Long Day's

Journey into
Night
Study Guide by Course Hero

What's Inside d In Context

j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1

Realism in American Drama
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
For centuries, actors performed in a declamatory, or
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2 vehemently expressive, style, shouting their lines loudly and
striking poses. By the 19th century, however, realism was
h Characters .................................................................................................. 4
becoming more popular. The development of the "box set"
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 6 style theater led to more realistic environments that looked like
a room in an actual house. Productions required props
c Act Summaries ........................................................................................ 12 (handheld items the actors use, such as a book or a teacup)
and set pieces (such as furniture) that fit the period in which
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 28
the play was set.

l Symbols ...................................................................................................... 31
Playwrights in 19th-century Europe were also experimenting

m Themes ....................................................................................................... 31 with realism. Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), Anton Chekhov

(1860–1904), and August Strindberg (1849–1912) were some of
the chief playwrights that focused on real people facing real
problems. Failing marriages, arguments between parents and

j Book Basics children, questions of self-identity, midlife crises, and work and
money problems were the central conflicts of many 19th-
century plays. Playwrights would occasionally experiment with
AUTHOR
more grandiose epics or heroic figures, but they were
Eugene O'Neill
interested in life as it was, not some idealized version of life
FIRST PUBLISHED from the past.
1956
Many of the European theatrical trends were lost on American
GENRE audiences of the late 19th century. American productions
Drama tended to be musical revues, melodramas, or classics such as
Shakespearean plays performed by highly admired actors like
ABOUT THE TITLE Edwin Booth (1833–93), whom the character James
The play's title has multiple meanings. On a literal level, the Tyrone—based on the playwright's father—worked with in his
events of the play occur over the course of a single day and youth. Eugene O'Neill's father, James O'Neill, was an actor who
night, but the day feels very long. Figuratively, the title made his living playing in romantic costume dramas and
suggests the long journey of life these characters are on—a occasional Shakespearean productions.
journey that never ends in a restful night for any of them, given
Mary's addiction. When O'Neill began writing plays, he deliberately eschewed
both the poetic word stylings of English playwright William
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Shakespeare (1564–1616) and the conventions of melodrama.
His earliest works were about seafaring folk like the people he
had met on his travels. He wrote using authentic language that
sounded the way these people spoke in real life, and while his
plays contained plenty of drama, the drama was grounded in
genuine emotional pain rather than in predictable plot-driven
complications typical of melodramas of the era. O'Neill
received numerous awards for his achievements, and his
works continue to be performed all over the world because of
their power and honesty.
The Irish in America
O'Neill once told his son, "The one thing that explains more
than anything about me is the fact that I'm Irish." O'Neill never
visited Ireland, but his work is heavily shaped by his family's
Irish American experience. Long Day's Journey into Night,
O'Neill's most autobiographical play, is one of his most Irish
plays.
While Irish people had been immigrating to America since the
early 18th century, the greatest number of Irish emigrated in
the 19th century as a result of the Great Famine (1845–49). A
potato blight, or disease, destroyed many crops in Ireland and
made life even more difficult for Irish peasants who had been
struggling for years. Wealthy British residents owned large
tracts of land in Ireland, and they felt no need to provide for
their tenant farmers who were starving because the blight
wiped out their primary food source. Entire families, like the
character James Tyrone's, moved to the United States in
search of a better life.
However, life in the United States brought its own set of
challenges. After starvation in Ireland, many immigrants were
ill, weak, and poorly equipped for hard labor. They had little, if
any, money left since they often had to pay their own way
across the Atlantic. Worst of all, they were Catholic, a religion
viewed with suspicion by Protestant Americans. There were
rumors that the Irish would help the pope invade America and
rule under Catholic canon (religious) law. Signs were posted
telling Irish people not to bother applying for jobs. A political
party known as the "Know-Nothings" grew from the idea that
Catholics and immigrants should return to the places they
came from.
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Author Biography 2
Consumption
In the play Edmund suffers from consumption, just as O'Neill
once did. Today, consumption is better known as tuberculosis
(TB). While different forms of tuberculosis exist, pulmonary
tuberculosis, a bacterial infection in the lungs, is one of the
most serious. Symptoms include coughing, fever, loss of
appetite, and loss of weight.
In the early 20th century, consumption was a leading cause of
death in the United States. The disease was not always fatal,
but since it was airborne and thus highly contagious, people
were terrified of contracting it. Consumptive patients were
usually admitted to a sanatorium to reduce the possibility of
infecting family members. Fortunately, O'Neill had a mild case
and was cured after about six months of treatment.
a Author Biography
Early Life
Eugene O'Neill, born October 16, 1888, in New York City, was
one of the first great American playwrights. At a time when
American plays were primarily musical revues or melodramas,
O'Neill wrote serious plays that presented life in a realistic
manner and challenged the status quo. His father, James
O'Neill (1849–1920), was a well-known actor who played the
romantic lead in Alexandre Dumas's (1802–70) The Count of
Monte Cristo in 1882. His mother, Ella, spent most of her life
traveling with his father, settling down briefly for the birth of
each of her children: James Jr. and Eugene. The boys traveled
with their parents for years before being sent to boarding
school. O'Neill cited his father's theatrical background and his
parents' Irish Catholic method of upbringing as central to his
experience of the world. The other major influence on his life
and works was his mother's drug addiction.
Adulthood
O'Neill briefly attended college but dropped out and traveled
the world, working in many different types of jobs to support
himself. He also became an alcoholic, got married, had a child,
got divorced, and attempted suicide, all in his early 20s. At age
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Author Biography 3

24, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent six months

in a sanatorium, a long-term health care facility for people to Long Day's Journey into Night
rest and receive treatment. This changed his life, and he began
taking the time to concentrate on his writing. When he was O'Neill wrote Long Day's Journey into Night between 1939 and

released with a clean bill of health, he pursued a career as a 1941. However, he never intended for it to be produced in his

playwright. His first plays were mostly one-acts that focused lifetime. He only showed the play to a few people and, to

on seafarers, but he wrote realistically, using authentic protect surviving family members depicted in the play, wrote in

American language and avoiding the melodramatic stylings his will that it was not to be published or produced until 25

that were more common in plays of his era. He worked with an years after his death. While still alive he gave his third wife,

experimental theater group called the Playwrights' Theater, but Carlotta Monterey O'Neill (1888–1970), a copy of the

by 1920 his plays had moved to Broadway. manuscript and a dedicatory note. The note thanked her for
giving him the strength to "write this play ... with deep pity ...
and forgiveness for all the four haunted Tyrones." Tyrone is the

Professional Success, Personal last name of the family in the play, so Tyrones refers to the real
family members the characters represent, including O'Neill.

Tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is the most autobiographical

piece O'Neill wrote. It provides an insight into the relationships
he had with his disappointed actor-father, his drug-addicted
O'Neill quickly experienced a great deal of professional
mother, and his alcoholic brother. In the play the character of
success. Anna Christie (1922) was his first big hit, although
Edmund, who has traveled the world and come home to
O'Neill himself disliked it once it was written. Between 1920
recover from consumption, is based on O'Neill. O'Neill died
and 1943 O'Neill wrote 20 plays in which he experimented with
November 27, 1953, in Boston, Massachusetts, from bronchial
different forms and techniques. He wrote lengthy works that
pneumonia. After his death, his widow released the play for
ran for several hours or even over multiple nights. He also drew
publication by Yale University Press and for production by the
inspiration from ancient Greek tragedy, particularly in his plays
Royal Swedish Theater. Long Day's Journey into Night won
Desire Under the Elms (1924) and Mourning Becomes Electra
O'Neill his final Pulitzer Prize.
(1931). He earned a total of four Pulitzer Prizes in Drama, for
Beyond the Horizon (1920), Anna Christie (1922), Strange
Interlude (1928), and one for Long Day's Journey into Night in
1957, which was awarded posthumously. In 1936 O'Neill Legacy
became the first American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature. Esteemed literary critic and theorist Harold Bloom (b. 1930)
calls O'Neill "[America's] leading dramatist." O'Neill was the
Despite his success, O'Neill's personal life remained difficult. first American playwright of realistic drama. His approach and
Within a few years, his father, mother, and older brother all style inspired later playwrights such as Tennessee Williams
died. Two of his three marriages had ended in divorce. His (1911–83), Arthur Miller (1915–2005), and Edward Albee
eldest son committed suicide, and O'Neill became estranged (1928–2016). Historically, O'Neill has been one of the most
from his only daughter when, at age 18, she married actor widely performed playwrights worldwide.
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), who was the same age as her
father.

O'Neill suffered a professional setback in the last years of his

h Characters
life when health problems left him unable to write. The last play
of his that he saw produced on Broadway was A Moon for the
Misbegotten (1943), the sequel to his masterpiece, Long Day's Edmund
Journey into Night, which, at the time, had yet to appear on
stage. Edmund's difficult birth led to his mother's addiction to
morphine. Since Edmund is very close to his mother, this is

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Characters 4

hard for him. He has traveled extensively but has come home
ill. He is diagnosed with consumption and may not survive. He
loves his brother, Jamie, but cannot always understand him. He
is aware of his father's failings, but can also be sympathetic
toward Tyrone in a way Jamie is not.

Jamie
Jamie is deeply unhappy. He has a poor relationship with his
father and is devastated by his mother's failure to beat her
addiction. Jamie works as little as possible and prefers to
spend his time drinking or visiting the brothel. He has a deeply
complicated relationship with his brother, whom he both loves
and resents.

Tyrone
Tyrone is Irish. He had a difficult and impoverished childhood
but became a somewhat successful actor. He gave up the
opportunity to become a truly great actor when he took on
easy roles to make money. Tyrone loves his wife deeply and is
seriously hurt by her continued drug addiction. He loves his
sons but gets angry at both of them often.

Mary
Mary was an Irish convent girl when she met and fell in love
with Tyrone at age 18. She loves her husband very much, but
their marriage has not turned out as she expected. She spent a
lot of time traveling with him while he performed, and she feels
the lack of a real "home" very strongly. Her second son died
when he was quite young, and her third birth (Edmund's) was
very difficult. The doctor gave her morphine to help her
recover, but she became an addict.

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Characters 5

Character Map

Mary
Suffering drug addict;
heartbroken old woman

Spouses

Son Son

Tyrone
Aging actor;
sorrowful old man

Son

Son

Edmund Jamie
Sensitive and poetic Cynical, grief-stricken
young man; dying of Siblings young man; angry
consumption about his family

