The Hairy Ape - by Eugene O'Neill

The Hairy Ape

-      By Eugene O’Neill

      O'Neill was the first American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. The Hairy Ape is the published in 1922. It was considered as expressionist play. The story is about a laborer named Yank. He cannot consider as the protagonist of the play because he is having non-heroic qualities in him. He is mostly considered as the antagonist of the play.

       

       The play is all about the self search of Yank and how he faces the reality of the world. He is not a good thinker but still tries to think and feels the he has not such identity on which he can proud. He was happy with his life on the ship and daily schedule. He faced the truth of world when he met Mildred the rich daughter of an industrialist. She called him “filthy beast”. At that time, Yank realised himself as an animal. He came to know his value in this world.

      

       At the end of the play when Yank went to zoo, and talked to Gorilla, he was very much sympathized with Gorilla that both were caged and ignored. He was thinking that both are alike and they should not be caged at all. He freed the Gorilla from the cage and Gorilla killed him and thrown him into the cage.

     

“He slips on the floor and dies. The monkeys set up a chattering, whimpering wail. And, perhaps, the Hairy Ape at last belongs."

      The play has various themes like middle class and upper class, belonging, identity crises, industrialization and thinking and language. Yank’s gesture as Rodin’s ‘the thinker’ represents his desire to get the position of knowledgeable. “Ape” is the symbol of uncivilized people or as the play represents “labours”. Yank is one of those uncivilized people who have missed a point to become a human and that is why considered as an ape.The use of language is also important in the play. the language of high class differs from the middle and worker class.