UNIT 23: EUGENE O’NEILL’S

THE EMPEROR JONES

AS AN EXPOSITION OF
EXPRESSIONISM
Structure
23.0 Objectives
23.1 Introduction
23.2 Characters
23.3 Theme Of The Play
23.4 Check Your Progress
23.5 Review Questions
23.6 Few Critical Points
23.7 List of References

23.0 OBJECTIVES
Know about the author, plot, character and the themes of the drama Emperor
Jones;
●● Expressionism and Emperor Jones; and to
●● Critically examine the drama in the tradition of expressionism with
reference to the characters the context in which it was set and the then
American Society in which it was written and enacted in the theater.

23.1 INTRODUCTION
Eugene O’Neill
Eugene Gladstone O’Neill has a long legacy in theatres of America
celebrated even after more than sixty years after his death in 1953. His
posthumous semi-autobiographical play ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’
received Pulitzer Prize in 1957. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature
in 1936 almost after sixteen years since his first play got published in 1920.
His initial involvement with theatres started in the first modern American
theatre company Provincetown Players around 2016 after a life of struggle
with disease and death of his parents and brother. His alcoholic mother,
disturbed family life, death of his brother and his acquaintances as a sailor,
all influence his writing in significant ways. He had a great actor James
O’Neil as a father. His mother was addicted to morphine which she was
introduced to for reducing her post-natal pain and subsequently remained
with her. Eugene O’Neil expressed his love for his mother as the most
beautiful woman and an ideal wife and mother. Although psychiatrists had
confirmed that deep inside he felt that his mother had failed him and so will
all women. His marriage to three women perhaps establishes that.O’Neil
did not have a smooth married life. He had three wives and three children.
He died in the year 1953 in a hotel room and it seems he had remarked about
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his extraordinary life where both his birth and death happened in a hotel Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
room. Jones as an Exposition of
Expressionism
O’Neil’s own personal conflicts shaped his art - is writing plays and dramas.
His autobiographical account bears a strong resemblance to the characters
of his plays.
Expressionism
Expressionism is a term used for a movement that originated in Germany
around the beginning of the 20th century in the field of art and was carried
over to literature. This movement was seen as opposed to realism where
the focus was on the outer world of place and time. Expressionism focused
on the subjective emotional experience rather than the objective physical
world.
When applied to drama expressionism aimed at evoking pain and pathos
through the portrayal of emotions. In fact, all kinds of ecstatic evocation of
mind came to be treated as the art of expressionism.
Drawing its basic tenets from Freudian Psychology, Expressionism aimed at
portraying complex feelings and emotions to sympathize with the inner self
by exposing them. A Dream Play (1902) and The Ghost Sonata (1907) of
Swedish dramatist August Strindberg are considered the prime examples of
expressionism in drama. Here facts and fantasy were intertwined in creative
ways to entertain the audience in fascinating ways.
Eugene Gladstone O’Neill and Expressionism
O’Neil introduced Expressionism into the American theatrical tradition. In
his Nobel Prize speech O’Neil had acknowledged that he considered the
Swedish Playwright August Strindberg as his master. Some critics also
attribute Eugene O’Neil as the advocate of realism which is characterized
by vernacular American English with characters from the marginalized
class. Emperor Jones is an outstanding play of O’Neil in which realism
and expressionism seem to have merged when multiple points of view
are expressed in the same breath. However, many critics believe that
expressionism gained ground as a rebellion against realism. Drawing from
the European roots especially German Theatres and in Sweden and Austria,
Expressionism became popularized in the United States in the 1920s.
O’Neil’s plays bear semblance to expressionism in Emperor Jones, The
Hairy Ape and the Great God Brown.
As a form of rebellion against Romanticism, Expressionism reflects the
external world in terms of its inner workings and not vice versa. In fact in
Expressionism, the external world of values and prejudices are sidelined
and often criticized as they do not fit into the inner feelings and thoughts.
The constant push and pull between the society and the individuality is
shown in terms of the negative impact of society on the individual. The
psychological factors such as distress and agony have undergone through
the process of socialization or perhaps lack of it is highlighted in the play.