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Full Character List
Character Description
Edmund is the youngest son of the family.
Edmund
He is sensitive and an aspiring writer.
Jamie is the eldest son of the family. He is
Jamie
bitter and sarcastic and drinks heavily.
The father of the family, James Tyrone is
simply known as Tyrone in the play. He
Tyrone
attempts to control his very unhappy family
and spend as little money as possible.
Mary is the mother of the family. She loves
Mary her family but hurts them deeply when she
is on drugs.
Cathleen is a young Irish peasant woman
and one of the family's servants. She can be
Cathleen
saucy to her employers at times, but she is
really a kind person.
k Plot Summary
Act 1
Long Day's Journey into Night takes place in the Tyrone family
summer home during a single day and night in August. James
Tyrone was once a successful actor and has been married to
his wife, Mary, for 35 years. Mary has suffered from an
unspecified problem (later revealed to be a morphine
addiction) since the birth of their youngest son. Their sons,
Jamie and Edmund, live with them. Jamie is a hard-drinking
cynic who fights often with his father. His younger brother
Edmund traveled the world and worked as a journalist. Now he
is home, sick with what his mother claims is a summer cold.
Jamie and Tyrone believe Edmund has consumption
(tuberculosis).
Members of the Tyrone family have their disagreements.
Tyrone disapproves of his sons' taste in politics and literature.
Everyone criticizes Tyrone for being miserly and Jamie for
being a drunk. All three of the men worry about Mary, who has
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Plot Summary 6
recently come home from being treated for her "illness." She is
looking healthier, but now her worry about Edmund is causing
some troubling behaviors, things which in the past were signs
of drug abuse.
While they are alone, Jamie expresses his concerns to Tyrone.
He also worries Tyrone will choose less expensive care
options for Edmund and suggests Tyrone's choice of an
inexpensive "quack" doctor is what led to Mary's addiction.
When Mary returns, Tyrone leaves to work in the yard. Jamie
tells Mary they are proud of her progress, but she gets angry
with him for suggesting Edmund is seriously ill. Jamie leaves to
work with Tyrone. Edmund comes in. Mary is frantically
nervous as she cares for him. She complains of being lonely
but becomes defensive when Edmund suggests her own
problems may be partially responsible for their isolation. She
says they are all suspicious of her and heads upstairs,
supposedly to take a nap.
Act 2, Scene 1
It is lunchtime. Edmund reads a book while Cathleen, the
servant, brings a tray of drinks before the meal. Edmund has
one before Jamie steps inside. Then Jamie sneaks one before
Tyrone comes in. Edmund and Jamie worry about what Mary is
doing upstairs. Edmund insists it does not matter, but Jamie is
unconvinced.
Mary enters. She is affectionate but acting strangely. Jamie's
suspicions are confirmed. Edmund does not notice at first, but
Mary's odd comments and detached manner make him
suspicious too. Jamie confronts Mary, but she denies it.
Edmund defends his mother and asks her to reassure him, but
she cannot. As Tyrone approaches, Mary heads to the kitchen
to make sure lunch is ready.
Tyrone and the boys argue about drinking. Tyrone sees they
are unhappy and assumes it is Jamie's fault. Mary appears and
Tyrone sees her condition for himself. She is chattering
frantically and will not meet anyone's eyes. Tyrone says he was
a fool to believe in her. Mary attacks him for drinking more than
usual, then begs for understanding, saying she is worried about
Edmund. Tyrone will not accept this excuse. They go in to eat
lunch.
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Act 2, Scene 2
After lunch, Mary fidgets and talks incessantly. The other three
look angry, ill, or both. The phone rings and Tyrone answers. It
is the doctor with bad news. Tyrone insists Edmund go see the
doctor, but Mary explodes into a tirade. Speaking to Tyrone,
Mary says the doctor Edmund will visit is the same as the one
"who first gave you the medicine—and you never knew what it
was until too late!" Mary goes upstairs, and they know she will
take more drugs.
After Edmund leaves the room, Tyrone confirms to Jamie that
his brother has consumption. Jamie and Tyrone argue over the
cost of Edmund's care. Jamie leaves and Mary returns. Tyrone
speaks to Mary about her addiction, but she alternately denies
her addiction and blames it on others. When Edmund returns,
Tyrone suggests he talk to his mother. Edmund asks him for
money and Tyrone gives him $10, which is unusually generous.
Tyrone leaves and Edmund talks to Mary. She will not discuss
her addiction but instead asks him to skip his doctor's
appointment. Edmund refuses and leaves with the others. Mary
is alone. She laughs, saying she is glad they left, then cries
about being lonely.
Act 3
At dinnertime, the men are not home. Mary has invited the
servant, Cathleen, to drink with her. Cathleen is nice, but Mary
is in her own world and does not listen. Cathleen complains
about how she was treated when she went into the drugstore
to fetch a prescription for Mary. The drugstore man treated
her suspiciously until he learned who she worked for. Mary
does not care—or does not understand—what bothered
Cathleen. Mary talks about her youth: her convent education,
her plan to become a nun, and how she met Tyrone. Cathleen
leaves to help with dinner. Mary tries to pray but cannot. She
hears the men returning.
Edmund and Tyrone are home. They have both been drinking
but conceal it well. They observe Mary and can tell the state
she is in. Mary talks energetically about the boys' childhoods
and their other brother, Eugene, who died at age two. She
shifts between reminiscing and blaming everyone around her.
Repeatedly one of the men protests her savage statements,
and the other says not to bother arguing with her. Mary is lost
in memories of her adored father and how he spoiled her,
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Plot Summary 7
particularly about her wedding. She wonders where her
beautiful wedding dress is now stored.
When Edmund challenges Mary, she furiously blames him for
her condition. She became addicted after a doctor gave her
medicine to help her recover from Edmund's difficult birth.
Edmund attempts to tell Mary about his diagnosis, but she will
not listen. Upset, he leaves the house. Then Mary bursts into
tears because she fears for Edmund's health. She believes
Edmund is ashamed of her. Tyrone encourages her to eat
dinner, but she heads upstairs, presumably to take more drugs.
Tyrone is left alone and sad.
Act 4
It is midnight. Tyrone is drinking and playing solitaire when
Edmund comes home. Edmund is drunk. They discuss their
differing tastes in literature and poetry. They talk about Mary,
and Tyrone says many of Mary's stories about her childhood,
her father, and her marriage are not based on reality. Edmund
is still inclined to trust his mother's version of things.
Neither Tyrone nor Edmund wants to go upstairs while Mary is
awake, so they begin playing cards and continue talking.
Tyrone shares details about his childhood and his acting
career. He claims he had a great start to his career, but he
took an easy role to make money and lost his chance to
become a great actor.
Jamie comes home after visiting the town brothel. He is very
drunk. Tyrone leaves to avoid a fight. Jamie insults their father,
but Edmund wants to give Tyrone the benefit of the doubt.
When Jamie sneers at Mary, Edmund hits him. Jamie says he
deserved it and begins to cry. He had been so hopeful that
Mary was going to beat her addiction, and now he knows she
will not. He expresses his worry about Edmund and
simultaneously warns Edmund against himself. He admits he is
sometimes jealous of Edmund and has at times given Edmund
bad advice. But he still expresses deep love and affection for
his younger brother. After a confrontation with Tyrone, Jamie
dozes off, and a few minutes later Tyrone sleeps too. But when
someone is heard playing the piano, all three men sober up.
Mary wanders in, carrying her wedding dress. She does not
recognize the men at all. She believes herself to be a convent
girl again and talks about her dream of becoming a nun. Even
Edmund shouting his diagnosis at her does not break through.
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Plot Summary 8

She falters for a minute, then goes back to her memories. She
talks about marrying Tyrone and being "so happy for a time."
Tyrone "stirs in his chair," and Jamie and Edmund "remain
motionless" as the play ends.

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Plot Summary 9

Plot Diagram

Climax

11

10
12
9
Falling Action

Rising Action 8
13
7

6 14
5
15
4
Resolution
3

2
1

Introduction

9. Jamie quotes both Edmund's and Tyrone's favorite authors.

Introduction
10. Mary plays Chopin on the piano.

1. Mary acts oddly after a bad night of sleep; the men worry.

Climax

Rising Action 11. Mary enters hallucinating, holding her wedding dress.

2. At lunch, the men can tell Mary is using morphine again.

3. The men leave for Edmund's appointment; Mary is alone.

Falling Action
4. Edmund tries to tell Mary the truth about his diagnosis.
12. Tyrone gently takes Mary's wedding dress away from her.
5. Tyrone admits his failings to Edmund while drunk.
13. Tyrone sits holding the dress.
6. A drunken Jamie returns from the brothel.
14. Edmund tries to make Mary acknowledge his illness.
7. Edmund punches Jamie, and Jamie cries over Mary.

8. Jamie warns Edmund against himself.

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Plot Summary 10

Resolution

15. Jamie, Edmund, and Tyrone watch Mary babble to herself.

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Plot Summary 11

Timeline of Events

When Tyrone is 10

Tyrone's father abandons his family.

1874

Tyrone launches a successful acting career with Edwin

Booth.

Two years later

Mary meets and marries Tyrone.

A few years later

Tyrone gets his "big money-maker" play.

When Jamie is 7

Mary and Tyrone's second son, Eugene, dies at age two.

1912

Mary returns from treatment, apparently cured.

1:15 p.m., August 1912

Edmund is officially diagnosed with consumption.

After the diagnosis

Edmund and Jamie go drinking; then Jamie visits the

town brothel.

Later that night

Edmund challenges Tyrone about the sanatorium.

After midnight

Tyrone, Edmund, and Jamie watch Mary hallucinate.

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
c Act Summaries
O'Neill divided Act 2 into two scenes but left the other acts
intact. This study guide divides the other acts into sections for
the purpose of summary and analysis.
Act 1, Section 1
Summary
It is 8:30 a.m. on an August day in 1912. The location is the main
room, or "living room," of the Tyrones' summer home. Amidst
the cluttered furniture, Eugene O'Neill specifies two
bookcases: a small one containing works by Honoré de Balzac
(1799–1850), Stendhal (1783–1842), Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788–1860), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Karl Marx
(1818–83), Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), George Bernard Shaw
(1856–1950), August Strindberg (1849–1912), and others, as
well as poetry by Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), Oscar Wilde
(1854–1900), Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82), and others.
The other bookcase is large and "glassed-in" with more
classical reading: Victor Hugo (1802–85), Alexandre Dumas
(1802–70), "three sets of Shakespeare" (William Shakespeare,
1564–1616), and a variety of historical books. All of these heavy
history books and classical novels appear to have been read
many times, O'Neill notes.
James and Mary Tyrone enter. O'Neill describes Mary as 54,
but with a fairly youthful figure. She is definitely Irish in
appearance and does not wear makeup. Her hair is pure white,
and her large, beautiful eyes are almost black in her pale face.
Her hands were beautiful once, but are now deformed by
rheumatism. Her hands never stay still. O'Neill notes she has
"an innate unworldly innocence" and "a shy convent-girl
youthfulness." James (referred to as "Tyrone" throughout the
play) is 65 but looks a decade younger. He is "remarkably good
looking" and carries himself like a soldier. His hair is thinning.
He is "unmistakably" an actor, though he does not engage in
deliberate poses. He sports a threadbare suit because he
wears clothes until they are worn out. He is rarely sick and
never feels nervous, thanks to "a lot of stolid, earthy peasant in
him."
Tyrone and Mary are in a good mood as they enter. Tyrone's
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Act Summaries 12
arm is around his wife's waist. They bicker gently, almost
playfully, about how much breakfast Mary did or did not eat
and whether or not Tyrone makes good real estate deals. They
hear their two sons laughing at the breakfast table, but a bout
of coughing distracts Mary. They both agree Edmund only has
a summer cold, but Mary is unnerved. Tyrone tells Mary not to
worry, saying she has been "high-strung." Mary retorts: "You
really must not watch me all the time, James ... it makes me
self-conscious."
Tyrone tells Mary he is glad to see her as her "dear old self
again." Mary looks out the window and expresses relief that
the fog is gone. She complains about the foghorn blowing the
previous night and teases Tyrone when he says he could not
sleep because of it since she heard him snoring. When Mary
calls to her sons, they enter. James Tyrone Jr., known as
"Jamie," looks like a less impressive version of his father.
Edmund is 10 years younger than Jamie and looks more like his
mother. He has some of her "nervous sensibility" and is also
very thin and feverish-looking.
Mary asks the boys to back her up about their father's snoring.
She is flustered by Jamie staring at her, but he tells her how
healthy she looks. Tyrone and Edmund agree. The relatively
cheerful tone of the conversation soon deteriorates as Tyrone
criticizes Jamie for being lazy. Mary and Edmund try to
intervene, but Jamie is unmoved. Mary asks what the boys
were laughing at, and Edmund tells a story about one of his
father's tenants who picked a fight with a millionaire. Although
Tyrone has his own issues with this tenant, he cannot keep
from smiling about the "wily Shanty Mick" and his willingness to
stand up for himself. When Edmund insults the millionaire,
Tyrone criticizes him. Edmund leaves the room. He can be
heard coughing offstage.
Mary blames Edmund's temper on a summer cold, but Jamie
tells her, "The Kid is damned sick." Mary is instantly furious at
Jamie for saying such a thing. Tyrone interrupts, saying the
doctor thinks Edmund has another bout of malarial fever,
which he had previously. Mary launches into a diatribe against
the doctor, causing both Jamie and Tyrone to stare at her.
When she notices this, she becomes flustered. Tyrone
reassures her. Mary exits to talk to the servants after
forbidding Tyrone to make Edmund work outside.
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Analysis
Eugene O'Neill clearly wrote this play as much to be read as to
be performed. He never intended it to be performed in his
lifetime because it was shockingly autobiographical. While
some plays, such as those by English playwright William
Shakespeare, have minimal (or unreliable) stage directions,
O'Neill provides extremely specific details about the set and
the characters: there are 11 paragraphs of stage directions
before the first line is spoken. Some of this detail may reflect
O'Neill's personal relationship to the setting and characters, as
he is describing his family and their summer home.
O'Neill is very intentional, however, about what he includes.
When he lists all the books in the bookcases, it illustrates
something about the family members. The small bookcase
belongs to a modern, somewhat revolutionary thinker (for the
year 1912). This hints at Edmund's (and O'Neill's) preferred
reading. The larger, glassed-in bookcase has more
conventional titles. The audience later learns that the larger
bookcase reflects Tyrone's taste, while the smaller bookcase
reflects Edmund's intellectual preferences. It also anticipates
later arguments between Edmund and Tyrone over their
favorite authors.
In the character descriptions, O'Neill immediately brings up
Ireland. Mary is decidedly Irish, and though he does not
specifically use the word "Irish" in describing Tyrone, the
reference to his "peasant" roots is intended to suggest Ireland
as well. The anecdote about the "wily shanty Mick" (a "mick" is
an insulting slang term for an Irishman) also grounds the
audience in the reality of an Irish American family. By 1912, the
year in which the play is set, the Irish were fairly well-
established in America, but Tyrone has a clear memory of the
days when the Irish were not welcome in America. This Irish
American identity infuses everything Tyrone does in the play.
O'Neill was very proud of his Irish heritage, but he does not
make these characters Irish purely for this reason. Long Day's
Journey into Night was O'Neill's explicit attempt to retell the
story of his family. In fact, an O'Neill relative once held the title
of Earl of Tyrone. O'Neill's father was James O'Neill, and his
elder brother was James O'Neill Jr. O'Neill's mother's first
name was Mary, though she went by her middle name, Ella.
O'Neill's father was an actor, his mother had a drug addiction,
and his brother was an alcoholic. O'Neill himself was the
youngest child, and after traveling around the world he was
diagnosed with consumption and had to go to a sanatorium for
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Act Summaries 13
care. O'Neill made no secret of the play's autobiographical
roots. In fact, he decreed it should not be performed until many
years after his death specifically because of its
autobiographical nature.
O'Neill blends his family history with concepts drawn from
ancient Greek drama. He often explored how to blend Greek
tragedy with the modern world—his play Mourning Becomes
Electra (1931) is his most obvious example. In Long Day's
Journey into Night, O'Neill embraces the Aristotelian "unities,"
French classicists' interpretations of ideas from ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle's (384–22 BCE) Poetics (350 BCE). The
unities were unity of action, unity of time, and unity of place.
Long Day's Journey fulfills all three.
Unity of action means the play follows a single plotline. A
Shakespearean comedy, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1600), has multiple plotlines—the four lovers, the battle
between the fairy king and queen, the "mechanicals"
rehearsing a play—that all happen to occur in the woods on a
particular evening. Such a play does not have unity of action.
Long Day's Journey has a single storyline: the interactions
between family members as they learn about Edmund's
diagnosis and realize Mary will never fully recover from her
"illness." Unity of time means the events of the play occur in a
single day. This is also demonstrated in Long Day's Journey as
the acts roughly correspond to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and
late-night drinking. Unity of place means a single location for
the play. O'Neill uses a single setting, the bottom floor of the
Tyrone home.
On the surface, not much seems to happen in this first part of
Act 1. A family chats after breakfast. The father does not
approve of his sons. The mother and one of the sons are both
ill. In fact, O'Neill's power comes from the things that are not
spoken aloud. In theater, this is referred to as "subtext," literally
the message beneath the text. Actors use subtext to adjust
how they deliver the lines. If an actor has to say "hello" in a
scene, the subtext affects the actor's tone of voice, physical
movements, mannerisms, and more. This is another way O'Neill
uses stage directions. When he includes the phrase "as if she
wanted to dismiss the subject but can't" in one of Mary's lines,
he tells both the actress and the audience that Mary knows
Edmund is seriously ill.
Subtext also affects how the other characters react to Mary.
Why are they all so insistent that she looks well? Why does
O'Neill have certain characters—Jamie and Tyrone, in
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Act Summaries 14

