Eugene Gladstone O Neill Play Analysis

It was Sigmund Freud’s lectures at Clark University, America in 1909 that made a new mark for Freud and his theory of psychoanalysis. Freud delivered five lectures on his theory of psychoanalysis and his listeners found his observations quite new, interesting and most importantly acceptable. Freud’s visit to America in 1909 made a great impact on American society because various traditional ideas and beliefs were questioned and new concepts like id, ego, superego, Oedipus complex, sexual repression, infantile sexuality, Freudian slip and others emerged. As psychoanalysis gained popularity in America, many of the American writers started to use psychoanalytic concepts and ideas in their works. Eugene Gladstone O’Neill (1888-1953) was one among

She is blonde and her greenish blue eyes reflect her internal woe and pain. The play covers the life of Nina from the age of 20 to 65 and this vast span of life is described in nine acts. “The central agonies of Nina’s youth and adulthood seem to parallel the agonies of the writer himself who most comprehensively tackles, among many others, the problems of ‘parent betrayal’. Nina was betrayed by her father as O’Neill felt betrayed by his mother” (Mathur 2002: 34). As O’Neill’s futile longing for his mother and the consequent feeling of betrayal by his mother agonized and pained him throughout his life similarly Nina too suffers from a sense of betrayal by her father who deliberately deferred her marriage with Gordon, her aviator lover that proved very costly for Nina. Moreover, Professor Leeds’s betrayal can also be linked to his incestuous desire. He considers Gordon as a competitor for the love of Nina. “Her eyes…I know that look …tender, loving… not for me… dam Gordon! ...I’m glad he’s dead! ...” (O’Neill 1995: 82).Thus, Nina’s father confesses his incestuous desire for his daughter to himself. It clearly indicates Professor’s incestuous love for his daughter and also hints at his actual motive behind persuading Gordon to defer the marriage. Nina gets the rudest shock of her life when she comes to know from her father that the true reason behind preventing her

Throughout the play she wants to possess and own the love of her near and dear ones and in this effort looses everyone and ultimately finds herself in a life of alienation and confinement. Nina becomes a victim of her own possessive and over-protective nature. In fact, Nina eventually confesses to Marsden that she could never find the true love that she lost due to her