‘Before Breakfast’ is an artistic play that gives a natural glance of the last tortured and miserable minutes of Mr. Rowland, an unsuccessful young man who was compelled, by his shrewish low class wife, to committing suicide. Mr. Rowland, one of the main characters in the play seems to have to have notable comparisons and subsequent contrasts to Eugene O’Neill, the writer of the play.
First and foremost, Mr. Rowland is depicted as an unsuccessful young man. This is evident in the fact that he was constantly living on the glow that he was once the son of a billionaire. He indulged in drinking and despite his Harvard education; he did not have any job as his wife would continuously complain to him to get a job so as meet their expenses. Also, his wife describes him to have failed potential as he had neither sold a poem nor story that he had composed.
On the other hand, O’Neill is seen to be a successful man who achieved and maximized his full potential. He had great admiration for most European and American philosophers and dramatists and thus, incorporated both European and American literary heritages in his works. This coupled with his interaction and friendship ties with other talented writers, example Melville, enabled him to shape his career and nonetheless, he managed to write outstanding novels and plays.
Another contrast between the two men is that Mr. Rowland is promiscuous and unfaithful to his wife. This is because he has a mistress who is intact, expecting his child. Despite their contrasts, both men seemed to have a lot in common. Top is that both men did not have supportive women as their respective wives.Kathleen; O’Neill’s wife despised and made fun of her husband’s literal ambitions. Mrs. Rowland would in a similar manner was not only criticizing everything her husband stood up for but she was also constantly abusing her mate.
O’Neill resolves apparent quandary Sylvia Reed’s being left with Burke forgiving Anna and agreed to marry. Whether the matter was forced resolution or not for Ann, the future remains contingent upon acceptance of a man and his rules for a relationship. With the literary predecessors like Maggie and crane’s for social improprieties or for personal success in spite of them, she reflects on her creator’s own slant on the naturalism, for instance, it appears a bit contrived at first and it was particularly given free love and the sexually emancipated women that O’Neill knew in Greenwich Village. Despite the emancipation, his societal education helped him to side more with Burke unlike Anne. He could not distance himself from the taboos that were against sexual liberation that still prevailed outside walls of Mabel Dodge salon.
Whether or not O’Neill like or dislike Reed, it intentionally criticizes paucity of opportunity availability to the women or social stigma which is accompanied by prostitution. We observe social commentary as O’Neill a hardly regular performance fare on West Coast. Playing an artistic director that might deem instead of safe for house purposes and the receipts. In the play O’Neill foreshadows the gruesome play denouement when Mrs. Rowland had entered bedroom doctoring the unseen Alfred. Alfred had nicknamed himself with a razor and perhaps when Mrs. Rowland declared that Alfred will not be given a divorce was the final verdict making him to cut his throat. The audience is exposed to heavy thunder and voice of the body falling on the fall and a very piercing shriek from Mrs. Rowland when seeing her spouse who was doomed. In the same play, O’Neill calls for an inclined actress to shapeless stoutness while on the other hand Miss Jason had slender figure and Mrs. Rowland complains that she was once very pretty and young before marriage. The miscasting is unavoidable due to probably small company. The common basis company of theatre is named so for it has been having a common way on how they work.
In the play a touch of the poet, O’Neill is recognized to be a central dramatic problem of his writing career and very crucial to exposition of plot and character. I may refer it to language and write drama in is one of O’Neill’s famous lament. On the whole, the design has truly illuminated production for it is highlighting points by O’Neill making about the self display being compared to self-knowledge. For, instance, Con recites his part while preening at the mirror. The staging, lighting and setting usually creates a perfect picture of the matinee idol on his faded glory . The New England’s legacy focuses on O’Neill and Melville’s critique of the American Protestantism regarded as responsible for American rise to materialism. The dissertations propose of shedding light on O’Neill’s and American sensibility through comparison between the plays and novels of the author Melville. In his introductory message, the relationship is of influenced and also confluence that linked O’Neill to Melville. Moreover, he likened Diffrent of the hero to latter-day Ahab and also commented on Melville’s vision in mystical on hitherto unpublished foreword to the Hart Crane’ s and white buildings.
One of the conclusions always evaluates the extent of undoubtedly to Melville. Certainly, O’Neill has admired most of the European dramatists and the philosophers. Nonetheless, managed to be reaping original artistic effects in the integrating in one of his drama motifs borrowed from the European and American literary heritages. One of the most adequate understandings of the double confluence wills undoubtedly contributing to the more effective productions of the O’Neill’s plays.