Expressionism was all about depicting the internal life while realism was
focused on the outer external world. Expressionism sought ways and means
to portray the hidden internal feelings and emotions often negative in
communicable media such as sound, symbols and images. Expressionism
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Expressionism was characterized by suffering often portrayed with heightened intensity, a
failure of social values, despair and depression. The conflicts between the
psyche affecting action and emotion and the values set by external forces
come out as stark naked truths and often loudly and boldly through the
drama. The characters move through masks from the external to the internal,
engaging in monologues.
In O’Neil’s many plays including the Emperor Jones, the protagonist is
someone find it difficult to come to terms with. There is a constant tension
between the inner longings and the outer expectations culminating in
revolts against the world by the individual leading to remorse and despair.
However, O’Neil’s later plays such as the Fountain, one finds a certain
amount of compromise between the protagonist’s desire and the world with
which he interacts.
Expressionism in Emperor Jones
Emperor Jones is often considered as the epitome of expressionism
particularly in the context of American drama. The portrayal of inner
feelings through symbols and images conveys the conflicts and regrets
embedded in the innermost psyche of the individual characters. The main
character of Emperor Jones is of a criminal who has become an emperor
after escaping from the prison. As the Emperor expresses remorse in one
scene after another with confessions of his crimes and misdeeds one finds
the contradiction between the glory of power and regret for sins.
The other character such as Mr Smithers, the white man, helps the main
character in presenting the societal attitude of the whites towards the black
slaves. Lem, as the chief of the natives, in turn through his expression of
anger and vengeance shows the feelings of subordination. The prejudices
of the natives, the highhandedness of the whites and the subservience of
the blacks all get reflected in the play through monologues of the main
character, few interactive dialoguesand through visual and sounds effects
not with standing.
The play makes use of different expressionistic techniques such as scenes
to create visual effects. Different kinds of sounds such as beating of drums
enhance the emotional expression inherent in the play. These expressionistic
techniques externalize the inner world of the characters and serve as devices
to reflect the inner workings of the human mind.
Emperor Jones: The Play

23.2 CHARACTERS
Brutus Jones: Emperor
He is a black person who was Pullman porter in the United States of
America. He has come to a West Indian island and made himself emperor.
He has convinced the natives of the island that he has magical powers. In
this way, he exploits them. He wears a blue uniform with brass buttons and
gold braids.
Henry Smithers: A Cockney Trader, he is tall and bald and about forty years
old. He was exploiting the nitves before Jones arrived in the island. He is a
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mean cowardly and dangerous man. He carries a whip and dresses in white Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
suit with a white cork helmet. Jones as an Exposition of
Expressionism
An Old Native Woman
Lem: A Native Chief who is dressed in a loincloth with a revolver and
cartridge around his vest.
Soldiers: Adherents of Lem
Jeff: He is the middle-aged Pullman porter Jones killed over a crap game
The Negro convicts;
The Prison Guard;
The Planters;
The Auctioneer;
The Slaves;
The Congo Witch−Doctor;
The Crocodile God.
Scenes
There are a total number of eight scenes starting with the Emperor’s palace
and ending with the forest where the play ends. The different scenes after
the first happen in a sequential manner with time difference.
Scene 1: Emperor’s chamber is a spacious high ceiling room with white
washed walls with white pillars. There is one throne for the emperor. This is
made of uncut wood representing the rustic nature of the place.
Scene 2: The great forest at night fall. There is silence. Tree trunks appear
darker against the dark background.
Scene 3: In the forest, Time Nine o’clock. The Moon has arisen. The beating
of the tom−tom, breaks the silence every few seconds. Then gradually the
figure of the negro, JEFF, a middle aged man brown in colour dressed in a
porter’s uniform crouching on his haunches is throwing a pair of dice on the
ground before him, picking them up, shaking them, casting them out with
the regular, rigid, mechanical movements. The heavy, plodding footsteps
of someone approaching along the trail from the left are heard and, later
JONES’ voice.
Scene 4: Eleven o’clock. In the forest, moon is now up in the sky.