particular—keep watching her? Even if the audience does not
know yet, the characters do, and this knowledge shapes their
actions. Mary is the mother figure of the play, a role that
carries enormous implications. She is the central figure around
which the other characters revolve.
Act 1, Section 2
reassure her about Edmund. Mary attacks him for even
suggesting Edmund might be seriously ill. Jamie walks out.
Alone on stage, Mary sits down, her hands moving restlessly.
When she hears Edmund coughing as he comes downstairs,
she moves frantically around the room. Edmund comes in,
saying he avoided his father and brother because he feels too
sick to fight. Mary soothes Edmund, calling him "the baby of
the family."

Mary describes the scene outside. Jamie hides from neighbors

driving by, but Tyrone greets them "as if he were taking a
Summary curtain call." Mary reflects on how she dislikes their house and
feels "cut off from everyone." She blames it on Tyrone and the
As soon as Mary leaves, Tyrone criticizes Jamie for causing
boys' bad behavior. Edmund cautiously suggests her own
her to worry. Jamie forces his father to admit the truth:
illness might have caused some estrangement as well. Mary
Edmund has consumption. Jamie criticizes Tyrone for sending
gets upset, saying she is in an "atmosphere of constant
Edmund to the local doctor, "a cheap old quack." Tyrone
suspicion." She complains of loneliness, and Edmund says they
pleads poverty, and Jamie points out how often he invests in
try to keep her company only to have her protest how they
questionable real estate deals. Tyrone says "it's too late" for
never leave her alone. Edmund admits he heard her moving
another doctor. Jamie asks if he thinks Edmund is dying.
around during the night and wondered if she was all right. Mary
Tyrone denies it and attributes Edmund's illness to his wild
gets angry, almost threatening: "It would serve all of you right if
behaviors and blames Jamie for those behaviors. Jamie insists
it was true!" Then she shifts abruptly, saying she is just worried
he was only trying to warn Edmund, whom he loves deeply.
about him. He reassures her, but when he mentions the
Jamie thinks Edmund's world travels were ridiculous, but
possibility of a serious diagnosis, she pays no attention. He
Tyrone speaks admirably of them.
offers to go out and watch Jamie work so she can rest.
Eugene O'Neill notes, "[Edmund] forces a laugh in which she
Tyrone worries about Mary, saying how Edmund's illness
makes herself join." As he leaves, Mary sits, drumming her
comes at a bad time for her. Mary has "been so well in the two
fingers incessantly on the chair.
months since she came home," Tyrone says. Jamie
sympathizes, and the two of them share a moment of deep
mutual understanding. Tyrone says Edmund's consumption will
terrify Mary because her father died of it. He believes Mary is
Analysis
cured now, but Jamie is unconvinced. Jamie talks about some
Edmund, like Eugene O'Neill, suffered from consumption
of Mary's behaviors, which he sees as warning signs. Tyrone
(tuberculosis). Consumption was a leading cause of death in
attacks him for being suspicious. After a moment, Tyrone
the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Mary's
admits he has wondered too. Jamie again criticizes his father
father died of it, as Tyrone points out. Consumption was not
for using cheap doctors, since Mary's problems began after
always fatal, but it was a very serious disease. O'Neill had it
Edmund's birth. Tyrone grows furious. When Mary enters the
before he had any success as a playwright, and he went on to
room, the two men change the subject to the work needed in
live a full life and enjoyed great success after he recovered.
the front yard. Tyrone calls Mary to the window to show her
Tuberculosis is easily spread through coughing, as Edmund
how the fog has lifted: "I'm sure the spell of it we've had is over
frequently does in the play. For this reason, treatment usually
now." Mary and Jamie joke about him volunteering to do
involved a stay in a sanatorium to reduce the risk of contagion.
chores, but she knows they were arguing. Mary speaks
Edmund likely picked up the disease during his travels, but in
disjointedly and urges the two men to hurry out to do the
1912 he could have contracted it anywhere in the United States
chores before the fog returns, saying, "Because I know it will."
as well.
Tyrone heads out to work in the yard. Jamie stays behind for a
As if Edmund's illness is not stressful enough, there is tension
moment to tell Mary how proud they all are of her and to
around the cost of his care. Jamie suggests both Edmund and

