Existential Crisis of Yank in the Play the Hairy Ape by Eugene O’neill

Abstract

The Hairy Ape (1922) is one of the well-known plays by Eugene O’Neill. The play is subtitled as A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life. It is a tragedy in eight scenes, of a coal stoker, Robert Smith also known as Yank. The play is said to be an expressionist play which deals with the themes like, industrialization, the clash between upper class and worker class, alienation and existential crisis. This paper deals with the state of the protagonist in the troubled world of industrialization. The character feels alienated in his own world and faces existential crisis where he tries to search the truth of his existence but confronts only anxiety, disappointment and alienation. The paper focuses on Sartrean Principles of Existentialism which places the character as the centre of the universe and presents the dictum, ‘existence preceded essence’. Yank’s tragedy is the result of his failures to find belongingness in the society where the world has divided men into two parts, the rich and the poor. As per the norms of Sartre’s philosophy, Yank struggles to find the aim of his life as he takes freedom to choose and sense of responsibility with him to find the truth of his existence.