Scene 5: One o’clock. The moon floods through the dense forest showing
JONES forcing his way with fearful glances. His pants are torn, his shoes
cut and flapping about his feet. He cautiously sits down and holds his head
in his hands and rocks back and forth, moaning to himself miserably.
Scene 6: Three o’clock. A cleared space in the forest. The moonlight is
almost completely shut out. There is noise of someone approaching through
the undergrowth.
Scene 7:Five o’clock. There is a gigantic tree by the edge of a great river.A
rough structure of boulders, like an altar, is by the tree. JONES’ voice is
heard from the left, rising and falling to the rhythmic beat of the tom−tom.
He enters the open space, his face is stony, his eyes have an obsessed glare,
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Expressionism and he moves as if in a trance. He looks around at the tree, the rough stone
altar, the moonlit surface of the river beyond, and passes his hand over his
head with a vague gesture of puzzled bewilderment. Then he sinks into a
kneeling, devotional posture before the altar. Later, he straightens up and
stares about him horrified−in an incoherent mumble.
Scene 8: Dawn. Same as Scene Two. The tree trunks are dimly revealed but
the forest is covered in darkness. The tom−tom sound comes loud and is
continuously vibrating. LEM a heavy−set, the African dressed only in a loin
cloth with a revolver and cartridge belt that are about his waist enters, from
the left. He is followed by a small squad of his soldiers with palm−leaf hats
and each one carrying a rifle. SMITHERS also follows LEM into the Scene.
One of the soldiers, peers keenly on the ground, grunts and points to the
spot where JONES entered the forest. LEM and SMITHERS come to look.

23.3 THEME OF THE PLAY

Scene 1 sets the stage. The second scene comprises a monologue as do
scenes 6 and 7. Scene 8 is back to scene 2 again. In scene 3, 4 and 5 there
are enactments of the past crimes of the Emperor. The play moves from the
present to the past with repentance and prayers of forgiveness.
In the first scene, Mr Smithers the white man is introduced to the audience
and his conversation with a native old woman sets the tone for the play.
Emperor Jones appears disturbed from sleep with the whistle blown by
Smithers and their conversation continues. Smithers informs the Emperor
what he learnt from the native old woman that the natives of the land who
accepted him as their emperor have planned a revolt against him under
former chief Lem.
This conversation gives the audience a glimpse of the Emperor’s wrong-
doing by taxing the natives. Jones had arrived on the island escaping from
a prison in the United States and had been in the island for two years. He
had found Smithers cheating the natives and had won over him to become
Emperor.
This scene also shows the racial discrimination against the Blacks. The
famous dialogue ’Little stealin’ dey gits you in jail’ and ‘big stealin’ dey
makes you Emperor and puts u in de Hall of fame’ belongs to this scene.
This means that for a small crime the person goes to the prison. However, if
one commits a bigger crime one can become emperor and become famous.
In the first scene of the play Emperor Jones the inherent conflict between
the white man’s ethics and the black Negro’s failings in the American social
life is highlighted.
The introduction of the silver bullet which points at the prejudices of
the black people is the crux of the play. It is conveyed in the dialogue of
Jones that no lead bullet can kill him after Lem’s failed attempt to kill him.
Emperor Jones exploits the simplicity of the natives of the island and their
blind beliefs and prejudices to claim power over them. He had convinced
the natives that he had magical powers and that made him feel secure. It is
not surprising that the original version of the play was titled as Silver Bullet.
The silver bullet is presented in the feminine gender. Some of the lines
where the silver bullet is referred to are mentioned below-
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JONES: Sho’ did. Heah she be. [He takes out his revolver, breaks it, and Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
takes the silver bullet out of one chamber.] Five lead an’ dis silver baby Jones as an Exposition of
Expressionism
at de last. Don’t she shine pretty? [He holds it in his hand, looking at it
admiringly, as if strangely fascinated.]
She’s my rabbit’s foot. This line where the silver bullet is referred to as
rabbit’s foot draws on the African American folklore where the foot of the
rabbit is worn as an amulet as a good luck charm. The origin of the belief is
in folk magic known as hoodoo, which was practiced by the African slaves
in secrecy. The belief is practised by wearing the left hind foot of the rabbit
shot or captured in a cemetery. Here some sources also ascertain that the
rabbit must be shot by a silver bullet establishing a connection between the
rabbit foot and the silver bullet.
