And, Perhaps, O’Neill at Last Belongs: O’Neill’s Dramaturgically Innovative Stage Directions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Eugene O’Neill was constantly experimenting with theatrical styles and genres. From naturalism to expressionism, his plays both follow the tenets of each of these forms while containing a throughline that is, for lack of a better word, O’Neillian. This article argues that O’Neill’s stage directions contain pertinent information with regard to what aspects of these dramatic styles O’Neill is adhering to and what parts of his own style he has not relinquished. By looking at Bound East for Cardiff, The Hairy Ape, and Hughie in contrast to other plays written around the same time period in those specific genres, it becomes clear that O’Neill uses stage directions for the purpose of transmitting dramatic style. Like the Hairy Ape himself, O’Neill both belongs and does not belong to each of the dramatic styles he used for his plays, and this “failure” is perhaps his greatest achievement.