“Hopeless Hopes Ennobled”: Yank''s Struggle to Belong in O''Neill''s The Hairy Ape

Abstract

This essay examines the significance of Yank’s struggle to belong in Eugene O’Neill’s play, The Hairy Ape in light of Nietzsche’s definition of man as “a rope tied between beast and overman.” Contending that Yank’s death in the gorilla’s cage signifies both a defeat and his only chance of success, the essay investigates how his “tink[ing]” leads him to question his former understanding of what it means to belong. Knowing his struggle to belong is bound to fail, Yank uncompromisingly seeks to fit into the point of completely isolating himself from all other species in the gorilla’s cage. Consequently, he becomes “the Hairy Ape” and opens up the possibility of belonging by creating and becoming the species of one to which he alone belongs. Echoing Nietzsche’s vision of greatness in man, Yank’s endeavor proves that what is noble “in man is that he is a bridge” rather than “a goal.”