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Mary suffer because Tyrone employs cheap doctors in order
to save money. To Jamie, Tyrone is a wealthy miser. From
Tyrone's perspective, he has made lucrative real estate deals.
Tyrone's obsession with land is connected to his Irish heritage.
For centuries, Irish peasants were unable to own the land on
which they lived. The land had been given to English noblemen
and landowners, and the Irish peasants lived as tenant farmers.
This was the situation when Tyrone was born in Ireland around
1847. By 1912 a series of land acts had begun to remedy the
situation in Ireland, but Tyrone is strongly affected by his
childhood memories.
O'Neill continues to hint about Mary's illness without explicitly
stating it. The audience learns her illness began after
Edmund's birth, over 20 years ago. Mary demonstrates intense
nervousness and a certain defensive quality. The audience may
wonder if Mary's illness is psychological rather than physical.
Mary is distinctly troubled by fog in this act. She complains
about the foghorn the previous night. Mary is grateful the fog
has gone, but she is convinced it will come back. Tyrone, on
the other hand, insists it is gone for good. The fog functions
symbolically; it represents Mary's "illness." Tyrone believes—or
wants to believe—her illness is behind them and will not return.
Mary, on the other hand, fears it will come back.
Tyrone's insistence that the fog and Mary's problems are
behind them is an example of the entire family's remarkable
capacity for denial. In a place known for fog, it defies logic to
claim that the fog will never return. Although the audience may
not be clear about exactly what Mary's illness is, Jamie has
pointed out signs that she may already be relapsing. Tyrone
may be hopeful, but his hope seems to border on self-
delusional denial. Mary, of course, is by far the most obvious
example of denial, and she utterly rejects the idea that Edmund
is seriously ill. She even gets angry at Jamie for suggesting it.
Notably, no one suggests that Mary be forced to face reality.
They seem almost fearful of her realizing the truth of Edmund's
diagnosis.
Act 2, Scene 1
Summary
It is around 12:45 p.m. Edmund is half-heartedly reading a book.
Cathleen, one of the servants, brings in a tray with bourbon,
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Act Summaries 15
glasses, and a pitcher of water. Cathleen chats with Edmund,
but he does not respond much. At his suggestion, she calls
Tyrone and Jamie to come in for lunch. She tells him Mary is
upstairs, wide awake. This bothers Edmund. He sneaks a drink
before the others step inside.
Jamie enters first, wiping sweat from his forehead. He also
takes a drink, then adds water to the bourbon bottle to conceal
their drinking from Tyrone. Jamie is starving, but Edmund is not
hungry. They discuss Edmund's illness. Edmund suggests it is a
reoccurrence of malaria. Jamie clearly does not think so, but
he changes the subject and asks for Mary. When he hears she
is upstairs, Jamie becomes concerned. He says she shouldn't
be up there alone. Edmund tells Jamie he is overly suspicious.
Jamie retorts that he knew what was going on 10 years before
Edmund did, so he has reason for concern.
Mary comes in. She is affectionate with Edmund but detached,
and her eyes are very bright. Jamie instantly knows he was
right to worry, but Edmund does not notice. Mary blames
Jamie's bad mood on working too hard. He does not argue.
She criticizes him for making fun of his father, but her tone
shifts. Sometimes she hardly seems to know they are present.
She talks impersonally of "the things life has done to us."
Edmund realizes something is wrong.
Mary chatters about Tyrone's penchant for saving money and
how he does not appreciate a real home after living in hotels
for so long. Edmund steps out to call his father, and Jamie tells
his mother she is not fooling him. She gets very upset. Edmund
returns, sees she is upset, and blames Jamie. Jamie shrugs
and turns his back. Mary tells Edmund not to be angry with his
brother, but Edmund insists Jamie is lying. He wants Mary to
reassure him, but she cannot. Tyrone approaches, and Mary
exits to tell the cook to serve lunch.
Tyrone, Jamie, and Edmund argue about drinking. Tyrone tries
to prevent his sons from having a drink, then gives them
permission but criticizes them for taking large drinks. He sees
they are unhappy and attributes it to Jamie's bad temper. Mary
reappears and refuses to meet anyone's eyes. Mary is angry
because Tyrone made them all wait for lunch. She becomes
increasingly agitated, saying Tyrone never should have married
her because he did not really want a home. She finishes with
"then nothing would ever have happened." When she sees
Edmund has had a drink, she blames Tyrone for not stopping
him: "Don't you remember my father? He wouldn't stop after he
was stricken." Then she realizes what she said and
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
immediately insists there is no comparison between Edmund's
illness and her father's. She puts a hand to Edmund's cheek,
but he pulls away.
Jamie and Edmund step into the dining room. Tyrone remains
behind, staring at Mary. He says he was a fool to believe in her.
Mary never felt anyone believed in her. She attacks him for
drinking more than usual, then begs him to understand, saying
she is so worried about Edmund. Tyrone will not accept this
excuse, however. Mary sounds panicked for a moment, then
abruptly shifts to a casual tone and says they should have
lunch. As Tyrone walks away, Mary cries, "James! I tried so
hard! I tried so hard! Please believe—!" Tyrone says maybe she
did, but asks why she could not keep trying. She acts as if she
does not know what he is talking about. He says, "Never mind.
It's no use now." They exit.
Analysis
One of the "unities" often cited by classical dramatists is the
unity of time: the action of a play should occur within one day.
As this scene shows, Eugene O'Neill is even more precise
about his timing—he sets his first three acts at breakfast,
lunch, and dinner, respectively. While in the morning everyone
(except Jamie) was hopeful, by lunch the disappointment and
cynicism have already set in. Jamie has disappointed his father
again, and Mary has disappointed all of them.
The interactions around the bourbon illustrate the dynamics
between Tyrone and his sons. Jamie and Edmund's behavior is
ludicrous for men in their 20s and 30s—concealing their drinks
like a couple of teenagers sneaking behind their parents'
backs. Yet when Tyrone enters, he treats them like teenagers.
His reactions to their drinking, particularly Edmund's drinking,
are also contradictory. This is partly because Tyrone and
Jamie believe Edmund's illness to be more serious than
Edmund believes himself. If Edmund has only a summer cold,
then a drink is not a big deal. In a moment of panic, Mary blurts
out what all of them are thinking—Edmund has consumption,
as her father did.
The Tyrone family lives in utter denial. Denial is a psychological
function, a defense mechanism in which an individual denies
the existence of a problem because he or she is unable to
cope with it. Mary and, to some extent, Edmund are in denial
about Edmund's illness. Both Edmund and Tyrone are in denial
about Mary's illness. However, denial cannot sustain itself
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Act Summaries 16
against reality. Mary suspects the truth of Edmund's illness,
and both Edmund and Tyrone are forced to face the truth of
Mary's situation.
At this point in the play, Mary's illness is clear: drug addiction.
Her shifts between high-energy chattering and the detached,
impersonal, or dreamy tone can only be explained by addiction
or mental illness. Since her changes in behavior are associated
with trips upstairs, she must be visiting her secret drug stash.
Mary is addicted to morphine. Morphine was a prescription
drug developed from opium. It has many medical uses and was
commonly prescribed for soldiers' care during both the Civil
War (1861–65) and World War II (1939–45). It was also an easy
drug to become addicted to, as Mary demonstrates.
One thing Mary regrets about her marriage is the loss of a real
home. This came up in Act 1 when she talks about hating their
home, even though Tyrone insists they live there. It is further
developed in this scene. When Tyrone is late for lunch, Mary
cries, "I'm so sick and tired of pretending this is a home ... You
don't really want one!" She claims he should have stayed a
bachelor, living in hotels. To Mary, the lack of a "proper" home
represents everything she failed to achieve in her life with
Tyrone. As with other family issues in this play, there are two
sides to the story. Would their summer house have been
Mary's idealized home if she had never become addicted? Or
did she develop an addiction because she lacks a real home to
call her own?
Act 2, Scene 2
Summary
It is just after lunch, and the bourbon is no longer onstage.
Tyrone and Mary enter, followed by their sons. Unlike at
breakfast, when Tyrone's arm was around Mary's waist, now
he will not touch or even look at her. Mary chatters and fidgets,
complaining about the servant problem and how their house is
not a home. Tyrone says it will never be a home because of
Mary's problem. She pretends not to know what he means. "In
a real home one is never lonely," she says, and she talks about
how her father's home was a "real" home.
The phone rings and Tyrone answers it. It is the doctor. Jamie,
Edmund, and Mary all listen tensely to the phone call. While
Tyrone strives to sound casual, he has clearly gotten bad
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
news. After he gets off the phone, Mary bursts into a long
speech directed at Tyrone about how the horrid doctor
lectures on willpower "when you're in agony and half insane"
and about how he is the same type of cheap doctor as the one
"who first gave you the medicine—and you never knew what it
was until too late!" She proclaims she hates doctors who will
sell their souls "and you never know it till one day you find
yourself in hell!" Edmund and Tyrone ask her to stop talking,
and she announces she is going upstairs to fix her hair.
The three men know what Mary is going to do, and Jamie puts
it bluntly: "Another shot in the arm!" Both Tyrone and Edmund
snap at him. Jamie says he feels it just as much as they do, but
Edmund resents his cynicism. Jamie asks if Edmund's "pet with
the unpronounceable name" is more cheery. He is referring to
the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900),
whom Edmund admires. Tyrone says they are both terrible and
"rotten to the core" because they have rejected the Catholic
faith. Jamie and Edmund point out that Tyrone does not go to
church. Tyrone says he still prays and has prayed for Mary for
years. Edmund responds by quoting Nietzsche's statement
that "God is dead."
Tyrone says he will no longer hope, but Edmund is determined
to keep doing so. He wants to talk to Mary. Jamie says there is
no point because Mary will not listen: "She'll be here but she
won't be here." Tyrone agrees: "That's the way the poison acts
on her always." Edmund heads upstairs to change his clothes.
Once he is gone, Jamie asks his father what the doctor said.
Tyrone confirms Edmund has consumption and must go to a
sanatorium. Jamie demands to know where Edmund will be
sent, and when Tyrone is evasive, he warns him not to pick a
cheap place. He insists Tyrone is not broke, just cheap. Tyrone
gets angry, but Jamie walks out, offering to go with Edmund to
cheer him up after he hears the bad news. Mary wanders back
in. Looking out the window, she tells Tyrone he was wrong
about the weather. He agrees: "We're in for another night of
fog, I'm afraid." Mary says she will not mind the fog, and he
agrees she probably will not. She gives him a sharp glance.
When Tyrone begins to leave the room, she begs him not to go.
Tyrone suggests she take a drive while the rest of them are
out. He hugs her and pleads with her to stop. Confused, Mary
asks what he means. She puts an arm around him, saying they
have always loved each other and they should remember that.
She speaks of "the things life has done" to them. Tyrone asks
her again to try, and she says she will try to go for a drive in the
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Act Summaries 17
car. She talks about how she lost many friends when she
married Tyrone, particularly after his former mistress sued him.
Tyrone asks why she dwells on the past. Defiantly, she
announces she will use the car to get something from the
drugstore. Tyrone angrily reminds her of a night when she ran
out of the house in her nightgown and tried to kill herself. Mary
begs him to not bring it up, and he apologizes. Then she says it
never happened.
Mary says she got sick after Edmund was born and an
"ignorant quack" of a doctor stopped her pain. Tyrone tells her
to forget it, but she replies, "The past is the present, isn't it? It's
the future, too." Mary says she should never have had another
baby after Eugene died. She blames Jamie, who had the
measles at age seven. Mary believes he infected Eugene on
purpose out of jealousy. She will never forgive Jamie for
Eugene's death, she claims. Mary blames herself because she
was on the road with Tyrone rather than at home with Eugene.
She should not have had Edmund. She is being punished, she
says, for being a bad mother. Tyrone says Edmund might feel
she did not want him, but she says she did want him even
though he has been so sickly and unhappy. They hear Edmund.
Tyrone asks Mary to behave normally until he leaves, but she
cannot.
Tyrone begins to go upstairs, but Edmund asks him for money.
Tyrone gives him $10, and Edmund is shocked. He asks if
Tyrone thinks he is going to die. Tyrone is hurt, and Mary
becomes furious over such a joke. She insists he is not really ill
and is only seeking attention. When Edmund is offended, she
tells him she is frightened for him. Tyrone suggests Edmund try
to talk to Mary about her problem. He leaves them alone.
Edmund tries, but Mary fusses over him instead. She tells him
to skip the appointment and stay home. Edmund begs her to
stop what she is doing, but she does not listen. She implies that
she started using morphine again because she is worried
about him, though she says that is no excuse. She accuses
Edmund of not trusting her, then admits she does not trust
herself. She says, "I never lied about anything once upon a
time. Now I have to lie, especially to myself." She tells him she
will find her soul again "when the Blessed Virgin Mary forgives
me and gives me back the faith." Mary casually tells Edmund
he may as well go to the doctor because she is off to the
drugstore. He begs her not to go, but she ignores him. Jamie
and Tyrone call Edmund, and Mary tells Edmund to go. Once
they have gone, Mary complains of being lonely but then says
she is lying to herself. She claims to be glad they are gone,
freeing her from criticism, contempt, and suspicion. She laughs,
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
then cries out, "Mother of God, why do I feel so lonely?"
Analysis
If the audience has failed to catch the clues Eugene O'Neill
provided, he now makes it abundantly clear through Jamie's
blunt comment—Mary is injecting herself with a drug. She
clearly has a serious problem that began after Edmund's birth
over 20 years ago, and by Tyrone's account she has attempted
suicide at least once when she did not have the drug. It is
evidently a prescription medication, and her symptoms,
combined with what is known about O'Neill's mother, make it
obvious: she is addicted to morphine.
The image of fog comes up repeatedly throughout the play. In
Act 1, Mary and Tyrone express relief that the previous night's
fog is gone. Now, in Act 2, Mary tells Tyrone he was wrong and
that the fog is back. Tyrone agrees he was mistaken. This is
not just a weather report—the fog is a symbol of Mary's
addiction. When she is under the influence of her medicine, she
is in a fog that insulates her from emotions or interactions.
Mary says she will not mind the foghorn in the night ahead, and
Tyrone agrees she will not—she will be too far into her drugged
stupor to notice it.
This is the first time religion, specifically Catholicism, comes
up. The Irish people have a long history with the Catholic
Church, so it is not surprising that Tyrone and Mary would be
Catholic. It is also not surprising, given Tyrone's career and
Mary's addiction, that they would have fallen away from
actively practicing their faith. Their names—James and
Mary—are both biblical names. James was the name of one of
Jesus's disciples, and Mary, as she herself mentions, is the
name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The
Blessed Virgin Mary is deeply revered in the Catholic Church
because she is believed to be born without sin. She remains a
symbol of motherhood and motherly love throughout the New
Testament. It would be quite common for young Catholic girls
to pray to the Virgin Mary, as Mary Tyrone evidently did.
Jamie and Edmund are not Catholic, and some of Edmund's
favorite authors are aggressively anti-religion. Friedrich
Nietzsche, for example, was a philosopher who vehemently
rejected the ideas of conventional religion, viewing it as a way
to manipulate people by making them feel guilty.
Guilt is certainly prevalent in the Tyrone family. Mary blames
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Act Summaries 18
Tyrone for losing their friends as a result of an affair he once
had. She blames Jamie for giving their now-deceased middle
son, Eugene, the measles and suggests Edmund is to blame
for her addiction. While she rarely admits her own culpability,
Mary does label herself a liar and speaks of feeling guilty.
Tyrone encourages her not to dwell on the past, but she claims
the past, the present, and the future are really all the same.
This reflects her drug-addled thought process, but it also
suggests the ways in which the past continues to inform all of
their actions. In some ways, life for the Tyrone family stopped
when Mary's addiction really took hold. Jamie and Edmund
have gotten older, but they became emotionally stunted.
Edmund acts like a little boy, and Jamie acts like a rebellious
teenager.
Tyrone and Mary mention their deceased middle son in these
pages, raising the question of all their sons' names. Jamie is
named after his father. Tyrone is clearly disappointed in Jamie
but doesn't realize they are alike in many ways. Even as a
grown man he is referred to by the diminutive "Jamie," as if he
were still a little boy. The deceased middle son is named after
O'Neill, even though it is the youngest son, Edmund, who
represents O'Neill in this autobiographical work.
Edmund's name is interesting. On a purely factual level, it was
the name of a third O'Neill son, one that died in infancy before
Eugene O'Neill was born. O'Neill simply flip-flopped the names.
However, the name Edmund has symbolic overtones,
particularly in this Shakespearean family. Edmund is the name
of a villain in one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, King
Lear (1605–06). In the play the titular King Lear questions the
loyalty and love of his daughters. He mistakenly rejects the
truest of his daughters and places his trust in the two greedy
and selfish ones instead. It is undoubtedly a role Tyrone would
love to play. In King Lear the two evil sisters compete for the
love of Edmund, an illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester.
This Edmund is also wicked, happy to overthrow his legitimate
brother to obtain power and wealth for himself. While O'Neill
may have simply transposed the names of the living and
deceased O'Neill boys, he would certainly have been aware of
the name's Shakespearean allusions. O'Neill may have viewed
himself as acting in a traitorous or disloyal way to his family by
writing this play. By the time he was writing Long Day's Journey
into Night, he was also the only surviving member of his
childhood family, so O'Neill may feel as if he is somehow not
his parents' legitimate son since he survived.
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Act 3, Section 1
Summary
It is 6:30 p.m. Mary and Cathleen, the servant girl, are together.
Cathleen is drinking whiskey. Mary is pale, her eyes "shine with
unnatural brilliance," and she's behaving as if she were in a
dream. She is wearing a nice dress but in a messy, unkempt
way. She keeps Cathleen in the room for company but does
not listen to what the servant girl is saying. Mary talks about
how much she loves the fog. She encourages Cathleen to keep
drinking, reassuring her they can use "Jamie's trick" to make
the bottle look full. By the time Tyrone gets home, Mary says,
he will be too drunk to care. He drinks because he worries not
about Edmund, as Cathleen suspects, but only about money.
Cathleen asks if Mary ever wanted to be an actress, but Mary
scolds her. Mary was educated in a convent and dreamed of
being a nun. Cathleen wonders how this is possible since Mary
never attends church.
Cathleen brings up the drive they took this afternoon when
Mary sent her to the drugstore to get a prescription. Cathleen
describes how the man looked suspiciously at her until she told
him the prescription was for Mrs. Tyrone. Mary is untroubled
by this. She tells Cathleen the medicine is for rheumatism in
her hands, the only thing "that can stop the pain—all the pain—I
mean, in my hands." She talks about how much she used to
love playing music. She claims she might have studied music in
Europe if she hadn't fallen in love with Tyrone. Mary gave up
playing when she followed Tyrone on the road once they got
married. She says normally she cannot stand to look at her
hands, "but even they can't touch me now."
Cathleen wonders if Mary has been drinking or if the medicine
has affected her. Mary barely responds, caught up in
daydreams of the past. She remembers how she first met
Tyrone when he became friends with her father. Her father
took her to see one of Tyrone's plays, and she admired his
performance and his looks. They quickly fell in love. Mary says
they have been married 36 years and "there has never been a
breath of scandal about him ... with any other woman."
Cathleen agrees she is lucky to have Tyrone and then asks if
she can go help with dinner. Mary says yes, although she is not
hungry.
Cathleen leaves. Mary sits peacefully for a moment; then the
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Act Summaries 19
foghorn sounds and her hands jump and quiver. She speaks to
herself, calling herself "a sentimental fool." She tries to pray the
Hail Mary, a Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary, and interrupts
herself halfway to ask if she thinks the Virgin Mary will "be
fooled by a lying dope fiend reciting words." She hears voices
and asks why the men are coming back when she wants to be
alone, then abruptly shifts to saying how lonely she has been.
Analysis
Mary is definitely under the influence of her "medicine" now,
and it is becoming difficult to keep track of the contradictions.
In only a few minutes of stage time, she claims to have had
plans to become both a nun and a highly trained pianist. She
regrets the loss of those opportunities, yet claims to be happy
with Tyrone. She insists there has never been any other
woman in his life, yet in the previous act she blamed him for a
mistress who sued him. Many drug addicts lose their ability to
think analytically, and they may lie if they think it is to their
advantage. In Mary's case, she does not seem to care if
Cathleen is listening. Her lies are meant to ease her own
emotional pain. She now claims to love the fog, when before
she said she hated it. The fog represents denial, which also
eases emotional pain. Denial is comforting, and Mary embraces
her denial.
Catholicism reappears as Mary discusses her past. Many
Catholic families chose to educate their children in a Catholic
school, such as the "convent school" Mary attended. Mary's
expressed desire to be a nun seems unlikely. A nun is a woman
who takes a vow to become a "bride of Christ." She makes a
promise to God to live a life of prayer and service, pledging she
will not become a wife or mother. At the time Mary would have
been in school, nuns were expected to live cloistered lives—to
reject the outside world, for the most part, and live in their own
isolated community. Given Mary's complaints about loneliness
and the story of how she met Tyrone, it is doubtful being a nun
would have suited her.
Still, Mary retains some of her faith. She attempts to pray the
Hail Mary, one of the best-known Catholic prayers, dedicated
to the Virgin Mary:
Hail Mary, full of grace
The Lord is with thee
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Blessed art thou amongst women
And blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death
Amen
Eugene O'Neill specifically states that she gets about halfway
through the prayer ("Blessed art thou amongst women") before
she stops, calling herself a "lying dope fiend." It must be
exquisitely painful for Mary to recite a prayer to someone who
shares her name and who is celebrated as an outstanding
mother. Mary does not feel "full of grace," nor does she feel
God is with her. She feels cursed rather than blessed, and the
"fruit of her womb" is what caused her addiction. She certainly
sees herself as a sinner, and the "hour of our death" feels a
little too close to home after Edmund's diagnosis.
This section of the play is also when Mary shares another
equally unlikely goal of her youth: to train in Europe as a
pianist. She is quite likely to have studied piano—many young
women of her era did—but to study in Europe would be a huge
leap, probably not available except to the most highly skilled or
the wealthiest pupils. Assuming she played even a little bit,
though, her crippled hands must be even more upsetting.
O'Neill's highly specific stage directions do not suggest her
hands actually prevent her from doing things, but she is deeply
troubled by their ugliness—except in this act, where she says
even they cannot bother her anymore.
Act 3, Section 2
Summary
Edmund and Tyrone return. They have both been drinking, but
conceal it well. They watch Mary from the doorway and know
immediately what she has done. Mary becomes "unnaturally
effusive" and fusses over them, which they tolerate but clearly
do not enjoy. She chatters about them being early and
encourages them to have a drink. Jamie has not returned home
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Act Summaries 20
for dinner, and she complains he is wasting his life. Edmund
admits he shared the $10 with Jamie because he always
shares with Jamie if he gets any money. Mary warns Edmund
against Jamie, saying he will ruin Edmund if he can. Though
both men ask her to stop talking, Tyrone validates her
concerns about Jamie, but Edmund rejects them. This leads
Mary to reminisce about her babies, including Eugene, of whom
she says, "I let him die through my neglect." Tyrone objects, but
she ignores him, describing how baby Edmund was always
ready to cry over nothing. Edmund bitterly says, "Maybe I
guessed there was a good reason not to laugh." Mary's tone
alternates between grief for her sons and anger at them and at
Tyrone, whom she blames for their behavior. Edmund and
Tyrone repeatedly counsel each other to ignore her insults,
particularly when Mary attacks Tyrone's family as "the most
ignorant kind of poverty-stricken Irish."
Mary begins to talk about the night she met Tyrone. Tyrone is
deeply affected, and they talk about how much they love each
other. Edmund is "sad and embarrassed" at the situation. The
discussion takes an abrupt turn when Mary begins describing
how Tyrone had to be helped back to their hotel room during
their honeymoon because he was too drunk to get himself
home. Tyrone guiltily protests it never happened, but Edmund
believes his mother. He blames Tyrone for driving Mary to her
addiction. Tyrone pleads with Mary to forget. She cannot
forget, but says, "I forgive. I always forgive you." Shifting back
to her more cheerful mood, Mary talks about how her father
indulged her wish to have the fanciest, most beautiful wedding
gown ever. She describes the great efforts she took for her
wedding day, but wonders where the gown is now. She says
she used to take the dress out and look at it, but it made her
cry so she put it away, probably somewhere in the attic.
Tyrone finally takes his drink and notices immediately it has
been tampered with. He asks if Mary is drinking now too, but
Edmund defends her, saying she probably shared with the
servants. Mary admits she thanked Cathleen for fetching her
prescription. This upsets Edmund, who asks if his mother
wants "everyone on earth to know?" Mary's voice turns steely
as she questions why she should be ashamed of needing
medicine for the rheumatism in her hands. She aggressively
points out she never needed medicine until after Edmund was
born. Edmund recoils. Tyrone tells him not to listen because
once she is at this point in her addiction, "she's gone far away
from us." Mary acts pleased that her husband realizes this and
tells them to stop trying to remind her.
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Act Summaries 21

