The Hairy Ape summary by Eugene O'Neill.

                                                              The Hairy Ape

                                                           -Eugene O’Neil

                                                                                       [1888-1953]

Eugene O’Neill’s “ The Hairy Ape” is a very popular, expressionistic, psychoanlytical, modern American drama.It is an external tragedy of modern man-his glorious self destructive struggle in this machine age.

Man is a social animal. A sense of stability,of security, of belongingness is necessary for his happiness and tranquility. He must have his moorings somewhere, in some home,in the love and affection of parents,friends and other relatives. When thissense4 of belongingness,this sense of harmony is lost for one reason or the other, man suffers from a feeling of insecurity and loss of confidence. He feels orphaned, defrauded and at bay.There was little stability of background in O’Neill’s own life and this accounts for the fact that alienation or loss of identity is the basic theme of most of his major plays.

“The Hairy Ape” has all those qualities. It refers to Yank, the central figure in the play and his rapid disintigration as a result of his quest for identity or belongingness. An Ape is the very embodiment of physical strength and primitive simplicity. It is incapable of thought and knows only the use of physical force,by which it can cause distruction.It is exactly these qualities which Yank has.He is hairy chested with long arms os tremendous power.He can work for long hours wothout any tiresomeness,like the hairy ape he has immense physical strength and great capacity of destruction.That’s why O’Neill has given the sub-title ‘A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life’to this play. The ancient life is represented by the gorilla, the biological ancestor of man and Yank represents modern life. He is the modern hairy ape.

The title “Hairy Ape” refers to Yank [Bob Smith] central figure in play.At the beginning of the play we see Yank along with other stocker in the stock hole or fire place of transatlantic liner [ship].All the stockers are rough and fierce strong apes, but Yank is in a terrible wild mood,on his chest and shouting like a gorilla. Mildred could not withstand the situation –calls him “filthy beast” and faints.Feels insulted, he shouts at her and throws the shovel at her. He wants to take revenge on her.

Once he goes to the fifth avenue where the rich live. There he behaves senselessly like a hairy ape. The result is that he is arrested and sent to Jail.He comes to know about  I.W.W. – an organization for the welfare of workers. Yank goes to the office the I.W.W. but he disappointed. He is rejected because they use constitutional means and not brutal force to solve any problem. Thus Yank rejected by the civilized society goes to zoo. There he stands face to face with gorilla. He thinks that he can take vengience on rich with the help of gorilla. He sets the gorilla free.The gorilla embraces him and crushes him to death.It throws Yank’s body into the cage and walks off.

Alienation and search for identity is the basic theme of  “The Hairy Ape”.Yank feels superior and thinks  “belonged” to the stokehole forever.But sense of pride and security is shattered by his encounter with Mildred.He realizes that he doesn’t belong to the ship.When he goes to the fifth avenue he comes to understand that he doesn’t “belong” that environment.He thinks he belong to the animal world.But there too he is rejected and killed.

“The Hairy Ape” is Yank’s search for identity. O’Neill shows us the full psychological effects of the machine age on the modern middle class people.People like Yank want to know where they ‘belonged’to. In the search of answer to this problem,they,like Yank receive blows and insults. The rich attribute to the workers all the sins in the society. Yank is a symbol of the deep protest in the middle class workers.He is crying out against the system which has exploited man’s body and soul.The play is thus a condemnation of machine civilization.

Modern man’s soul is sick because of too much materialism. He suffers from inner emptiness on account of his lack of some sustaining faith.He suffers from a feeling of insecurity and a feeling ‘not belonging’.He is confused and bewildered from within and without. Materialistic values prevails.His life has become too mechanical  and impersonal.He is lonely even in a crowd and he cannot derive solace or strength from his faith in any supernal power.This feeling of insecurity causes unbearable spiritual anguish,fear and torture. The situation drives him to his doom. Modern man is also a man, as well as a machine and mechanised by an impersonal and mechanical social order.

Even the subtitle is suitable. Yank is the modern ‘Hairy Ape’. He psychologically goes down the stage of man’s evolution to the ape’s  stage. The modern and ancient apes meet. The ancient ape is let loose and the modern ape dies with a hope of a better social order in the near future. O’Neill is a realistic playwright  but in his later plays he uses non-realistic methods. However he hadn’t abandoned the realistic methods. The opening scene of the stokehole is realistically shown.The description of Yank and the stokers is realistic as well as symbolic.

‘Hairy Ape’ is an expressionistic play.The attention is focused on the ‘Central figure’ Hairy Ape and the characters are not individualized.The dialogues are expressionistic. The dramatist uses interior monologues, lighting effecs,and special sound effects. The plot and characters don’t develop,there is logical order of scenes. O’Neill has skill fully avoided the extremes of expressionism and maintained the unity and integrity of a realistic play.

Right from the beginning he behaves like a Hairy Ape. His physical features are also like that. His wild and angry action is too much for the civilized woman like Mildred.So, she calls him “the filthy beast” as if he were a “Hairy Ape”.Right from the point of insult he begins to disintegrated rapidly. He, with his brutal force is looked down upon as a beast.At the last he identifies with the gorilla in the zoo. It is also cofused with his behaviour and kills him.Thus the title “Hairy Ape” is apt. It suggests the theme of the play –his obession with the insult heaped upon him and the resulting destruction of his personality.

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