Silver bullet bring me luck anyway. I kin outguess, outrun, outfight, an’
outplay de whole lot o’ dem all ovah de board any time o’ de day er night!
The use of the prefix ‘out’ is significant in this dialogue.
And I’se got little silver bullet o’ my own, don’t forgit
The lines below show how Jones exploited the beliefs and prejudices of the
natives of the island to become the emperor.
SMITHERS: And they’re there ‘oldin’ their ‘eathen religious service−makin’
no end of devil spells and charms to ‘elp ‘em against your silver bullet.
JONES: Ain’t a man’s talkin’ big what makes him big−long as he makes
folks helieve it?
I knows I kin fool ‘em−I knows it−and dat’s backin enough fo’ my game
These lines given below from the first scene show that Jones brings in the
religious angle in the above lines to justify his action.
JONES [Laughing]: And dere all dem fool, bush niggers was kneelin’ down
and bumpin’ deir heads on de ground like I was a miracle out o’ de Bible.
Oh Lawd, from dat time on I has dem all eatin’ out of my hand. I cracks de
whip and dey jumps through.
I lays my Jesus on de shelf for de time bein’. This is a famous line from the
play that justifies every crime. Human beings have the acumen to rationalize
every action no matter how evil and wrong.
In the lines below, the reference, the white man makes the audience aware
of inherent racism in the American society of the time.
Smithers: And from what I’ve ‘eard, it ain’t ‘ealthy for a black to kill a white
man in the States. They burns ‘em in oil, don’t they
Jones: So long, white man! [With a grin.] See you in jail sometime, maybe!
As Jones bids goodbye to Smithers with the common decorum of meeting
him and by mentioning the place as prison, he subtly makes him and the
audience aware of Smithers’ wrong-doings. The first scene ends at 3.30 in
the afternoon, as Jones causally sets off on foot to get away through the
dense forest.
Scene 2 Monologue
This scene consists of monologues of Emperor Jones. Jones has reached the
edge of the dense forest and is talking to himself.
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Expressionism In the line below - Dat soft Emperor job ain’t no trainin’ fo’ a long hike ovah
dat plain in de brilin’ sun, his frustration at his own life style and his own
occupation as the Emperor which has made him vulnerable.
At the end of this scene, a kind of fear in the form of hallucinations appears
and Jones pulls out his pistol, fires and hurriedly goes into the dark forest.
One bullet gone is how the scene needs to be remembered.
Scene 3 Confession of past crimes
In this scene, Jones hallucinates about Jeff whom he had killed, gets scared
and fires a shot. This scene gives a description of the crime which focuses
on how Jones killed Jeff. It can be interpreted as a kind of a confession
about the guilt of Jones at cutting Jeff to death with a razor. The lines below:
Majesty! Der ain’t much majesty ‘bout dis baby now. [With attempted
cheerfulness.] Jeff! I’se sho’ mighty glad to see you! Dey tol’ me you
done died from dat razor cut I gives you. This dialogue of Jones shows
his conversation with himself based on self-pity arising from lost glory.
At the same time, his perceived encounter with Jeff is to describe the story
of his past to the audience through a style of narration which is inherently
expressionism at its best.
The second bullet fired is the main focus of this scene. The bullets are the
string that binds all the scenes together.
Scene 4 Description of another crime
This scene shows that Emperor Jones is tired and talking to himself.
Dat Emperor job is sho’ hard to shake. [He looks around him suspiciously.]
In this scene there is the hallucination of Jones when he remembers how he
killed the guard at the prison.
I kills you, you white debil, if it’s de last thing I evah does! Ghost or debil,
I kill you again!
[He frees the revolver and fires point blank at the GUARD’S back.
Third bullet fired by Jones.
Scene 5 Monologue on all misdeeds
In this scene Jones is shown as counting his follies and asking for forgiveness.
This is one of the most touching scenes of the play where the focus is on
regret and repentance. This reflects the religious orientation of O’Neil’s
upbringing.