Mary asks Tyrone to turn on the light. She criticizes his sad, bewildered, broken old man."
stinginess, and he leaves the room to get a new bottle of
whiskey. Mary tells Edmund about Tyrone's life. Tyrone's father
abandoned the family, forcing him to begin working at age 10. Analysis
Edmund interrupts her and says he has heard this story many
times. He tries to tell her how sick he is, but Mary refuses to Although they all criticize Mary for her addiction, none of the
listen. She claims the doctor is a quack, but Edmund says the men have a healthy relationship with alcohol. Everyone in the
doctor brought in a specialist. She goes on about how poorly family finds a way to deaden the pain of their lives. However,
the doctor treated her, describing a time when she almost the men's approach (drinking) is more socially acceptable.
threw herself off the dock in her nightgown. Edmund Also, while the men drink to excess, at the moment, they are
remembers. Jamie and Tyrone stopped trying to conceal her more in control of their substance use than Mary is. Still, there
condition from him then. "God, it made everything in life seem is a certain level of hypocrisy in Tyrone's criticism, delivered
rotten!" Edmund says. Edmund tells Mary he needs to go to a when he has just come home after having "a lot to drink."
sanatorium. Mary disagrees, blaming Tyrone for taking away
In spite of their problems, Tyrone and Mary genuinely love
her babies because he is jealous. Edmund says it never
each other. This is important and possibly unexpected. Mary's
bothered her when he left before, but Mary says she was
version of how they met suggests they did not know each
ashamed once he knew of her problem. Edmund reaches out
other for very long before they got married. However, their
to her, then stops, and he questions how much she loves him
marriage did not turn out as they expected. Their love for each
when she refuses to hear how sick he is. She insists he is
other is possibly the only redeeming circumstance at this point
overreacting. Edmund says Mary's father died of the same
and the thing that has possibly prevented Mary from
thing. Furious, she says her father had consumption so "there's
intentionally overdosing. Their love is now also terribly painful.
no comparison at all with you." She forbids him to bring up her
Eugene O'Neill specifies that Edmund is "sad and
father's death again. Edmund angrily announces it is difficult
embarrassed" by their expressions of love for each other.
"having a dope fiend for a mother," but then feels bad and
Tyrone's love for Mary makes his agony about her addiction
apologizes. Without acknowledging the apology, Mary begins
that much more painful.
talking distractedly about the night and the foghorn. Edmund
announces he is not hungry and flees the house.
Mary's wedding dress serves as a symbol of their love, but it
also represents unfulfilled dreams. Mary describes how much
In a longing tone, Mary says, "I hope, sometimes, without
she wanted to be beautiful for their wedding day, and she lists
meaning it, I will take an overdose." She would never take one
every detail of her wedding dress, which sounds
on purpose, she says, because "the Blessed Virgin would never
spectacular—and expensive. But nothing about their marriage
forgive me." Tyrone reappears with a whiskey bottle. He is
worked as Mary expected, and now the dress makes her cry.
angry because Jamie tried to break into the cellar. Tyrone asks
She has hidden it away somewhere and does not remember
where Edmund is, and Mary says he left because he was not
where. The symbol of her hopes and dreams is lost, and she
hungry. She talks about Edmund's summer cold, then breaks
has only a hazy memory of it, much like the loss of the happy,
down in tears about how frightened she is. Tyrone reassures
idealized marriage she once anticipated.
her, but she says if Edmund was never born he would not have
to hate his "dope fiend" mother. Tyrone consoles her, telling
By Mary's account, her idealized marriage was over on her
her it was not her fault and that Edmund does not hate her. He
honeymoon when Tyrone stayed out drinking. Yet this is
encourages her to dry her eyes as a tipsy Cathleen enters.
another place where it is hard to tell how accurate Mary's
When Tyrone scowls, Cathleen insists she was invited to have
memory truly is. O'Neill specifies Tyrone's reaction as "guilty"
a drink. Then Cathleen tells them dinner is ready. Mary
when he left her waiting in hotel rooms while he drank. The
excuses herself, saying she is not hungry and she needs to
audience may wonder if he really did this on their honeymoon
rest. Tyrone is not fooled: "Up to take more of that God-
but will not be able to be certain at this point in the play. Mary
damned poison, is that it?" Mary claims to have no idea what
has both blamed Tyrone for having a mistress and claimed he
he is talking about and wanders away. Tyrone stands still,
has never been unfaithful, so she is hardly the most reliable
unsure of what to do, then heads off toward the dining room, "a
source.

