Before Breakfast by Eugene O'Neill

A detailed Summary of Before Breakfast by Eugene O'Neill

Tragic drama, it is said, must aim at unsettling an audience's emotions in order to be effective. Before Breakfast, a play written by Eugene O'Neill in 1916, succeeds in achieving this aim through brutally dramatizing the tragic results of a marriage between two clearly flawed characters.

In fact, the setting of the one-act play itself signals that all is not well with the Rowland household. Several significant touches such as potted plants "dying of neglect," "clothing...hung on pegs," and a haphazardly strung clothesline (p. 245) reveal that the Rowlands are not house proud by any stretch of the imagination. These touches also tell the audience that the Rowlands are likely to be slovenly and lazy by nature, and, therefore, unlikely to be the kind of people who wish to lead a meaningful life. This inference can particularly be drawn because the setting is very clearly that of a small, dreary apartment, thereby indicating that the Rowlands are not wel

l-to-do, and unlikely to ever be so.

If Mrs. Rowland fails to win the sympathy of the audience, the monologue is constructed to ensure that the audience does not end up empathizing with her spouse either. For, it is evident that he is nothing more than the spoilt son of a rich man, and a lazy alcoholic. Alfred may be an aspiring poet, but it is clear that he spends his days seeking pleasure rather than seriously attempt to make a living out of any writing ability that he may possess. It is also obvious that Mr. Rowland is a weak, if sensitive individual: "It is a sensitive hand with slender fingers. It trembles...." (p. 250) But it his weak character rather than any true sensitivity that comes through in his silently taking all his wife's abuse, his impregnating another woman, and finally, in his suicide.

In the final analysis, therefore, it can be inferred that Alfred's suicide was a result of both Mrs. Rowland's unbearable character and his inab

Some common words found in the essay are:
Eugene O'Neill, Indeed Rowland's, , tell audience, breakfast play,

Approximate Word count = 645
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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