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ISSN 2278-9529
Galaxy: International Multidisciplinary Research Journal
www.galaxyimrj.com
www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal In English ISSN: 0976-8165

The Hairy Ape As An Expressionist Play

Rajesh S. Gore
Assistant Professor and Head,
Dept.of English
Toshniwal College, Sengaon,
Dist-Hingoli

Abstract:
Expressionism is a term first used by painter Julian Auguste Harve in 1901, while
trying to distinguish his paintings from Impressionism. Expressionist movement in art
was initiated in Germany in early 20th century under the influence of Swedish Playwright
Strindberg. It was at its height between 1910-1925, just before, during and after the
World War-I. In America, Expressionism made a strong impact on the plays of Eugene
O'Neill such as ' The Emperor Jones (19221), The Hairy Ape (1922) and The Great God
Brown (1926). The Hairy ape is the first expressionist play in America. The Hairy Ape is
an expressionist play by Eugene O’Neil about a brutish, unthinking laborer known as
Yank as he searches for a sense of belonging in world controlled by the rich.

Keywords: Expressionism, Impressionism, brutish, unthinking, laborer, belonging.

Eugene O'Neill is an eminent playwright of the 20th century American drama. He is not
only the creator of the serious American drama, but he ranks with the greatest European
dramatists of the 20th century. O'Neill is a voluminous writer who has left behind him a
large body of One-Act plays as well as large number of full length plays. Much of his
work is considered as inferior which is not to survive for long. His longer plays are:
Beyond the Horizon, Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, Under the Elms, The Great God
Brown, Lazarus Laughed, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman,
Long Day's Journey into Night and The Hairy Ape. In America, Expressionism made a
strong impact on the plays of Eugene O'Neill such as ' The Emperor Jones (19221), The
Hairy Ape (1922) and The Great God Brown (1926). The Hairy ape is the first
expressionist play in America. He wrote 48 plays, among these plays13 plays are called
sea-plays and six plays are considered to be minor plays. In 1936, he received Nobel
Prize for literature.

The Hairy Ape, written in eight short, abrupt scenes, is an expressionistic Tragi-
comedy of modern industrial unrest. The protagonist of play is a mighty stoker called
'Yank' and we see him first , stripped to the waist, with the rest of his half necked
companions in their stoke hole. He can out course, out fight, out feel them all and he is
proud of his job a stoker at the heart of the ship.

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"Twenty-five knots an hour! That's me”. (THA) 1

We next see the ultra-sophisticated Mildred Douglas, the daughter of the owner of
the liner, lolling on the deck and pining for the sensation of going down into the stock-
hole to see how the other half lives. The play gives a realistic picture of contemporary
American Society. It is a world where rich become richer and poor become poorer. On
the one hand, there are the rich represented by Mildred Douglas and her aunt. On the
other hand the poor are represented by Yank and the other stokers, who sweat and work
hard, and who are exploited and insulted for their toil, trouble and tiredness. The curtain
parts and out of the darkness gleam the rims of the boiler-doors. A bell clangs the door,
swing open, a terrific red glare leaps out at the audience, and Yank and his mates heave
in the coal. The bell clangs again, too soon, and Yank is cursing the engineer with terrific
violence, when he turns to see the girl beside him. She almost faints at the sight of him
cries out that he is a beast. Yank hurls his shovel after her with a horrid oath.

Another change that is noticeable in the stoke-hole to see Yank completely upset
by the incident, brooding over the depths of social difference revealed to him, burning
with hatred, rage and revenge. He is no longer, steel, coal, speed, because hi is no longer
sure of himself. To make sure of himself, he must go out on a mission of revenge. We
see him next on Fifth Avenue. The passers by are strange unreal people. He makes no
more impression on them than if they were fart of dreams; all that happens is that a
police-man beats him up and arrests him. Then we see him in a prison cell on Islands.
Out of the darkness come the snarls and oaths and horrid howls of other prisoners. One
prisoner reads from the New York Times an attack on the Industrial Workers of the
World as a menace of civilization. The Hairy Ape resolves to join the I.W.W. When we
next observe him, he is trying to join the society and he may plant a dynamo beneath the
steel magnet's home, but is thrown out as an agent provocateur.