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Mary's shifting perspectives are also evident as she describes
Tyrone's family in this act. She calls his family "the most
ignorant kind of poverty-stricken Irish." But only a few minutes
later she defends Tyrone, telling the tragic story of how his
family struggled after his father abandoned them. Tyrone's
father stands in stark contrast to Mary's account of her own
father, who indulged her every wish.
Mary is caught up in her own memories, retelling stories
everyone has heard a thousand times before. Tyrone is willing
to walk down memory lane to a point, but Edmund has no
patience for it. While Mary's denial has been evident
throughout the play, Edmund's denial is on full display in this
section. He knows intellectually that his mother cannot give
him the support he needs, but part of him still hopes and
expects that she will be there for him during such a difficult
time. She is not capable of supporting him emotionally and is
not even capable of facing the reality of his illness. Edmund
finally lashes out, but his lashing out serves only to drive Mary
further into her personal fog. She does not acknowledge either
his attack or his apology afterward.
Mary behaves as if she cannot hear Edmund calling her a
"dope fiend," but the words hurt her. She uses those exact
words to refer to herself only a minute later when she speaks
to Tyrone. Even more telling, as soon as Edmund leaves, she
raises the question of overdosing. She insists she would never
do it on purpose but also says she hopes she will overdose
accidentally at some point. This is the second time the
audience hears of potential suicidal intentions: several
characters have talked about the time she almost threw
herself off the dock in her nightgown when she had run out of
drugs. Mary is too emotionally fragile to give Edmund the
support he needs, but she is self-aware enough to understand
the damage she causes. She is just unable to fix it.
Act 4, Section 1
Summary
It is midnight and mostly dark onstage. Tyrone is playing
solitaire. The whiskey bottle he brought out in the last act is
nearly empty, and another full bottle is waiting nearby. Tyrone
is drunk and struggles to see his cards clearly. The drinking
has not helped him escape from his circumstances, and he still
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Act Summaries 22
looks just as sad and broken as he did at the end of the last
act.
Edmund makes noise offstage as he arrives. He is drunk, but
like his father, he handles it pretty well. He stumbles in the
dark, turning on a light in the hallway before he comes onstage.
Tyrone welcomes him, criticizes him for leaving the house, and
orders him to turn off the hall light, all before Edmund can say
anything. Edmund gets angry about the light and because
Tyrone criticizes him for being drunk. He says the cost of a
single bulb is not high, but Tyrone does not believe him.
Edmund claims Tyrone does not care about facts and will
believe whatever he likes. He derisively suggests that Tyrone
believes Shakespeare is an Irish Catholic. Tyrone insists it is
true, but Edmund rejects it. They fight over the hall light, which
Edmund refuses to turn off. Things get fairly heated, but they
both back down and apologize. Edmund offers to turn off the
light, but Tyrone grandly turns on all the lights, saying they may
as well go to the poorhouse. Edmund cynically responds,
"That's a grand curtain."
Tyrone and Edmund talk of Jamie. Neither of them knows
precisely where he is, but they assume he has gone to the
whorehouse to spend the money Edmund shared with him.
Tyrone reluctantly offers Edmund a drink but says he should
not take one. Edmund ignores him and drinks up. Edmund says
he went for a walk in the fog. He quotes poetry and launches
into his own semipoetic description of sitting in the fog "alone
with myself in another world where truth is untrue and life can
hide from itself." He says it was peaceful "to be nothing more
than a ghost within a ghost." Tyrone is impressed by the poetic
expression but dislikes the morbid pessimism. He asks why
Edmund cannot quote Shakespeare. Edmund claims what he
wants to say cannot be found in Shakespeare. He quotes
Baudelaire and Dowson, claiming their poems express Jamie's
attitude toward the prostitutes he sleeps with. He laughs and
calls it "nuts," but Tyrone is upset by his son's atheism and "filth
and despair and pessimism." Tyrone says: "When you deny
God, you deny hope," and "when you deny God, you deny
sanity." Edmund notes Dowson died of "booze and
consumption" and looks frightened for a moment. He is clearly
frightened that his life will be as brief as Dowson's.
Tyrone attacks Edmund's taste in literature. Tyrone lists
philosophers like Rousseau, Nietzsche, Voltaire, and
Schopenhauer, along with poets and playwrights like Ibsen,
Wilde, Dowson, Baudelaire, and Poe. He calls them all "atheists,
fools, and madmen ... whoremongers and degenerates," and
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
insists Edmund would do better reading one of his three sets
of Shakespeare. Edmund suggests that Shakespeare could
have been a drunk too, and Tyrone admits Shakespeare may
have "liked his glass—it's a good man's failing." Then he is off
on Edmund's authors again: Zola and Rossetti, whom he calls
"a dope fiend" and then winces.
A sound from above draws Tyrone's attention, and he worries
Mary has not gone to sleep. Edmund tells him to forget it and
keep drinking. Tyrone hopes she will not come down, and
Edmund agrees. He says she will be fondly remembering the
days before he was born. Tyrone points out that she does the
same to him—making it sound as if her life before their
marriage was perfect and her father the greatest man ever.
Tyrone, like Mary, fears their best days are long behind them,
but he wants to set the record straight with Edmund. Tyrone
tells Edmund to "take her memories with a grain of salt." Mary's
father was "a nice enough man" and "prosperous enough," but
was hardly as noble and generous as Mary describes him. Her
father also drank, even if Mary claims otherwise. Tyrone says
drinking and consumption finished Mary's father off; then he
looks at Edmund guiltily. Edmund says they cannot seem to
avoid unpleasant topics.
Analysis
When Edmund enters, he and Tyrone engage in a ridiculous
argument over a single light in the hallway. The debate is
typical of the pointless arguments family members often have
over and over again. Tyrone has the same reaction to virtually
anything Jamie does: criticize, blame, and find fault. Although
Mary's routines seem lost in the fog of her drug addiction,
there are moments where the audience can still see her doting
fondness for Edmund and her inclination to baby him. In this
act Tyrone and Edmund's half-hearted card game is another
example of aimless behavior. They cannot even remember
whose turn it is.
The argument also illustrates Tyrone's miserly tendencies.
Mary has excused some of Tyrone's stinginess as the result of
his difficult childhood, and Tyrone himself has insisted that he
is not miserly—his money is tied up in his land investments.
However, keeping the house in the dark to save the cost of a
burning light bulb is miserly. There is no other explanation.
Figuratively, the darkness represents Tyrone's mood. He
recognizes now that Mary will probably never be cured, and it
depresses him.
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Act Summaries 23
Tyrone has been in denial about Mary, but now he is facing the
truth. All the Tyrones have a loose relationship with the truth.
During the spat, Edmund says, "Facts don't mean a thing, do
they? What you want to believe, that's the only truth!" Mary is
so frightened by the truth that she hides in her addiction.
Edmund wants to ignore his illness and hide "where truth is
untrue and life can hide from itself." Jamie hides in alcohol and
the arms of prostitutes. Although all of them try to hide from
the truth, they cannot really do so.
At the start of the play, Eugene O'Neill describes the variety of
books on the various bookcases. This is where those
differences really come into view. The authors represent
Tyrone and Edmund's differing worldviews. Edmund's choices
reflect more modern and more complex thinking. Tyrone, on
the other hand, reflecting a life of dedication to tradition and to
the stage, believes literature begins and ends with
Shakespeare. Although many authors are mentioned, Edmund
returns to one author repeatedly: Ernest Dowson (1867–1900).
Dowson was a British poet who wrote in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. He was a member of the Decadents, a group of
poets and writers whose work represented the results of an
overly materialistic and repressed society. Decadent writers
celebrated artificiality and rejected many conventional morals,
such as the value of hard work or the traditional sexual roles of
the era. Oscar Wilde was a leading representative of the
Decadents in England, and he was prosecuted for homosexual
acts. The Decadents laid the groundwork for modernist
writers, many of whom would be favorites of O'Neill in real life.
Dowson is an understandable favorite for Edmund, who has
explored the world and presumably tested society's
boundaries in his own way. Edmund quotes the poem "Vitae
Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam." Translated,
it means "The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring
long." Although he avoids discussing it, Edmund is clearly
haunted by the diagnosis he received from the doctor. He talks
about being out in the fog where "life can hide from itself"
because he is trying to hide from the truth of his life. Edmund
quotes "Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohere
Longam" not only because Dowson is a favorite poet, but
because he fears, like Dowson, that his life will be brief:
They are not long, the days of
wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Our path emerges for a while, then
closes
Within a dream.
When he realizes Dowson died of consumption and alcoholism,
Edmund flinches.
This sense of loss and the idea that the good days will
disappear are relevant for all of the Tyrones. Tyrone and Mary
both feel as if their "days of wine and roses" are far behind
them, never to return. This is why Mary continually dwells on
the distant past. Her best memories often exclude the people
around her. When she speaks to Edmund, her best days were
before he was born, but when she speaks to Tyrone, her best
days were before she met and married him.
The audience is already aware of Mary's contradictions, but in
this section, Tyrone makes it even clearer how much her
memories deviate from reality. Her father was a nice man and
took care of her, but he was not the paragon of virtue she
describes. Mary's addiction brings out one of her negative
qualities—comparing the men in her life to others. According to
her, Tyrone does not measure up to her father, and Jamie and
Edmund do not measure up to Tyrone.
Act 4, Section 2
Summary
Neither Tyrone nor Edmund want to go upstairs while Mary is
awake, so Tyrone suggests a game of casino to pass the time.
Tyrone begins to shuffle, but he is less interested in the game
than in clearing up Edmund's misconceptions about Mary's life.
In spite of her claims, she was not going to be a concert
pianist—and certainly not a nun, since she loved to flirt.
Edmund dislikes these revelations.
They hear Mary coming downstairs and pretend to be involved
in their card game, but she does not appear. Edmund is
relieved because he does not want to see her. He objects to
the "bank of fog in which she hides and loses herself" on
purpose. Tyrone says it is not her fault, and he asks Edmund
not to be too hard on his mother. Edmund turns on Tyrone,
blaming him for having sent Mary to a cheap doctor who got
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Act Summaries 24
her addicted to morphine after his birth. Edmund says, "I know
your system! By God, I ought to after this afternoon!" But when
Tyrone asks what he means, Edmund changes the topic back
to Mary. Tyrone should have done more to help her, Edmund
says, but Tyrone insists he has spent "thousands upon
thousands in cures" with no success. To Edmund, Mary does
not want to be cured because she is miserable in her life with
Tyrone. Edmund says he hates Tyrone, and he blames him for
Mary's addiction. Tyrone retaliates by blaming Edmund's birth
for Mary's problem. Edmund sadly acknowledges that Mary
has said as much to him. Tyrone insists Mary loves Edmund
and says he does as well. Edmund says he "can't help liking"
Tyrone, too.
Tyrone reassures Edmund that he will get well. Edmund does
not believe it and says Tyrone does not believe it either since
he is sending Edmund to a "state farm." Tyrone argues it is the
best possible place but admits it is a less expensive
sanatorium run by the state. Tyrone's property is valued at
$250,000, Edmund says, but Tyrone insists it is all mortgaged.
In spite of this, after pleading poverty to the doctor, Tyrone
bought another piece of property from a schemer who
admitted to cheating him. Edmund says he has tried to accept
his family's shortcomings: "You have to make allowances in this
damned family or go nuts!" He can sympathize with his father's
fears because he experienced hunger or homelessness when
he traveled around the world, but he cannot accept the way
Tyrone behaves. He rages until he has a coughing fit. Furious
and guilty, Tyrone denies Edmund's accusations and tells him
to go to any sanatorium he likes.
The men keep drinking as Tyrone begins to talk about himself.
He acknowledges his miserly tendencies, but he rejects
Edmund's claim of sympathy through similar hardships.
Edmund was given everything in his boyhood, Tyrone claims,
and Edmund's travels were "a game of romance and
adventure." Edmund points out that he attempted suicide once
during his travels, but Tyrone will not hear it: "No son of mine
would ever—You were drunk." Edmund retorts he was actually
sober.
Tyrone talks about his father, who abandoned the family when
Tyrone was 10. His father returned to Ireland and then died
from an accidental ingestion of poison. Tyrone loudly insists it
could not have been suicide because "no one in my family
ever—." He describes his life after his father left—evictions and
little to eat. When a dollar felt like a fortune, he admits, he
learned to be a miser, and it is hard to unlearn. He tells Edmund
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
to choose any sanatorium he likes—within reason. Edmund
smiles, but he is honestly moved by his father's stories. When
Tyrone mentions another sanatorium that supposedly offers
good care at low cost, Edmund accepts the suggestion.
Tyrone volunteers something he never told anyone else: he
ruined his career with a single play. He got a large role in an
easy play that earned him lots of money. Then he stayed in the
role too long, eager for the income. By the time he decided to
move on, the audience was tired of the play and of him.
Tyrone describes his love for Shakespeare and how hard he
once worked. He performed with actor Edwin Booth, playing
Brutus and Cassius from Julius Caesar (1599–1600) and
Othello and Iago from Othello (1603–04), alternating roles with
Booth. Tyrone claims Booth said he played Othello better than
Booth himself even though he (Tyrone) was only 27 at the time.
Only a few years later, Tyrone got into his "big money-maker,"
and his career was never the same. He says, "What the hell
was it I wanted to buy, I wonder, that was worth—." Edmund
reacts with genuine sympathy toward his father, saying, "I
know you a lot better now." Uncomfortable, Tyrone claims that
the story is a lesson for Edmund to teach him the value of a
dollar. Then he suggests they turn down the lights to save
money. Edmund tries not to laugh and agrees. Tyrone turns off
almost all of the lights but says he would have traded his
money for a career as a great artist. Edmund laughs at how life
is "so damned crazy." In response, Tyrone quotes Julius
Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in
ourselves that we are underlings." This reminds him of Booth's
praise of his performance. Tyrone describes how he made the
stage manager write down the words on a piece of paper,
which he kept in his wallet for years. He no longer knows
where it is, and Edmund suggests it might be in a trunk with
Mary's wedding dress.
Analysis
Suicide comes up repeatedly in this section. Edmund tells his
father he attempted suicide, but Tyrone denies it. Only a short
while later, Tyrone admits people claimed his father committed
suicide, but he rejects it because "no one in my family" would
do such a thing. Tyrone's capacity to make such a claim, given
what the audience knows about Mary, demonstrates the
extent of his denial. Not only has Mary spoken of wanting to
overdose, but multiple characters have described the moment
she attempted suicide when she ran out of morphine. Tyrone
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Act Summaries 25
cannot face the possibility that anyone in his family might ever
want to kill themselves, so he pretends Mary's attempt never