Oh Lawd, Lawd! Oh Lawd, Lawd! [Suddenly be throws himself on his knees
and raises his clasped hands to the sky−in a voice of agonized pleading.]
Lawd Jesus, heah my prayer! I’se a po’ sinner, a po’ sinner! I knows I done
wrong, I knows it! When I cotches Jeff cheatin’ wid loaded dice my anger
overcomes me and I kills him dead! Lawd, I done wrong! When dat guard
hits me wid de whip, my anger overcomes me, and I kills him dead. Lawd,
I done wrong! And down heah whar dese fool bush niggers raised me up
to the seat o’ de mighty, I steals all I could grab. Lawd, I done wrong!
I knows it! I’se sorry! Forgive me, Lawd! Forgive dis po’ sinner! [Then
beseeching terrifiedly.] And keep dem away, Lawd! Keep dem away from
me! And stop dat drum soundin’ in my ears! Dat begin to sound ha’nted,
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too. [He gets to his feet, evidently slightly reassured by his prayer−with Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
attempted confidence.] De Lawd’ll preserve me from dem ha’nts after dis. Jones as an Exposition of
Expressionism
[Sits down on the stump again.] I ain’t skeered o’ real men. Let dem come.
But dem odders...[He shudders then looks down at his feet, working his
toes inside the shoes−with a groan.] Oh, my po’ feet! Dem shoes ain’t no
use no more ‘ceptin’ to hurt. I’se better off widout dem. [He unlaces them
and pulls them off−holds the wrecks of the shoes in his hands and regards
them mournfully.] You was real, A−one patin’ leather, too. Look at you now.
Emperor, you’se gittin’ mighty low!
The other focus of the play is on the slavery issue prevalent in American
society. Jones is shown as hallucinating about the auction in which he was
sold and fires at the auctioneer and the planter.
Is dis a auction? Is you sellin’ me like dey uster befo’ de war? [Jerking
out his revolver just as the AUCTIONEER knocks him down to one of the
planters−glaring from him to the purchaser.] And you sells me? And you
buys me? I shows you I’se a free nigger, damn yo’ souls! [He fires at the
AUCTIONEER and at the PLANTER with such rapidity that the two shots
are almost simultaneous. As if this were a signal of the walls of the forest
fold in. Only blackness remains and silence broken by JONES as he rushes
off, crying with fear−and by the quickened, ever louder beat of the tom−
tom.
The buying and selling of human beings so poignantly described in this
scene touches the chord of any sensitive reader. The string of the play, the
bullet – the fourth and the fifth one is fired in this scene at the Auctioneer
and the planter. The firing of the bullet symbolically represents the ones
who are engaged in wrong-doing, the planter who is buying the slaves and
the Auctioneer who is helping the planter in getting the best price for the
best of slaves.
Scene 6 Monologue only
Jones is hallucinating again in this scene. He is a member of a slave group
and is being carried to a new world.
JONES’ voice is heard between chattering moans.
Oh, Lawd, what I gwine do now? Ain’t got no bullet left on’y de silver one.
Oh, Lawd, on’y de silver one left−an’ I gotta save dat fo’ luck.
This scene refers to the last bullet left. This bullet is the so-called lucky charm.
The silver bullet is the only one left. There is a feeling of desperation that
only one is left.
Oh, Lawd, don’t dis night evah come to an end?
In this line, there is the symbolic reference questioning if the dreadful night
will ever come to an end. The religious fervor of the play is displayed in the
earnest pleadings of Jones to the Lord.
Scene 7 The transition from the past to the present
In this scene there is the African witch doctor dancing to drum beats. Jones is
hypnotized. When he learns that he is going to be sacrificed to the crocodile,
the river god, he fires his remaining bullet which is the silver bullet. The
lines below from the scene show his desperation.
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Expressionism Oh, Lawd, pertect dis sinner!
De silver bullet! You don’t git me yit!
Scene 8
This scene is the same as scene 2 where Jones had started his journey of
hallucination and through it the confession of sins. The soldiers of Lem
shoot at Jones and show the dead body to Smithers and leave. This scene is
mainly focused on the silver bullet and Lem the chief of the natives explains
how they made their own silver bullets from melted coins.
