The Hairy Ape A Term Papaer 5d5o50

The Hairy Ape Characterization The representation of tragedy today has adapted itself to more humanistic, base and symbolic concerns. Often, they are commentaries on society just as much as they are on the nature of man. Eugene O'Neill's greatest creation The Hairy Ape dramatizes the vision of the tragic and alienated condition of men in the modern complex social system. The play symbolizes the struggle of modern men within industrial society following an individual's (Yank) baffled search for identity to recover his sense of belongingness. Yank is a representative of not only a representative of lower working class but also of the modern man in general and his alienation from society is reflective of one of the main challenges faced by all men of today. The play maybe modern in its content and style but the characterization is very classical in its manner. Yank may not appear like Oedipus or Hamlet but he is very much a tragic hero in essence as per Aristotelian rules, ignoring a few discrepancies keeping in view that it is a modern drama written by an American dramatist. In his book Poetics Aristotle gives four essentials for a character. First is goodness of character. Greek concept of goodness was very different from Christian goodness. According to Humphrey House it does not have moralistic implication rather it means ‘habitual possession of one or more of the separate virtues such as courage, liberality, magnificence, truthfulness, friendliness and even witness‟. Hairy ape’s protagonist Yank fulfils this criteria and is good in the Greek sense of the term if not in Christian meaning of the word. He is courageous and magnificent if nothing else. We don’t find him lying at any point in play so he is truthful as well. Second criterion is likeness; here Aristotle is not very clear about what he means by the term likeness. It has been interpreted as meaning “original” and it would mean being true to the source or the legend it has been derived from. In the broader sense likeness denotes that one character should be true to life, original in the sense that it should be as close to the reality as the creative requirement of the play permits. Characters of hairy ape fulfill this requirement as well and are very close to the reality. Hairy ape being a modern play is very real and one could actually believe them to be actual people and not just mere characters. Mildred is a very original representation of the elite class pampered girl and Yank and his mates are truly illustrative of common man of today. Third characteristic is appropriateness by which we mean that the character should be true to its type, like if character is a slave he should have slavery attributes and if it is a woman the character should have

feministic qualities. But it does not denote Aristotle means to typify or lose the individuality of the characters. People of the same sex, status or class may differ in their actions and therein lays the individuality. Choices they make in critical situations mark their individuality. Hairy ape’s characters are appropriate to their type. Not a single attribute of any character is against its background and they are as appropriate as Aristotle described they needed to be. Consistency of the character throughout the play is the last requisite for a good character. It means that character should remain true to its nature and his behavior should be in accordance with it. It is very important for a good tragedy that the character remains consistent unless there is proper motivation for him to act out of character. Yank remains consistent throughout the play so do the other characters like Long and Mildred who also maintain consistency. However, Yank’s consistency throughout the play is marvelously portrayed and although we see him grow and transit from a confident to a despondent man but not even once does he appears out of character. Another important rule that is stated in of characterization by Aristotle is characters as tools of plot. Aristotle explains that characters have to advance the action of the tragedy and not vice versa, meaning that characters are an important part of plot and not the plot itself. In simple words character s the plot and not the other way round. Although The Hairy Ape is a modern play but in this sense it is classical in technique as plot is the major thing and characters are introduced only to the plot.

Tragic Hero Aristotle disqualifies two types of characters purely virtuous and thoroughly bad. There remains but one kind of character, who can best satisfy this requirement, Aristotle defines his tragic hero as – „A man who is not eminently good and just yet whose misfortune is not brought by vice or depravity but by some error of frailty‟ Yank the protagonist of this play is a tragic hero as he measures up to this Definition of tragic hero given by Aristotle, he is primarily a good man, honest hardworking and strong man and his downfall from his previous stature is due to his own decision and not because of any depravity or frailty. “YANK—I don't give a damn what! I'd be square wit her, wouldn't I? Tink I wanter let her put somep'n over on me? Tink I'm goin' to let her git away wit dat stuff? Yuh don't know me! Noone ain't never put nothin' over on me and got away wit it, see!—not dat kind of stuff—no guy and no skoit neither! I'll fix her!” Here immediately after Mildred leaves after calling Yank a filthy beast that Yank decides to get even with her and this decision led to his eventual death. Mildred comments act as a catalyst but it is his own

decision to reinvent his belongingness after his original illusion is crushed by Mildred and also to search for his lost identity. Aristotle required of tragic hero to have some basic characteristics, top most of which is that a hero must be of noble birth or of high stature in society. Although Yank the protagonist is not really a man of high stature or of any nobility yet considering that hairy ape is a modern tragedy, we find that writer has made it an effort to make his protagonist prominent and of high stature among his peers. His greatness is in his strength and the respect that he commands due to this strength. Aristotle in his definition of tragic hero points out that although hero must be a good man but he should not be perfect, hero needs to have vices and flaws so that the audience may find relatable elements in him despite his magnificence. Yank the protagonist of The Hairy Ape definitely is not perfect. He is arrogant and mean at times but we definitely find that he is very relatable in his behavior despite his prominence because of his physical strength and position among his peers. Downfall of a tragic hero must be brought about as a result of his own decisions and not because of depravity or malignant fate. Tragedy occurs as a result of error in judgment and is representation of hero being not perfect. This error in judgment is called Hamartia. There are three kinds of Hamartia: ignorance, hasty or careless view or decision taken voluntarily. Yank’s downfall which is his death comes as a result of Hamartia, i.e. error in judgment. His Hamartia involved all three kinds mentioned above. He was ignorant of his position in the society and when his illusion got shattered it shook him badly and resulted in his death. It could be seen as a hasty, careless assessment of the situation which led to such extreme reaction of the protagonist. On the whole it was a decision taken voluntarily on part of Yank to not only go to Fifth Avenue looking for revenge but also to visit zoo and break a gorilla out of there. On the spiritual level too, it was Yank’s self built illusion that got him so riled up. Hamartia also involves hubris which is pride or arrogance or over estimation of one’s own abilities. Yank’s arrogance and pride are prominent features of his character. His hubris is one of the main reasons of his downfall as he just could not let the unintentional insult of Mildred go unpunished. For Aristotelian Tragic Hero it is mandatory that his misfortune is not wholly deserved and punishment exceeds his crime. Yank for his crimes of lack of understanding of his place in this world and ignorance of class difference is rejected from every strata of society and hated and looked down upon because of his physical features and image of his own self. His death is definitely too severe considering his Hamartia. Peripety is an important part of plot that a tragic hero must experience. The tragic hero of The Hairy Ape Yank also experiences a reversal of fortune as he is shown in the first part of the play as a confident self