happened and flatly denies Edmund's attempt. In real life,
Eugene O'Neill's parents did not kill themselves, though they
both died fairly early in his life. His older brother, the model for
Jamie, effectively drank himself to death. O'Neill did know
several people who committed suicide, and he did attempt it
himself, much as Edmund describes.
While in previous sections of the play the audience gains
insight into Mary, in the final act O'Neill offers windows into the
souls of the three Tyrone men. For once, Mary has told a story
correctly—the facts she stated about Tyrone's childhood are
validated by his own memories as he relates them to Edmund.
What Mary cannot express, however, is the loss Tyrone feels
for what his career might have been.
Tyrone's grief over his career choices reflects the life choices
of O'Neill's father, who experienced great financial success
playing in Alexandre Dumas's (1802–70) The Count of Monte
Cristo in 1882. It was a crowd-pleaser but would hardly be
considered a difficult role, much like Tyrone's "money-maker."
Lest the audience assume Tyrone is only capable of such
roles, O'Neill gives him a very admirable résumé: productions
with Edwin Booth, no less. O'Neill's father also worked with
Edwin Booth, so O'Neill may have heard similar stories from his
own father.
At one time, Edwin Booth (1833–93) was one of the most
famous and successful actors in the United States. He came
from an illustrious acting family and was best known for his
role in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1599–1601). He also worked with
Sir Henry Irving (1838–1905), one of the most famous British
actors of his era, alternating the roles of Othello and Iago in
Shakespeare's Othello. "Alternating" means the two actors
would trade off playing each of the leading roles, with Booth as
Othello one night and Iago the next. It would be a particularly
difficult acting practice, performed only by the most talented
actors, but this is what Tyrone (and James O'Neill) did with
Edwin Booth, not only in Othello but also in Julius Caesar.
Tyrone is thinking of what might have been. Working with
someone like Edwin Booth would be a tremendous career
opportunity for any actor. Tyrone is grieving for the life he
could have had, the life he expected to have: a happy family, a
healthy wife, a great career.
Othello, Iago, Brutus, and Cassius are some of the most
difficult Shakespearean roles. Booth produced his own shows,
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
and he would not alternate with another actor unless he
considered the actor to be truly gifted. In theory, this would
also be true of O'Neill's father. In that case both Tyrone and
James O'Neill gave up a more challenging career for financial
security. In case Edmund is inclined to dismiss his father's
bragging, Tyrone has Booth's own words about his
performance. Tyrone had the potential to be one of the
greatest actors of his generation and gave it up for a "sure
thing" financially. This spelled the end of his career as a serious
actor. When Edmund laughs about the absurdity of life, Tyrone
responds with one of Cassius's lines from Julius Caesar: "The
fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves that we
are underlings." Cassius is encouraging Brutus to commit to
the assassination of Julius Caesar. More broadly, it means
human beings are responsible for their own lives and cannot
blame fate for what happens to them. Tyrone knows his career
trajectory is his own fault, but now, late in life, he wonders what
he used the money for.
Act 4, Section 3
Summary
Edmund talks poetically about his experiences while traveling.
He describes being "set free" by the beauty of the world
around him. Impressed, Tyrone says Edmund could have been
a poet, but Edmund disagrees. Speaking of himself, Edmund
says, "He hasn't even got the makings. He's got only the habit."
Tyrone leaves the room when they hear a very drunk Jamie
stumbling on the unlit steps outside. Once inside, Jamie quotes
writer and poet Rudyard Kipling and refers to his father as
"Gaspard." He argues with Edmund over the whiskey as
Edmund tries to stop his brother from drinking, but he gives in.
Jamie disparages their father. Edmund defends Tyrone, and
Jamie cynically suggests Edmund got the "old sob act" from
Tyrone. Jamie insists it would never fool him. They discuss the
conversation Tyrone and Edmund had about the sanatorium.
Jamie is disgusted, but Edmund gives his father the benefit of
the doubt.
Edmund asks where Jamie went. Jamie says he went to the
town brothel and ended up with a fat prostitute who was about
to get fired because she had no clients. He quotes poet Oscar
Wilde to Edmund and says he quoted "Kipling and Swinburne
and Dowson" to the prostitute, who got offended because he
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Act Summaries 26
was only talking to her. Jamie says Edmund should have come
with him to take "your mind off your troubles" because coming
home just makes the trouble worse. He speaks jeeringly of
Mary, calling her "the hophead."
Edmund punches Jamie in the face. Jamie says he deserved it.
Edmund apologizes for hitting him, but Jamie blames it on his
"dirty tongue." He says he had really been hoping Mary would
beat her addiction this time. Jamie begins to cry, and the stage
directions note: "The horrible part ... is that it appears sober,
not the maudlin tears of drunkenness." Edmund is also on the
verge of tears. Jamie talks about the first time he walked in on
Mary injecting herself and how horrified he was. Changing the
subject, Jamie talks about how upset he is over Edmund's
illness. He demands to know if Mary and Tyrone have warned
Edmund against him. Jamie's attitude toward Edmund wavers.
He jeers at Edmund for being the family's pride and joy, and
then tells him to forget it. He brags that Edmund is his
Frankenstein. He warns Edmund against the doctors who just
want to make money off him. He suggests the rich get better
care and quotes Shakespeare: "Therefore put money in thy
purse." He gets serious and warns Edmund against himself. He
says he loves Edmund but also wants to sabotage him. He says
he is jealous of Edmund and might, on some level, want him to
die. Edmund is alarmed and says Jamie is acting crazy.
Jamie dozes off, overcome by alcohol for the moment. Tyrone
reappears. He has been listening to their conversation and is
both upset and sorry for Edmund. He encourages Edmund to
pay attention to Jamie's warning but also says Jamie genuinely
loves Edmund. Tyrone begins to proclaim how he has suffered
because of his eldest son. Jamie awakens and quotes Richard
III (1592–94) by Shakespeare, followed by a passage from
Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Tyrone makes a withering comment,
and Jamie responds by suggesting Tyrone could play the miser
Gaspard "without make-up" in The Bells (reference to the
operaThe Bells of Corneville (1887) by French composer
Robert Planquette (1848–1903)). Tyrone does not say
anything, so Jamie insults Edwin Booth, which provokes a
response. Edmund tells them both to settle down or they will
disturb Mary. Jamie starts to doze off again. Tyrone sits down,
complaining of how tired he is, and he too begins to sleep.
After a moment, Edmund hears something and braces himself.
Next, the lights in the front parlor turn on and someone begins
to awkwardly play a waltz by Frédéric Chopin (1810–49), as if
they were just learning.
Both Jamie and Tyrone suddenly wake up, and all three of
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
them sit in dread, waiting. The music stops abruptly and Mary
enters. She is wearing a dressing gown and "dainty" slippers.
Her white hair is braided into pigtails, and she looks shockingly
youthful. She is carelessly carrying her wedding gown, partially
dragging it on the floor as if she has forgotten she is holding it.
She barely seems aware of the men. Jamie says, "The Mad
Scene. Enter Ophelia!" and both Tyrone and Edmund turn on
him. Edmund backhands Jamie, and Tyrone threatens to throw
him out of the house. Jamie apologizes and begins to sob over
his lost hope for his mother. Tyrone feels bad for Jamie and
consoles him.
Mary has not acknowledged their presence or the interaction
between them. She talks to herself as if she is a young girl
again. She worries that her piano playing is not very good
because she has not been practicing. She wonders why her
hands look so strange and says she will see the nun who runs
the infirmary for medicine and prayers. Tyrone blocks Mary's
path and, making an effort to calm himself, gently offers to
take the gown so it does not get messy. Mary responds as if he
is a nice stranger who offered to help her. Tyrone collapses
into a chair "holding the wedding gown in his arms with an
unconscious clumsy, protective gentleness."
Both Tyrone and Jamie are sober now. Jamie recites an
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) poem called "A
Leave-Taking." He calls out to Mary, but she ignores him. She
walks past Jamie and Edmund. Edmund grabs her arm and
speaks to her as if he were a little boy, shouting to her that he
has consumption. Mary falters for a minute as if she heard him,
and she looks frightened. But she regains control of herself
and returns to her dream world. She scolds the young man
who touched her (she does not recognize Edmund) and says
he should not touch her because she is going to become a nun.
Jamie looks both sad and triumphant at Edmund's rejection
and recites Swinburne again. Tyrone tells them both to give up
and forbids Jamie from reciting "damned morbid poetry." All
three of the men pour themselves drinks. Mary begins to
describe having a talk with Mother Elizabeth, one of the nuns.
She told Mother Elizabeth she had a vision that she was
destined to be a nun, but Mother Elizabeth told her to go home
and live life for a while and really think about it before making a
final commitment. Mary says that is ridiculous and she is sure
she is meant to be a nun. She knows the Blessed Virgin loved
her and would, Mary says, "see no harm ever came to me so
long as I never lost my faith." This statement makes Mary
uneasy and she wakes up for a moment, then deliberately
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Act Summaries 27
returns to her delusions. She says her conversation with
Mother Elizabeth took place during her senior year and then
"something happened" in the spring: "I fell in love with James
Tyrone and was so happy for a time." All four family members
stare in front of them as the play ends.
Analysis
In general, Edmund does less talking about himself than the
others do. His one exception is the poetic speech in which he
describes "high spots" in his memory. In this instance, Eugene
O'Neill is drawing on his own experience of traveling the world
in his youth. Edmund calls himself "a stranger who never feels
at home" and someone "who must always be a little in love with
death." Nevertheless, Edmund dismisses himself as only an
aspiring poet, doomed to fail at translating his experiences into
poetic phrases. O'Neill's dramas are not always poetic in
speech, though he certainly plumbs the depths of human
emotion.
Now the focus shifts to Jamie. Jamie is based on Eugene
O'Neill's older brother Jamie O'Neill, who so fascinated his little
brother that Eugene wrote an entire second play about him: A
Moon for the Misbegotten (1943). Like Eugene O'Neill, Edmund
struggles to know what is true about his brother. He is not sure
if Jamie genuinely hates him, as Mary suggests, or if Jamie is
out to ruin his life, as Tyrone claims. Jamie says both things are
true but contradicts himself moments later. Jamie is the most
ambiguous figure in this very ambiguous family. Jamie himself
conveys conflicting messages about his own behavior,
expressing his love for Edmund while also warning Edmund not
to trust him.
Tyrone says Jamie "has a tongue like an adder when he's
drunk," and Jamie proves this point repeatedly. He calls his
father Gaspard, after an old miser in a comic opera from the
late 19th century. Gaspard is a thoroughly nasty character who
is forced to grovel in front of his "betters." It is not a flattering
comparison.
Although he is exceedingly drunk, Jamie also proves himself to
be the intellectual equal—or even possibly the superior—of
both Tyrone and Edmund. He quotes with facility from both his
father's chosen works—mainly Shakespeare—and Edmund's
preferred authors, such as Kipling and Rossetti. This suggests
Jamie understands both his father and his brother. Edmund
and Tyrone keep arguing about their preferred authors but, all
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
along, Jamie could have "translate[d]" one to the other if he
had chosen to do so.
When Jamie warns Edmund about the rapaciousness of
doctors, he quotes Iago in Othello—one of the roles Tyrone
played opposite Edwin Booth. The line he quotes—"Therefore
put money in thy purse"—is Iago's advice to Roderigo, whom
Iago tricks for his own purposes. Edmund has already admitted
earlier that if he gets any money, he shares it with Jamie.
Again, O'Neill leaves it ambiguous whether Jamie is offering
disinterested advice or trying to profit off his ill brother. Later,
when Tyrone reappears and wakes Jamie up, Jamie quotes
from Richard III. He is quoting Clarence, King Richard's brother,
when Clarence describes a dream in which Richard betrays
him. Later in the play, Richard betrays Clarence and sentences
him to death. Jamie is pointing at Tyrone when he quotes
Clarence. Jamie may be implying that Tyrone has betrayed
someone in the family. On the other hand, he may be
suggesting that Tyrone has spoken to Edmund in such a way,
warning Edmund to stay away from his big brother.
Another Shakespeare reference occurs when Mary enters, as
Jamie references the "mad scene" in Hamlet. In that play,
Ophelia experiences many traumas and finally loses her mind.
Her last appearance onstage is famously referred to as "the
mad scene" because Ophelia's speech is disjointed and
incoherent, talking and singing about people who are not there.
Mary's girlish appearance and her drug-induced incoherence
are an uncomfortable echo of Ophelia's scene. Also, the
audience was told earlier in the play that Mary tried to drown
herself in a fit of despair. Ophelia does drown herself, though
there is some ambiguity about whether she did it intentionally
or not. Both Edmund and Tyrone are horrified by Jamie's
words, but there is truth behind them.
Although Jamie is the most critical of Mary, he is, in some
ways, the most devastated by what happens to her. He tells
Edmund of his horror when he first saw her inject herself with
drugs, and he breaks down in tears because he really had
hoped she could beat her addiction this time. This mirrors
Jamie O'Neill's attitude in real life. When Eugene and Jamie
O'Neill's mother died—not from drugs, but from an illness years
after she had beaten her addiction—Jamie O'Neill effectively
drank himself to death within a year.
At the end of the play, Mary is firmly in a world of her own
making. She speaks of "Mother Elizabeth." The woman acting
as the head of a convent is often referred to as Mother
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Quotes 28
Superior, but the name Elizabeth is significant. In the Bible,
Elizabeth is the Virgin Mary's cousin and the mother of John
the Baptist. She is one of the first people to recognize Mary's
pregnancy as divine and famously greets Mary as the mother
of Jesus Christ. Elizabeth is sympathetic to Mary in the Bible,
which makes Mother Elizabeth's rejection of Mary's conviction
that she is meant to be a nun more jarring.
Mary seems almost like a ghost, haunting the other three. They
become aware of her when she makes odd noises in the other
room. Her movements are described as being "like a
sleepwalker." Like Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol (1843) by
English author Charles Dickens (1812–70), she is dragging her
past actions with her, in the form of her wedding dress, but she
barely seems aware that she has it. She has gone so far into
her denial that she has blocked out her own memories, both
good and bad. Then, just in the last few lines, she remembers
marrying Tyrone and being "so happy for a time." The rest of
the family just sits and watches her, perhaps wondering if such
a time ever really existed. It is significant that O'Neill, in
dedicating the play to his wife, writes about "all the four
haunted Tyrones." Mary is haunted by her past, and she
retreats into drugs and hallucinations. The other three are
haunted by her.
g Quotes
"You really must not watch me all
the time, James ... it makes me
self-conscious."
— Mary, Act 1, Section 1
Mary says this or something like it repeatedly in Act 1. On the
surface, it expresses her nervousness about her appearance,
particularly her hair. On a deeper level, it reflects her family's
distrust of her as they worry she will begin using drugs again. It
also shows Mary's awareness of their distrust and some of the
paranoia that will crop up again when she resumes her drug
use.
"The only way is to make yourself
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Quotes 29

