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Degree

M.A. (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies), Ohio Dominican University, Liberal Studies, 2012.

Abstract

Eugene O’Neill, the father of modern American drama, depicted blacks in six plays over a twenty-six year period, creating black characters that evolved from preconceived stereotypes to tragic characters whose narratives reflected a growing understanding of the conditions that African Americans faced in the early twentieth century. O’Neill created sixteen characters in his completed plays and several others in his unfinished works. Three of his earliest works that included black characters were one act plays: Thirst, The Dreamy Kid, and Moon of the Caribbees. Three longer plays – The Emperor Jones, All God’s Chillun Got Wings, and The Iceman Cometh – gave depth to his African American characters while capturing national attention. O’Neill experimented with black characters which gave him an opportunity to break ground by casting African American actors in roles traditionally portrayed by white actors in black face. Similarly, O’Neill cast black actors in mainstream productions for roles written with white protagonists in mind. As an example, O’Neill requested that the African American actor Paul Robeson play the lead role in a London revival of The Hairy Ape, a play originally written for an all-white cast. In addition, O’Neill left notes and ideas for several unfinished works that included black characters, the most extensive of which was the play “Bantu Boy,” written in 1927.

During the period that he depicted black characters, O’Neill’s portraiture of blacks appears to have evolved in complexity from stereotypical caricatures to character studies that shared common ground with the play’s white characters. This paper examines that evolution as the playwright’s portrayal of black characters evolved from exploitive to ambivalent to advocate.

Subject Headings

African Americans; African American Studies; Literature; Theater History

Keywords

Eugene O'Neill; Thirst, The Dreamy Kid, Moon of the Caribbees, The Emperor Jones; The Hairy Ape; All God's Chillun Got Wings; and The Iceman Cometh; African American portraiture; Charles Gilpin, Paul Robeson

Committee / Advisors

Ann C. Hall, PhD (Advisor)
Ronald W. Carstens, PhD (Committee Chair)

Pages

61p.

Document number: odu1355157864
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=odu1355157864

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