important man who is sure about himself and has an identity and sense of direction and belongingness of which he is proud of and is also content because of it, in the second part of the play Yank is not only confused and despondent but also has lost all faith in himself and believes himself to be worse off than even a caged gorilla. In the last scene he says to the gorilla: “On'y yuh're lucky, see? Yuh don't belong wit 'em and yuh know it. But me, I belong wit 'em—but I don't, see? Dey don't belong wit me, dat's what. Get me? Tinkin' is hard—It's dis way, what I'm drivin' at. Youse can sit and dope dream in de past, green woods, de jungle and de rest of it. Den yuh belong and dey don't. Den yuh kin laugh at 'em, see? Yuh're de champ of de woild. But me—I ain't got no past to tink in, nor nothin' dat's comin', on'y what's now—and dat don't belong. Sure, you're de best off!” As a result of Peripety a tragic hero would make an important realization which is called discovery. Aristotle explains that fall is not pure loss and there is increase in knowledge, discovery on part of the hero. Yank is looking for a place he could fit in or belong too and in the end it seems that dead, caged in a zoo along with other gorillas is the only place he could belong too and that is the discovery on part of the tragic hero of The Hairy Ape. Hence, the protagonist of the play The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill is a modern man but his characterization is classical in its essence and he appears a larger than life figure in a world full of complexities. Although his inability to handle rejection or failure to find his identity are modern issues but his hubris and Peripety and Discovery make it into classical tragedy despite being a modern comedy.

Thought Aristotle explains thought in following words. He says: “ Under Thought is included every effect which has to be produced by speech, the subdivisions being,-proof and refutation; the excitation of the feelings, such as pity, fear, anger, and the like; the suggestion of importance or its opposite. Now, it is evident that the dramatic incidents must be treated from the same points of view as the dramatic speeches, when the object is to evoke the sense of pity, fear, importance, or probability. The only difference is that the incidents should speak for themselves without verbal exposition; while the effects aimed at in speech should be produced by the speaker, and as a result of the speech.” This cites that the speech should be revealing the actual thought process as well as the qualities of the character making that speech. Also these speeches must arouse emotion in a subtle way, and the incidents

must be self expletory and need not be discussed verbally. In this play there are many individual speeches which not only reveal the character’s thought process and individual characteristics but also arouse emotions in an effective manner producing the required effect of catharsis. Such as the speech of Yank in the first scene he says: “Say! What's dem slobs in de foist cabin got to do wit us? We're better men dan dey are, ain't we? Sure! One of us guys could clean up de whole mob wit one mit. Put one of 'em down here for one watch in de stokehole, what'd happen? Dey'd carry him off on a stretcher. Dem boids don't amount to nothin'. Dey're just baggage. Who makes dis old tub run? Ain't it us guys? Well den, we belong, don't we? We belong and dey don't. Dat's all. As for dis bein' hell—aw, nuts! Yuh lost your noive, dat's what. Dis is a man's job, get me? It belongs. It runs dis tub. No stiffs need apply” These lines not only establish the position of the protagonist but also tells us a great deal about Yank and how he sees the world. Violence is eminent in his speech which shows that he is not only aware of his strength but also willing to use it when necessary. Belongingness is another word that is used number of times signifying Yank’s conflict that is going to be provoked and turned into a full magnitude identity crisis. Similarly Mildred also reveals her character while talking to her aunt and gives an insight to her life and thought. In the second scene when Mildred first appears she says to her aunt: “Please do not mock at my attempts to discover how the other half lives. Give me credit for some sort of groping sincerity in that at least. I would like to help them. I would like to be some use in the world. Is it my fault I don't know how? I would like to be sincere, to touch life somewhere. [With weary bitterness.] But I'm afraid I have neither the vitality nor integrity. All that was burnt out in our stock before I was born. Grandfather's blast furnaces, flaming to the sky, melting steel, making millions— then father keeping those home fires burning, making more millions—and little me at the tail-end of it all. I'm a waste product in the Bessemer process—like the millions. Or rather, I inherit the acquired trait of the by-product, wealth, but none of the energy, none of the strength of the steel that made it. I am sired by gold and darned by it, as they say at the race track—damned in more ways than one.” In this speech it shows the typical fascination that upper class pampered girls have with the lower class living. Her way of mocking her father and grandfather depicts her carefree lenient upbringing and her boredom is yet again symbolizing the confusion and the uselessness of the life of modern rich class.

Similarly pity and fear is aroused by Yank’s speech in the last scene when Yank is standing in a cage of a gorilla saying: “He got me, aw right. I'm trou. Even him didn't tink I belonged. Christ, where do I get off at? Where do I fit in? Aw, what de hell! No squakin', see! No quittin', get me! Croak wit your boots on!—forces a mocking laugh.] In de cage, huh? Ladies and gents, step forward and take a slant at de one and only— —one and original—Hairy Ape from de wilds of—”