Finally, in his puzzled despair, he reaches the gorilla's cage in the zoo. Ah, a
brother, the real Hairy Ape! He lets the gorilla loose, to go with him on a pilgrimage of
destruction. But the gorilla silently seizes him in a deadly embrace and tosses him into
the cage, where he dies behind the bars. Commenting on the play Clifford Leech writes;
“The Hairy Ape is a comedy of Ancient and modern life.”2

Expressionism is a term first used by painter Julian Auguste Harve in 1901, while
trying to distinguish his paintings from Impressionism. Expressionist movement in art
was initiated in Germany in early 20th century under the influence of Swedish Playwright
Strindberg. It was at it's height between 1910-1925, just before, during and after the
World War-I. Expressionism endeavored to express as intensely as possible. The author
usually bitterly reacts to the world around him. Expressionistic writers are not optimistic

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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.
M.H.Abram remarks that:
The central feature of Expressionism is a radical revolt
against realism. Instead of representing the world as it objectively,
the author undertakes to express inner experience by representing
the world as it appears to his state of mind. Often the work implies
that mental condition is representative of anxiety-ridden modern
man in an industrial and technological society which is drifting
toward chaos. (AGOLT) 3

It is a radical revolt against the artistic and literary tradition of realism. The
Expressionistic playwright undertakes to express a personal vision of human life and
human society. Drama was a prominent and widely influential form of expressionistic
writing. 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 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. Instead of dramatic sequence of events, expressionists
concentrate on portraying the inner mind are how it works. The prominent playwrights
of Expressionism are George Kaiser (Gas, from Mourn to Midnight), Ernest Toller
(Mass, Man) and in his earlier production of Bertolt Brecht, Eugene O'Neill and Elmer
Rice.

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.4

Most of his plays are based on this technique; it is easier to understand the audience.
Some of his noteworthy plays are, Beyond the Horizon, Mourning Becomes Electra etc.
Out of them, 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

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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 colours, 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'. Fredrick I. Carpenter observes:
His biography is exceptionally important to the
Understanding of his work; it is exceptionally rustic. Many
of his plays are autobiographical. Beyond biography his
life as a whole as seemed to develop to dramatic stages of
kind of 'continuing quest'.5

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. John Gassner
rightly says:
His major theme was man's disorientation man’s
bedevilment from within and without.6

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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 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. In this context J.M.Marriatt
posits;
A realistic play, is based upon superficial
observation of detail- a mere photography:
but expressionism has been linked to an x-ray photograph.8

We can easily find the fusion of Naturalism, Symbolism and Expressionism in the
plays of O'Neill. He fused naturalistic detail with symbolist mood, suggestiveness and
symbol. Strindberg admired Eugene O'Neill's 'expressionist' dramatic style of
distortation of action, speech and scene of the play.

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 on 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 dramatise man's struggle with himself. Edward Albert
remarks,
Expressionistic drama was not concerned
with society but with man.9

The disintegration of Yank's personality in The Hairy Ape is a symbol of the

disintegration of American industrialized and mechanized society. It is a bitter satire on
the society. Winter says;
It is a play which describes the disintegration of contemporary
society. It is a part of the ' Decline of the West.10

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Works Cited:

M.H. Abrams. A Glossary of Literary Terms, Third Edition.

Indian reprint. Madras: Macmillan, 1978

C.W.E.Bigsby. A Critical Introduction to Twentieth Century

American Drama: Vol. I (1900-1940) Cambridge
England: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Mary Thomas David. Eugene O'Neill. The Hairy Ape, With a Critical
Introduction and Notes. B.I. Publication , New
Delhi.
Eugene O’Neil. The Hairy Ape. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform,
2015.
John Henry Raleigh. The Plays of Eugine O'Neill, Carbondle, Ilinois:
Southern University Press, 1965.

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