The Hairy Ape:A Hopeless Search for Self

Abstract： One theme goes through all of Eugene O’Neill’s plays， namely， modern man’s search for identity. The protagonist’s quest for a unitary self indicates the irreconcilable conflicts different moral and spiritual values have caused within the modern man.

Key Words： psychoanalysis； the mirror stage； otherness

1. Introduction

All his life O’Neill has been tortured by multiple selves struggling in him. These inner splits and conflicts have become the sources of his dramatic creation. The protagonists of his plays are seeking their proper place， seeking to belong. In The Hairy Ape， O’Neill dramatizes the pain of being a divided self， the attempt to achieve integrity and the desire for wholeness.

2. Psychoanalysis of the play

Jung sees man’s primary need not in the desire to satisfy physical drives or to fulfill any single emotional necessity， but in a longing for a life of meaning and purpose.

Yank is an allegoric figure of modern man who tries to find his belonging in an industrialized society. In a time when money and machine have replaced man controlling role in the world， Yank’s search constitute a psychological journey of striving to be an autonomic subject.

The setting in which Yank works as a stoker not only provides the depressing living environment， but also hints their depressed position in the social hierarchy. Psychoanalysis speaks of an initial child-mother unity before the child gains an idea of his individuality. Taking the mother’s body as an extension of its body， the child imagines that it is in direct contact with the mother， thus developing a sense of wholeness. This sense of wholeness is based on the child’s misrecognition of its relation with the mother and the world. Inhabiting in the “womb”， Yank perceives himself as part of the ship that connects him with the nature. Thus he belongs.

Lacan proposes a mirror stage for the infant to obtain a sense of self. In the mirror stage， Lacan illustrates that the ego is constituted of an external image- the other in the mirror. On the one hand， people will always be caught up in the lures of identification with their idealized images； on the other hand， they will always look at the other to find the self. Yank’s oneness can only sustain in the womb-like cabin. Once he is exposed to the outside world， the illusory wholeness is fractured.

In Ape， Yank’s loss of wholeness is incurred by the intrusion of Mildred. This is the first time for Yank to see himself in a mirror----in the eyes of the Other， since the workers around him share his identity and can not function as a mirror. But the result of their encounter is disastrous. “Filthy beast” is the reflection Yank gets from the mirror. This brings destructive impact in Yank’s ego. When Yank curses Mildred， he unconsciously employs the word “murder”， revealing the loss of Yank’ ego. Yank’s feeling of loss expresses the destabilization of modern man’s identity brought about the hegemonic culture that dehumanizes the poor and the humble. Yank’s eagerness to find a belonging is a reflection of his fragile and fragmented sense of self.

The ending of the play is both natural and symbolic. Yank surrenders himself to the arms of apes in the zoo. It indicates the dissolution of yank’s ego. The industrialization brings radical changes to human existence. Yank cannot go forward， nor can he go back to belonging， either.

3.Conclusion

The attempt to belong involves getting recognization and locating one’s position in the society. The two elements， the internal or psychological and the external or social， are rendered as intermingled in resulting in man’s tragedy.

References：

[2] Fisher W J. O’Neill and his plays： Four Decades of Criticism[M]. New York： New York University Press， NY，1970.