— Mary, Act 2, Scene 2

not care."

— Mary, Act 2, Scene 1 When the doctor calls with news about Edmund's illness, Mary
unleashes a spiteful torrent about the ways doctors can make
people suffer. Mary says this doctor is like the one who gave
This statement could be the Tyrone family's motto. Mary uses
her morphine in the first place, and she never knew what was
morphine to "not care" about her physical pain, about her
happening until it was too late.
marriage not working out as she had planned, about her eldest
son's alcoholism, about her middle son's death at age two, and
about her youngest son's illness. The three Tyrone men use
other means—namely alcohol—to deaden their reactions to
"The past is the present, isn't it?
Mary's addiction. It's the future, too."

— Mary, Act 2, Scene 2

"I'm ... sick and tired of pretending
this is a home ... You don't really
want one!"
— Mary, Act 2, Scene 1
Why the Tyrones' home is so unhappy is one of the great
ambiguities of the play. Mary blames it on her husband's life as
an actor, full of traveling and "cheap hotels." Tyrone suggests
their home could never have been happy because of Mary's
addiction. Perhaps both are true.
At one point when Mary is reminiscing, Tyrone asks her to
leave the past behind. This is her response. Her statement is
certainly true in the Tyrone family. They continue reliving
certain moments of their past over and over again, and they
will undoubtedly continue to relive those moments for the rest
of their lives in one way or another.
"I never lied ... once upon a time.
Now I have to lie, especially to
myself."

"James! I tried so hard! I tried so — Mary, Act 2, Scene 2

hard! Please believe—!"

This statement partially reflects the way Mary whitewashes
— Mary, Act 2, Scene 1 elements of her past. It is doubtful Mary "never" lied in her past.
However, it is absolutely true that Mary lies frequently now
because of her addiction, including lying to herself. Throughout
Although Mary has insisted she is no longer using morphine, at
the play, Mary alternates between denial and self-
this very moment she is honest. She has relapsed in spite of
awareness—this is one of her moments of self-awareness.
her best efforts. She knows her family will neither believe she
tried nor accept her failure. Her husband's immediate reaction
is to ask why she could not have kept trying. He has little
sympathy left.
"When the Blessed Virgin Mary
forgives me and gives me back the
faith."
"You never know it till one day you
find yourself in hell!" — Mary, Act 2, Scene 2

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Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
Mary grieves over her lost faith and her relationship with the
Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the most important religious icons
in the Catholic Church. Mary again paints herself as the victim.
In this case, she must wait for a saint to forgive her and give
her back her faith, rather than doing anything to earn
forgiveness and regain her faith for herself.
"Maybe I guessed there was a
good reason not to laugh."
— Edmund, Act 3, Section 2
Edmund describes how he felt that all of life was "rotten" when
he learned about Mary's addiction. Between her relapse and
his own serious diagnosis, he has reason to be depressed. It is
also interesting to note that O'Neill's mother had a similar
addiction problem, so Edmund's statement reflects O'Neill's
personal experience as well.
"I hope, sometimes, without
meaning it, I will take an overdose."
— Mary, Act 3, Section 2
Mary is talking about overdosing on morphine, but the phrasing
can be read in two different ways. The conventional
interpretation is that she would take an overdose without
meaning to, but it could also be interpreted that she hopes,
without meaning to hope, that she will overdose. O'Neill is very
specific about stage directions but leaves this to the actress's
interpretation.
"Facts don't mean a thing ... What
you want to believe, that's the only
truth!"
— Edmund, Act 4, Section 1
Edmund says this to his father, but it could just as easily be
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Quotes 30
said to anyone in the family. All four family members have
certain things they want to believe, and they believe those
things in spite of the facts. Tyrone wants to believe Mary is
cured. Mary wants to believe that certain parts of her life were
perfect. Edmund wants to believe he is not seriously ill. Jamie
wants to believe he can block out the bad parts of his life with
alcohol and prostitutes.
"Alone ... in another world where
truth is untrue and life can hide
from itself."
— Edmund, Act 4, Section 1
Edmund describes how he felt out in the fog after his
diagnosis. He wants to be in a place where the truth is not true
because he does not want to face the truth about his own
mortality. He wants to hide from life because his life—with his
own illness and his mother's addiction—is painful. Edmund is
expressing a desire for the sort of respite from reality that
Mary seeks in her morphine.
"You have to make allowances in
this damned family or go nuts!"
— Edmund, Act 4, Section 2
Edmund voices his frustration with his family members and
their foibles and limitations. This particularly honest explosion
was probably close to O'Neill's heart since he is writing about
his own family.
"What the hell was it I wanted to
buy ... that was worth—Well, no
matter."
— Tyrone, Act 4, Section 2
Tyrone tells Edmund about the mistakes he made in his career
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
out of a desire to earn more money. Now, at the end of his life,
he wonders what he earned the money for. It is a particularly
poignant moment since Tyrone can almost never shake off his
"miserly" attitude enough to value anything beyond money,
including his family's health and sanity.
"I fell in love with James Tyrone
and was so happy for a time."
— Mary, Act 4, Section 3
The final line of the play is heartbreaking. Mary has spent the
entire play seeking happiness or trying to convince herself that
at some point in her life she was very happy. Now, totally
unaware of how her family is watching her hallucinate, she tells
everyone that the happiest time in her life was years earlier,
before she even had her children.
l Symbols
Fog
Fog represents the comfort of denial and Mary's mental state
after she takes her medicine, which she is addicted to. In Act 1
Mary complains about the fog. This reflects her fear that she
will slip back into using morphine again. Tyrone predicted that
the fog is gone for good, but he later has to admit it is
returning—just as Mary's addiction is resurfacing. Later in the
play, after Mary has been sneaking up to her room to take
opium, Mary claims to love the fog. Edmund also appreciates
the fog's creating an atmosphere "where truth is untrue and life
can hide from itself." The fog symbolizes his denial of his fears
about being seriously ill. Jamie and Edmund refer to Mary's
addiction as a "fog" as well.
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Symbols 31
Alcohol
The bottles of alcohol represent the men's form of self-
medication, a slightly less destructive version of Mary's
morphine addiction. The way each male character relates to
alcohol reveals something about his personality. Tyrone keeps
the alcohol to himself, out of stinginess and a vague sense of
parental duty. Edmund and Jamie engage in adolescent
behavior to trick Tyrone so they can have a drink, and when
they get a little money they go on a spree and get very drunk.
Tyrone alternates between trying to prevent them from
drinking and offering them drinks, perhaps recognizing that his
sons, like himself, need their own way to block out the pain of
Mary's addiction.
Wedding Dress
Mary's wedding dress symbolizes her hopes for the future that
never came to pass. In Act 3 she describes the great effort she
took to select her wedding dress and to make herself look as
beautiful as possible. She then says she no longer knows
where the dress is, suggesting that the dreams for her
marriage have also been lost over time. When she reappears
carrying the dress in the final act, she has little understanding
of what it is or why she has it. Tyrone takes it from her with "an
unconscious clumsy, protective gentleness." He is the only one
left who remembers her in the dress and who recalls the
hopeful dreams they once had for their marriage. As Mary says
in her last line, when she fell in love with Tyrone she was "so
happy for a time." The dress symbolizes this happiness, now
neglected and forgotten.
m Themes
What Might Have Been
Arguably the most important theme in the play is the idea of
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide
the paralysis caused by obsessing over what might have been.
Mary constantly refers back to specific points in her life,
claiming that each point was the time when she was truly
happy. She implies that, had she taken a different path, she
might still have been happy—by becoming a nun or a pianist, by
not marrying Tyrone, or by not giving birth to Edmund. Tyrone,
too, wonders about what might have been had Mary not
become an addict or had he not given up his pursuit of a real
acting career in favor of easy money. This idea also haunts
Edmund and Jamie. The young men wonder what might have
been if their mother had not become an addict, but they also
wonder about themselves.
Tyrone and Mary believe Jamie has wasted his life, and Jamie
does not disagree with them. Edmund, on the other hand, faces
his own mortality and wonders if he will live much longer.
Mary's wedding dress and Tyrone's note with comments from
actor Edwin Booth also serve as representations of what might
have been.
The family's focus on the past prevents them from moving
forward, which is part of the frustration expressed by Edmund
at various times. Tyrone's choice of literature represents his
glory days when his career was ascendant, and he refuses to
consider the worth of any of Edmund's newer authors. Each of
the different pairings—Tyrone and Mary, Tyrone and each son,
Mary and each son, the two sons together—go through the
same pattern of relitigating the past, followed by a temporary
truce when they are recalled to the present by Mary's
addiction or Edmund's illness, and then another reminder of
the past sets them off again. The entire family seems to have
been frozen in time at a certain point in their lives—possibly
when they discovered Mary's addiction—and they are unable to
move beyond that moment.
Denial Becomes Someone's
Truth
Every character in the play experiences denial on multiple
occasions and in various ways. Mary's drug abuse is a form of
denial—when she takes morphine she feels insulated from the
physical and mental pain of living. As an addict, Mary's denial is
perhaps the least surprising. She claims she is not addicted
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Symbols 32
and insists certain things never happened. Her idealized
descriptions of the past are another form of denial, a way to
reassure herself that life was good and easy at one time and
that the horrors she feels now are just an aberration.
Tyrone, Jamie, and Edmund are all in denial about Mary's
condition. They all believe she can give up her addiction, but
they deny how powerful the addiction really is. Jamie is the one
who ultimately breaks down onstage. In spite of his cynicism,
he too denied the obvious signs and believed his mother could
once and for all beat her addiction.
Tyrone's life is riddled with denial. He insists Mary is doing well
and contradicts Jamie when he raises concerns in Act 1. He
angrily asserts his own poverty, ignoring the fact that he is
impoverished because of his poor real estate dealings, not
because of extravagances like having lamps on after dark.
Though he knows Mary attempted suicide and his father
probably succeeded at it, he tells Edmund no one in his family
would do such a thing—even after Edmund states that he tried
to kill himself at one point. Perhaps the ultimate example of
denial appears in the final act when Edmund tells his father:
"Facts don't mean a thing, do they? What you want to believe,
that's the only truth!"
Faith and Suffering
Although none of the characters has seen the inside of a
church recently, the suffering caused by a loss of faith is still a
central theme of Long Day's Journey into Night. Tyrone and
Mary do not practice their religion, but they both believe
strongly in Catholic teachings. Tyrone insists he prays "every
night and morning" and has prayed for Mary for years. Mary
attempts to pray the Hail Mary but fails because she does not
believe God or the Virgin Mary would listen to someone like
her.
Their sons have no faith. Edmund quotes German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) when he claims "God is dead"
to point out that Tyrone's prayers never helped Mary. Tyrone
repeatedly criticizes both boys for the "atheist" writers they
quote. On some level, Tyrone and Mary believe their suffering
is connected to their lack of faith. Mary says she is certain the
Virgin Mary will always protect her "so long as she never
[loses] ... faith in her." However, Mary looks uneasy as soon as
Long Day's Journey into Night Study Guide Symbols 33

she says it. Catholicism, as taught in Mary's era particularly,

tended to be focused on the "suffering for the unrepentant
sinner." An unrepentant sinner would be one who refuses to
stop the sinful behavior, which Mary exemplifies perfectly.

Tyrone also had a professional "faith" in the works of English

playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616). In Act 4 he says,
"I studied Shakespeare as you'd study the Bible." He says he
would have worked for nothing to perform Shakespeare and
would have done it simply "for the joy of being alive in his great
poetry." But just as Mary ceased to practice her faith in the
Virgin Mary as she got older, Tyrone quit his practice of
Shakespeare as the years passed. They both still believe, but
neither of them practices their faith any longer—and they both
suffer and regret it.

O'Neill was raised Irish Catholic, just as the Tyrones are, so

undoubtedly some of this emphasis on faith is a reflection of
his personal and family history. The Catholic Church is deeply
intertwined in the history and culture of Ireland and Irish
Americans. As they suffered through the famines of Ireland
and the indignities of rejection as immigrants to the United
States, many of them sought solace in their faith. Like his
characters, O'Neill seems to be both sympathetic to and
rejecting of this comforting faith. He understands the appeal of
faith and belief, but as exemplified by the character Edmund,
who reflects the playwright, O'Neill does not share in it.

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