39 pages • 1 hour read
Eugene O'NeillThe Emperor Jones
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1920A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Eugene O’Neill
Often referred to as “the father of American theater,” Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) is among the most influential playwrights in US history. With his unflinchingly honest storytelling, O’Neill mixed realism and expressionism in his plays, taking radical approaches previously unseen on the American stage. His contributions reshaped the theater landscape and introduced groundbreaking techniques, ushering in a golden era of drama and influencing the work of playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and others.
O’Neill’s life experiences profoundly influenced his career, and his personal trials served as inspiration for most of his work. Born into a theatrical family, he spent his first years touring with his father, actor James O’Neill, who, alongside his mother, had an alcohol and substance addiction. After a brief period at Princeton University, O’Neill moved to New York and took up odd jobs in theater, seafaring, and writing. As a young man, the playwright dealt with alcohol issues and once attempted suicide. Adding to his tumultuous life, he spent six months in recovery after a tuberculosis diagnosis. This period of self-reflection was a turning point that ignited his commitment to playwriting. In 1916, he drew from his seafaring experiences to stage his debut play, Bound East for Cardiff, and several others afterward. He explored his personal and familial struggles more candidly in autobiographical works such as Exorcism (1920), The Iceman Cometh (1939), and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956).
O’Neill achieved remarkable success during and after his lifetime. He received four Pulitzer Prizes for Beyond the Horizon (1920), Anna Christie (1922), Strange Interlude (1928), and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956). Notably, O’Neill remains the sole American playwright to have been honored with a Nobel Prize in Literature, cementing his legacy as a trailblazer in drama.
Critical Context: From Innovation to Controversy
The Emperor Jones holds special significance in American theater history for its critically acclaimed innovations. While championing realism, Eugene O’Neill also pushed artistic boundaries by experimenting with expressionist techniques. Expressionist theater notably diverged from realist theater by placing a heightened emphasis on the emotional experiences of characters. In The Emperor Jones, O’Neill featured an innovative auditory element with the addition of a haunting drumbeat accompanying the protagonist’s journey, as well as mysterious forest sounds, enhancing the audience’s connection to his inner state.
O’Neill’s plays significantly advanced diversity and inclusivity in modern theater by featuring stories of everyday people, particularly those from marginalized communities. In an era where opportunities for people of color in American theater were limited, O’Neill’s plays provided opportunities for many Black performers. With The Emperor Jones, Charles Gilpin made history as Broadway’s first Black leading actor and director, while Paul Robeson’s role in the Hollywood adaptation made him the first Black lead in a major film. Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, including prominent figures like W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, initially praised O’Neill’s efforts.
However, although O’Neill attempted to challenge the stereotypical tropes often assigned to Black characters, his portrayals still tended to be somewhat one-dimensional. Critics of The Emperor Jones denounced the use of exaggerated dialects, caricatured depictions, and the fictionalized Caribbean setting, with appropriated cultural elements as “exotic” backdrops. Despite the play’s historical significance, its stereotypical portrayals and racist language pose significant challenges, particularly to new productions. Thus, the play’s legacy sits in a complex dichotomy between breaking new ground for artists of color and perpetuating racist tropes.
Cultural Context: Racial and Colonial Dynamics of the Early 20th Century
During an era in which the United States still grappled with a severe system of racial segregation, The Emperor Jones both reflected and challenged the racial dynamics of its time. On the one hand, the play was one of the most widely performed and traveled cultural pieces of early 20th-century America, making significant breakthroughs in the theater and cinema for its inclusion of an African American protagonist. Charles Gilpin, the actor who first brought Brutus Jones to life, recognized O’Neill’s innovation. On the other hand, O’Neill’s play continued to portray characters of color in one-dimensional ways. Despite being the first Black lead in a successful Broadway production, Gilpin acknowledged that deep-seated racism and discrimination remained untouched:
I am pleased; especially with the generous praise of the critics. But I don’t fool myself about the stone walls that are in my way. Mr. O’Neill made a breach in those walls by writing a play that had in it a serious dramatic role for a negro. The Provincetown Players gave me the chance to do the part. But—what next? If I were white, a dozen opportunities would come to me at once as a result of a success like this. But I’m black (Gilpin, Charles qtd. in Johnson, Katie N. Racing the Great White Way: Black Performance, Eugene O’Neill, and the Transformation of Broadway. University of Michigan Press, 2023).
Over time, many, including Gilpin, grew increasingly critical of O’Neill’s work for its shortcomings. To some, portraying the complex lives of people of color posed a significant challenge for white playwrights, who often relied on simplistic and racist storylines. Black artists’ groundbreaking efforts during this period brought discussions of race into the mainstream for the first time, but the harsh segregated reality of 1920s American society stood in the way of further progress.
O’Neill’s efforts in The Emperor Jones also provided commentary on broader themes of autocracy and American colonialism. As O’Neill conceived the idea for his play, American Marine forces were actively occupying Haitian territory. Justified as a means to restore order amid a particularly turbulent political period on the island, the US Occupation of Haiti (1915-1934) was a result of longstanding American interest in the nation and its strategical position in the Caribbean region. The occupation resulted in widespread human rights abuses, takeover of Haiti’s finances, and the exploitation of its land and resources. The Emperor Jones is often associated with this historical event, and O’Neill himself has confirmed its protagonist is loosely based on former Haitian president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, whose assassination prompted the deployment of US Marines to the island. O’Neill once attributed key aspects of the play to stories he had heard about former president Sam:
The idea of The Emperor Jones came from an old circus man I knew […] He told me a story current in Hayti [sic] concerning the late President Sam. This was to the effect that Sam had said they’d never get him with a lead bullet; that he would get himself first with a silver one […] This notion about the silver bullet struck me, and I made a note of the story
(Clark, Barret H. Eugene O’Neill: The Man and His Plays. Dover Publications, 1947).
The Silver Bullet serves as a motif in the play, hinting at the inescapable consequences of Jones’s actions and mirroring Sam’s real fate. By incorporating elements from Haitian history, O’Neill weaves a critique of American imperialism into the play’s narrative.
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