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The Multilayer Diversity of Soliloquy in Eugene O'neill's Strange Interlude

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The Multilayer Diversity of Soliloquy in Eugene O'neill's Strange Interlude （135） The Multilayer Diversity of Soliloquy in Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude Kumi Ohno I. Introduction Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude (1928) is a highly regarded and an extremely valuable work written in the latter part of his life. The play was written in the 1920s when the American economy was flourishing and millions of Americans were captured by materialism and prosperity. It was the time when America seemed to have found the secret of “eternal prosperity.” When the play was first perfomed in 1928, however, the dark shadow of the great depression was approaching. In other words, while there was enjoyment at the affluence the booming economy brought, there were also shadows instilling fear and anxiety in the populace. Eugene O’Neill’s intuitive instinct and deep insight had enabled him to perceive the underlying social issues of what the people sensed in their psyche. He tried to express their trepidation through his literary talents, viewing their inner mind as a Strange Interlude. Strange Interlude, which inherits the social and psychological expressionism exemplified in The Emperor Jones (1920) and The Hairy Ape (1922), was written as one of his experimental plays that further developed the expressionistic technique. The play was completed in 1923, but was revised up until its premier in 1928. He continued developing his expressionistic technique in Desire Under the Elms (1924), in which he explored the depths of Freudian psychoanalysis All the quotes (lines) used in this thesis is cited from Strange Interlude, compiled in O’Neill: Complete Plays 1920–1931 (The Library of America, 1988). 126 （136） and Jungian archetypal psychology. In The Great God Brown (1926), he went one step further in examining the psychoanalytical expressionism used in Desire Under the Elms. Based on Freudian and Jungian theories, he applied the concept of the “mask” to reflect the topographic psyche of human emotions deep inside the characters. However, his intent of using the mask was not simply to reveal inner struggles deep within the human psyche, but to symbolize the conflict between the conscious and subconscious. O’Neill attempted to explore the deep underlying psychology of the multilayer dual structure of conscious and subconscious from the viewpoints of conflict and synthesis.1 He employed the mask not only as a tool to symbolize the characters’ transient images but as the embodiment of a deep underlying layer of subconscious (life cycle). Jung emphasized that the present moment (now) in a life cycle is the time when a life form fully combusts the energy.2 In this sense, he viewed the life cycle in a positive manner. Nietzsche, on the other hand, placed more emphasis on life philosophy than on the logical reasoning prominent in the arguments used by other philosophers. He explained that delusion constitutes the center of life and that art is a transcendental illusion, imagination, fallacy, interpretation or embellishment. Although he expounded the concept of life philosophy, he emphasized the negativity of transcen­ dental illusion.3 Later Nietzsche explained that human regression is realized as the positivity of life based on transcendental illusion (Apollo and transcendentalism) and eternal recurrence (conflict and reconcilia­ tion with Dionysus).4 O’Neill had created the stage called an “interlude” to play out the life of the main character, Nina, where he denied her ego and tried to revive the art of tragedy through the shadow of death—the key 1 Thesis “Conflict and Union in Desire Under the Elms” Studies in The Humanities 89, (The Journal of the Senshu University Research Society, 2011) p.83­100. 2 C.G. Jung, The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. XIII, Alchemical Studies, ed. Herbert Read et al. pp. 21–28. Refer to Levinson D.J., The Seasons of a Man’s Life, (NewYork: Alfred A. Knapf, Inc., 1978). 3 Georg Picht, Nietzsche (Germany:Klett­Cotta, 1988) p. 170. 4 Ibid., p. 256. 