Critical Remarks on the play
The play is regarded as a perfect example of expressionism where the
subjective gets preference over the objective. Feelings and emotions are
displayed in the whole play and especially on the scenes where there
are only monologues. The focus is on the feelings of the main character,
Emperor Jones. His fear, agony, regrets, repentance and all the feelings that
are often hidden in the human psyche are portrayed through words. There
is less action and are more words. Visual and auditory symbols add to the
verbal aspect and communicate feelings and emotions
The sound to word connection made it easy to understand even though the
spelling was wrong in English. Here oral communication is made through
sounds and then through written communication. For example poor is po’
your is yo’ old as ole.
The play moves between time, from present to the past and vice versa. The
reader/viewer is transported from one scene to another by hanging onto the
emotional display of the characters, particularly the main character Emperor
Jones. Although the focus of the play is on the crimes and misdeeds of
Emperor Jones, at the end of the play there is an unconditional sympathy
for Emperor Jones.

23.4 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. What is the appeal of the play?
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2. How is the religious angle, particularly the Biblical theme that the evil
will never go unpunished, exhibited in the play?
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3. What are the characteristic features of Emperor Jones in the play?
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 ……………………………………………………………………… Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
Jones as an Exposition of
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4. What are your reactions to the crimes committed by the Emperor?
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5. What is you view of the sequence of the play?
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6. The play has mainly monologues. How do they influence the
comprehension of the play?
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7. Why is the play an exposition of expressionism?
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8. While reading the text did you at any point feel you cannot understand
English? Give reasons.
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Racism as the main theme of the play
Racism
Racism starts with the first line of the play from a white man accusing an
old black woman for stealing, with the last line ending as “Stupid as ’ogs,
the lot of ’em! Blarsted niggers!”
Racism comes out fiercely from Jones when he says: “Talk polite, white
man! Talk polite, you heah me! I’m boss heah now, is you forgettin’?”
At the same time it also shows the sadistic pleasure of a black man on
becoming more powerful than the white man
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Expressionism The portrayal of Smithers as the iconic white man who is sly and knows
how to make money and yet nurture hatred for the black people is the
quintessential white man.
The attitude of the American society where white men are protected from
law everywhere is expressed in the lines of Smithers: “from what I’ve ’eard,
it ain’t ’ealthy for a black to kill a white man in the States. They burn ’em
in oil, don’t they?”
On the one hand it is a reflection of the attitude of the society towards
the black and it can be also be treated as a message of threat for the black
community. Plays have the role of reaching out to the masses in the most
subtle way and this play seems to do that. The messages are nuanced and the
main character Jones as a black will certainly attract the community.
On the macro level, the play paints a very dark picture of the community.
Murder and crimes are as if inherent part of the community. While white
people are responsible for inflicting pain on the black, the way out is not
through cheating and pretense. The valor of the black people seems to
go against them. The play aims to convey the message that black people
must be aware of their flaws and shortcomings. Jones himself uses words
derogatory to the black such as “de low-flung bush niggers,” “dese fool
woods’ niggers,” and “black trash.”. These reflect that power can make
anyone act against his own kind making them forget their own identity and
allegiance to their community.
The horrors of racism come out in the most poignant manner in the middle
of the play with dialogues portraying selling and buying of slaves. This
touches the chord of any sensitive human soul and provides justification for
the crimes committed by Jones. There is a subtle message for the society
that any wrong doing has its own price.
To sum up, O’Neil’s play could be seen as a mirror of the society in which
it was written. Blacks were not treated as human beings. Moreover, by
showcasing their ill-founded prides and prejudices, the play makes an attempt
to focus on the perils that make the community vulnerable. However, the
racism of the author is at times too despicable as in the description of Lem
as “a heavy-set, ape-faced old savage of the extreme African type, dressed
only in a loin cloth.”
The latest version of the original play which had been made into a movie
has got rid of many of these racist elements. For example, actors refused to
utter words like niggers. No wonder that Smithers’ last line originally in the
play is not there in the movie made on Jones.

