilation of Yank's personality .

When he finds out that he is unable to climb out of his los social rank as a stoker on an ocean liner , he is forced to decend to the aminal level.

The next expressionistic drama of ONeill is The Experor Jouns , set in eight scenes . It is the first play in which the external social forces are internalized.This play is the sad story of the heroic rise the tragic fall of an American negro.

Jones an American negro who has escaped form American - where he had committed two murders, find himself on an island in the west indies . He is a dictator and quickly establishes himself as experor and begins accumulating money . He protect himself from death by asserting that he can only be killed by a silver bullet .

The natives whom jounes has robbed and oppressed rebell against him , so he flees through the great forest he involves in hallusination , he sees appritions with so horrified state that he loses his rationality of civilized

man and abandons his clottes the natives him with the sound of drum in his ears , fear completely possesses him at the end he is Killed .

In this play brutus Jones passes from that of an Experor to that of a slave . In a forest and a night as vast the limitation of his mind.Experor Jones is characterized as enslaved by his own fear , under going a change from a criminal egotism to a desperate self-knewledge .

ONeill's preoccupation with the alination of human beings in a moterialistic world is also present in

The Great God Brown , where the problem of being an artist in a materialistic society is depicted .

The Great God Brown is examplified of