125 The Multilayer Diversity of Soliloquy in Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Intrlude （137） factor in the development of the story—and tried to realize the process of self realization through self positivity.5 In my previous thesis entitled “Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown, Dualism of the Mask,”6 I pointed out the insistent dualism of O’Neill’s masks that seem to align the internal “self” of the characters with presence and truth. In this thesis, however, I will try to analyze and define the multilateral pluralism found in O’Neill’s use of the technique of soliloquy in Strange Interlude. II. The Significance of Interlude In the play, “interlude” signifies and structures a shape (or format). In other words, O’Neill explores the inner human mind in depth and to realize the manifestation of true ego, he uses the ancient methods of “soliloquy” and “aside,” which he refers to as “Interlud­ ism.”7 Aside from dialogue, the internal thoughts of the characters are revealed to the audience in the form of soliloquy. O’Neill uses this technique to express not only the characters’ conscious mind but also the voice of their subconscious deep in their psyche, the Jungian way of expressionism, which is completely different from the ancient stage technique. The soliloquy below is a good example of the Jungian expres­ sionism. The author uses the technique of “Aside” to express the internal thoughts of Charles Marsden when he was asked by Sam Evans to convey his love towards Nina. Marsden He thinks he means that...pure love!...it’s easy to talk...he doesn’t know life... but he might be good for Nina... if she were married to 5 Hayao Kawai, ｢無意識の構造｣ (The Structure of Subconscious) (Chukoshinsho, 1993) pp. 144–153. 6 Thesis “Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown, Dualism of the Mask, Studies in the Humanities 91, (The Journal of the Senshu University Research Society, 2012) pp. 75–93. 7 Eugene O’Neill, translated by Soji Inoue Strange Interlude (Iwanami Shoten, 1939) p. 330. 124 （138） this simpleton would she be faithful?...and then I?...what a vile thought!...I don’t mean that!...You see, there’s really nothing I can do about it. If Nina will, she will—and if she won’t, she won’t. But I can wish you good luck. (First Part Act Two) There is a similarity between Strange Interlude and The Great God Brown in that O’Neill uses the device of a mask in both. In Strange Interlude, however, he uses the technique of “thought asides” and exemplifies the dualism of the mental and physical life of the characters. The main character, Nina, is pretending in her life, always acting even to herself, showing her on­the­surface life in both artificial and superficial manner. She admits this fact in the following lines when she talks with Sam Evans about marriage: “Yes, it would be a career for me to bring a career to his surface. I would be busy— surface life—no more depths, please God!”8 On the surface, she acts as the character she has created, demonstrating her untrue self to others, and she lives her life in pretense to fulfill her inner greed for earthly desires. O’Neill uses the phrases “playing the game”9 and “playing the part”10 to imply dual meanings: to act proudly in a forthright manner yet on the surface pretending to be diligently obedient. Toshio Kimura considers that O’Neill failed in his attempts to imply dual meaning through using phrases that signify “inner life” and “extrinsic life.”11 But did O’Neill really fail? As I mentioned in my previous thesis “Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown: Dualism of the Mask”, O’Neill’s intention for using masks was to represent the conflict between the conscious and subconscious.12 O’Neill attempted to express the multilayer structure of conscious, subconscious and 8 Eugene O’Neill, Strange Interlude, compiled in O’Neill: Complete Plays 1920–1931 (The Library of America, 1988) p. 673. 9 Ibid., p. 697. 10 Ibid., p. 679. 11 Toshio Kimura ｢Eugene O’Neill の Strange Interlude について−主としてその題名 に関して−｣ (Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude—On Title) Doshisha America Kenkyu 22 (Doshisha America Kenkyujo, 1986) p. 7 12 Thesis ”Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown, Dualism of the Mask, op. cit. pp. 75–93. 123 The Multilayer Diversity of Soliloquy in Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Intrlude （139） super conscious expounded by Freud, Jung and Nietzsche primarily through dualism of the mask the characters wore. He did not use the technique of aside to illustrate the dualism of inner life and extrinsic life in parallel. Instead, O’Neill applied soliloquy to represent the dualism of fake obedience on the surface and a straightforward and honest way of living. In other words, the phrases “playing the game” and “playing the part” signify the dualism that exists in the characters’ lines. In order to express the implications of dualism, O’Neill wrote the soliloquy to reveal the deformed personality of the characters and express their inner thoughts. Nina mentions, “Life is just a long drawn out lie with a sniffling sigh at the end!”13 She implies that the cycle of life is a soliloquy of lies, but at the same time, it is a monologue that reflects the truth. In the human life cycle there are seven stages of development: Boyhood, Youth, Young Manhood, Manhood, Middle Age, Maturity and Old Age.14 Monologues in the play correspond to these seven stages, all of which reflect the dualism. O’Neill describes these stages through the life of Nina: each stage reflects the role of a woman, but at the same time, these roles represent seven types of person.
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