23.5 REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Write the dialogue of Emperor JONES from scene 1 in correct English.
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2. If the play were to be written without introducing the ‘Black’ and Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
‘White’ references, what would happen to the plot and appeal? Jones as an Exposition of
Expressionism
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3. Write what you understand by expressionism by giving references to
the play.
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2.3.6  Expressionism and Emperor Jones: A few critical points
Expressionism is an aesthetic movement writes Hruby, in his classic master
thesis on American Drama and elaborates on how expressionism developed
in Europe as a reaction to the forces of society when ‘science, money and
machine were the holy trinity’ (page 9, 1941 Hruby). Emperor Jones is
read as the first drama which marks the upheaval of a new era in American
theatre breaking the chains of romanticism in literature and orthodoxy. The
growing cultural artefacts in a world ravaged by the tyranny of World War
1 had the society rebelling against the pre-existing norms. These forces had
driven the philosophy of expressionism to emerge in Germany and they had
subsequently travelled to America. Hruby argues that the basic concepts
of the movement, in the original European Expressionistic remained intact
even in American soil and could be summarized as the control factors,
which include: Subjectivity, The Unconscious, Primitive Feelings, Music,
Religion and the Worth of Man.
Expressionism focused on the individual whereby the ego gained attention.
Formerly, art aligned itself on the object; expressionism, however, brought
the subject to the foreground. Subjectivity is at the core of Expressionism,
and Expressionistic drama attempts to objectify inner experience
andappeal directly to the emotions. The dramatist’s preoccupation lies
with the unconscious feelings and emotions that govern the actions in
life. These influences on Expressionism draw on Freudian psychoanalysis
where intuition rather than reason serves as a guide to living. Apart from
Subjectivity and the unconscious, portrayal of primitive feelings is another
feature of Expressionism and they arise from the purity of feelings and
emotions. Music plays a role in bringing out these feelings. Religion and
worth of man are the other issues that get focused in the Expressionistic
tradition. However, In the German Expressionistic writing, critics such as
Arthur Eloesser (1933) argue that religion has not been influential and the
worth of man even less.
On the other hand, Hruby argues that in Emperor Jones O’Neil has
managed to imbibe all the deciding factors of Expressionism and thus this
drama provides a perfect example of Expressionism. O’Neil is acclaimed
as the harbinger of expressionism in American soil through his dramatic
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Expressionism genius in Emperor Jones and Hairy Ape. However, some critics argue that
the Expressionist tradition that developed in America had its own unique
flavour. As A. H. Quinn summarizes the consensus of critical opinion on
Emperor Jones when he writes, ‘It is a fine thing for an art when a creative
master shatters conventions and thereby makes for freedom’. ‘O’Neil in
The Emperor Jones went back to a freer form. It appears that in Emperor
Jones, O’Neil abides by the fundamental laws of dramatic technique
expounded in Expressionism while he can be found defying the ordinary
rules of technique. While adopting a freer version of the tradition, he kept
the unity of time even as he violated the unity of place. The inner story of
human beings reflected in the beliefs and prejudices of the society outside
are woven creatively in Emperor Jones. Slavery, religion, crime, sin and all
other maladies of humans driven by passions and shaped by socialization is
manifested in the drama of this kind. The language ranges from an American
Negro dialect and pidgin English to Smithers’ cockney.
Emperor Jones and Expressionism through stagecraft
The first scene paints the reality using the stagecraft of focusing on colour
(Abdo, 2000). The use of colour white has been discussed by Kimura (1955)
who explains that the dramatist’s use of the color white in the first scene is
to ascertain the duality between the white surroundings and the black actor.
The next scene dwells on the peculiarities and eccentricities of Brutus Jones
through soliloquy. The audience gets a glimpse of the inner world of Jones
and is drawn to his emotions. The fear of a criminal, the contempt for the
natives over whom the emperor rules are all dramatically objectified. The
superstitions that govern his actions are all depicted in the subsequent scenes
through stage-craft and monologues. The music in the beat of the tom-tom,
through the rhythm brings the primitiveness into the drama. The experiment
in music with African drums is credited to O’Neil (Hamner,1992).
