Tragedy Of The Family In Eugene O Neill And Arthur Miller

The major theme of American Drama is the tragedy of the family. Discuss with reference to the work of at least two of the following: Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller and/or Tennessee Williams.

Tragedy of the family can be seen in Eugene O’Neill’s play Long Day’s Journey into Night, Arthur Miller also deals with the tragedy of the family in, All My Sons. Long Day’s Journey into Night is the autobiographical tale of the playwright’s family life. O’Neill’s mother also suffered with an addiction to morphine after childbirth and the hardship of losing her son, O’Neil’s younger brother Edmund died very young after contracting measles from his older brother Jamie. In this play Eugene switches names with Edmund. It is thought that Euguene O’Neill

(2008). P.184) In ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’, a play which is based on the O’Neill family, the character of the mother, Mary Tyrone, deteriorates as the play goes on. In the beginning the family believe that Mary is improving and are in denial apart from Jamie who is suspicious of his mother. Tyrone, who is the father of Edmund and Jamie, believes his wife is on the road to recovery, he is caring towards his wife, perhaps out of a sense of guilt, “I can’t tell you the deep happiness it gives me, darling, to see you as you’ve been since you came back to us, your dear old self again”. (Long Day’s Journey into Night, p5) However as the play moves on we see the real issues the family are struggling with, Edmund and Jamie are angry at their father whom they blame for their mother’s addiction, believing that he is too cheap to pay for a better doctor. Mary suffers with an addiction and is deeply unhappy with her life, she has feelings of regret about her decision to marry. As a young girl Mary had dreamed of becoming a nun but on advice from Mother Elizabeth she was told to live on the outside world first and make sure it was what she wanted, upon graduating from the convent Mary had fallen in love with James, an actor. When describing this decision at the end of the play Mary says, “I fell in love with James Tyrone and was so happy for a time”. (Long

The play is set after the Second World War and shows the tragedy of the war on the families left behind. It is also based of real life events, such as defective aeroplanes that were manufactured cheaply during world war two and resulted in the deaths of American soldiers. The fiancé of Larry, one of the men who has went missing in the war, arrives to tell the family that she believes that Larry is dead. Ann’s father was Joe’s partner whom Joe allowed to take responsibility for the faulty planes, this has affected her relationship with her father, she tells the Keller family and “father or no father, there’s only one way to look at him. He knowingly shipped out parts that would crash an airplane.” (All My Sons, p.33) She also tells them that Larry had written her a letter which exposes the truth of who is responsible for the faulty aeroplanes. The Keller family are suffering with the loss of Larry, when Joe learns that he is responsible for the death he faces up to reality and the fact that he is responsible for the death of many sons not just his own, hence the title “All My Sons”. The tragedy of the play also highlights the corruption of capitalism. Joe having been corrupted by financial gain, and making money from the faulty planes, in the end his greed led to devastating consequences and he is no longer able to live with the guilt. As a father he has not protected his family and he has