The Hairy Ape

A detailed Summary of The Hairy Ape


In the Play, The Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill, there are two characters that play an important role in the play. They are Paddy and Long. Long and Paddy are firemen aboard the Ocean Liner. They both have thick accents, but express their thoughts with complexity through their dialogue as seen in the play. With their characteristics, one sees two different sides of how the Industrial Revolution had an impact on the lives of those working at that time.

Although Paddy only appears in The Hairy Ape in two scenes, he is an important element of the play. Paddy is an old Irish man who likes to drink heavily, and he is known for his spouting about on subjects such as philosophy and stories of the past especially when he's intoxicated. Of the men on the ship Paddy could be considered the oldest of the men because he has been doing labor jobs longer than most of the firemen as he says when he describes his life on the Clipper Ships (pg1122).

Paddy's extensive monologue in Scene One details how shipping used to be aboard Clipper Ships(pg1122). Without Paddy's presence the audience would not have as much perspective about the revolution


Long, as well as Paddy and the rest of the group, is also a representation of the lower class people, because it was only the lower class people who had to work in the factories and machines brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution came along at a time where the lower class people had no choice but to work in these factories. It gained hatred from those people who were forced to work in these factories because work was not just work, it was more of slavery labor. And those who didn't work were the upper class people, those who owned these factories. Long knows this and so do the others, however, Long proves to know more about this from his words said in the play. When Mildred came along, he told Yank that she was one of the "upper class" people and that they were all the same (pg1134-35). They all thought of those who worked in factories as animals because they were lower than them economically(1131-32). He even takes Yank to New York to show him how upper class people were like and to prove to him that they were all the same.

Overall, both Paddy and Long have similarities and some difference

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 767
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts

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