The inner world of fear is symbolized through the imagery of crocodile to
ascertain the play of emotions. Religion is brought in through the symbolism
of African river god and there is the theme of punishment for sin. As the
emperor turns to God for help, the Christian God and the primitive deities
of Africa are juxtaposed to bring in the irony confronting the individual
as he makes an attempt to connect to the higher power. And, finally the
tragic end in death with a bullet is touching. Shattering the conventions
of drama, Emperor Jones as a literary creation is considered the hall mark
of expressionism where freedom is the ultimate goal. That is how Quinn
described the drama almost a century back in 1923.
The Emperor Jones was also notable as the first American play to cast
black actors (Manuel, 2005). When Emperor Jones was first produced, no
black person had ever played a major role in the American theater in a non-
musical production. A black actor by the name of Charles Gilpin, who had
in real life been a Pullman porter was given to play the role of the Emperor,
Brutus Jones. Charles Gilpin was as established at the time and also one
of the best from the black community. There is the narration of an incident
that the black hero Gilpin refused to utter the dialogue ‘nigger’ and was
rebuked by O’Neil. The black actor may have become more emboldened
today in American soil, but the anxiety and despair of the marginalized class
as depicted in the drama is still felt and seen everywhere around the globe.
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As Manuel has argued the experience and frustration of the hero from an Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor
ostracized section of society is symbolic of the collective human experience Jones as an Exposition of
Expressionism
of alienation (Manuel, 2005).
According to Carpenter ( 1945), “The fundamental themes of the play are
those of human life itself - the eternal conflict of good and evil, of sunlight
and moonlight, of civilization and savagery, of the clearing and the Great
Forest.- Thus, the play has not one theme but a variety and multiplicity
of themes.” It is a work of literary genius in which meaning, message
and motivation along with the dramatic techniques of realism makes the
characters real. Symbolism and realism merge creatively in one of the
most complex dramatic monologues through a black actor, and equally
intricate stagecraft of light and sound. Emperor Jones remains a classic in
its portrayal of the human struggle traumatized by the onslaughts of culture
and civilization in our world.

23.7 LIST OF REFERENCES

Abdo, Diya M. “The Emperor Jones”: A Struggle for Individuality.” The
Eugene O’Neill Review 24.1/2 (2000): 28-42.
Alyahya, R. (2012). Nonrealistic American Plays: Ties Between Continental
and American Expressionistic Drama. Mediterranean Center of Social and
Educational Research, 3, 251.
Bennett, Michael, and B. Carson, eds. Eugene O’Neill’s One-Act Plays:
New Critical Perspectives. Springer, 2012.
Carpenter, Frederic I. “The Romantic Tragedy of Eugene O’Neill.” College
English 6.5 (1945): 250-258.
Eloesser, Arthur. Modern German Literature, trans. Catherine Phillips. New
York: New York University Press, 1933
Hamner, Robert. “Dramatizing the New World’s African King: O’Neill,
Walcott and Césaire on Christophe.” Journal of West Indian Literature
5.1/2 (1992): 30-47.
Hruby, N. J. (1941). Expressionism in the Twentieth Century American
Drama.
Manuel, C. (2005). A Ghost in the Expressionist Jungle of O’Neill’s “The
Emperor Jones”. African American Review, 39(1/2), 67-85.
Quinn, A. H. (1923). A History of the American Drama: From the Beginning
to the Civil War. Harper & Brothers.
Sarker, Md Abdul Momen, Tusar Talukder, and Debdas Biswas. “THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISCLOSURE OF THE INNER OF HUMANITY
THROUGH EXPRESSIONISM IN O’NEILL’S THE EMPEROR JONES.”
European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies 4.5 (2016):
11-16.
Steen, Shannon. “Melancholy Bodies: Racial Subjectivity and Whiteness
in O’Neill’s” The Emperor Jones”.” Theatre Journal52.3 (2000): 339-359.
Zhang, Hongmei, and Wang Ni. “Eugene O’Neill’s Blackness in The
Emperor Jones.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 5.9 (2015):
1952-1959.
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