Eugene O'Neill as Social Critic

Abstract

I'M going on the theory that the United States, instead of being the most successful country in the world, is the greatest failure,' said Eugene O'Neill in 1946. Clearly O'Neill is critic of American society and society as whole. But what are his standards for criticism? Why does he castigate the status quo in Marco Millions only to sentimentalize over it in Ah, Wilderness!? Why, since he criticizes the whole structure of modern society, has he never espoused even mild reform, let alone revolutionary movements? The theory according to which O'Neill criticizes society is complex, but nevertheless it is theory, and may be formulated by working backwards from the plays it affected. Perhaps the best starting point for analysis of O'Neill's social criticism is The Hairy Ape, for it gives the main outlines of his social theory as no other one play does. The Hairy Ape presents an extremely negative view of the state, of mechanized America, where the worker best adjusted to the system is hairy ape, and where the capitalist clarss is even more terribly dehumanized, for it has lost all connection with life, is simply a procession of gaudy marionettes.2 According to The Hairy Ape, both government and religion are devices for maintaining the status quo. The church substitutes political conservatism for Christianity, substitutes bazaars, methods of making money, for concern with the meaning of life and death. Government is equally at the service of the marionettes. On the legislative side, it is exemplified by the windy oratory of Senator Queen, glorifying the status quo and denouncing with ignorant terror any threat to it like the I. W. W. On the enforcement side, it is exemplified by police who function to keep the workers