Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Eugene O’Neill was an experimentalist who introduced techniques of realism into American drama scenes. In 1946, Eugene's one of the most successful dramas The Iceman Cometh was produced. The Iceman Cometh explains the importance of pipe dreams for the outcastes as these pipe dreams or delusions can let them have a sense of contentment, happiness, and togetherness. These pipe dreams are a psychic defense or coping mechanism of the outcastes to handle the other world of reality. Eugene O’Neill explains through this drama that being forced to face the truth isn't always the best option. The Iceman Cometh ensembles a huge cast. There are twelve dead-end alcoholic men and three declining prostitutes. All these people are outcastes or failures who have been alienated by society. Somehow, they gather at a place aptly named No-Chance Saloon, as they hardly have any chance. Despite being outcasts, they can make their own community and have a sense of worth, though delusional. This community allows totally different people to get connected. A Black guy finds friendship in white men, and a disgraced former anarchist finds solace in presence of prostitutes and former police officers. Two downtrodden ex-generals who represented opposite sides of a war could have a toast together. All these characters are suffering nostalgia for their earlier self and want to somehow return to their old life which is impossible, but they do have hope and that is their pipe dream. Almost all dramas of Eugene O’Neill involve some degree of tragedy or personal pessimism but The Iceman Cometh has a sense of hope, though delusional. Eugene showed the life and stories of fringe people in all of his dramas and The Iceman Cometh is a fine example.
Characters of The Iceman Cometh
Harry Hope is a 60-year-old gaunt man who once was a successful person and was going to be an Alderman. Then his wife Bessie Hope died and it derailed his life. He owns a saloon and a rooming house named No-Chance Saloon where people may come and have a drink and they can stay. Some 12 men are staying at his saloon for a long. He hasn’t left the saloon for 20 years. However, he claims that he is planning to go out and meet the neighborhood and then he will easily win the election and will be an Alderman. Ed Mosher is the brother-in-law of Harry, brother of the late Bessie Hope. He is a fat guy who is indolent and amusing. He used to collect tickets at a circus and he wishes to get on the same job again. Pat McGloin is another fat slovenly guy who used to be a police lieutenant but was fired for taking bribes. He dreams of returning to the police force and clearing his name. Willie Oban is a young drunkard who is the son of a big-time criminal. He attended Harvard for law but dropped out for his addiction to alcohol. He wishes to go back to college and get his degree and become a lawyer. Joe Mott is an African-American man with a strong build and a scar on his face. He used to run a gambling house. He dreams of opening a gambling house only to black patrons. Piet Wetjoen is a dutch man who fought for South Africans during the Boer War as a General. He dreams of returning to the Netherlands. Here, his closest friend is Cecil Lewis, a British who fought the Boer War as a Captain, against the General. Jimmy Tomorrow or James Cameron is a reserved, intelligent, and elegant man who once used to work in publicity but was fired.
Hugo Kalmar is an anarchist foreigner with a German accent. He is a die-hard devotee of Movement (the socialist anarchist movement) though he dreams of living a bourgeois life. Larry Slade is a former syndicalist-anarchist who once was the part of Industrial Workers of the World Movement but he left the Movement. He had a close female friend Rosa Parritt who is a strong supporter of the Movement. She is a loving mother and a careless one too who gave more importance to her own freedom and the Movement. She is a practitioner of free love. she once had a relationship with Larry Slade. She is the mother of Don Parritt who was also involved in the Movement but was disturbed by his love and hate for his mother. Parritt's anonymous tip gets her thrown into jail for her radical actions. Parritt feels immense guilt and seeks solace from Larry but Larry fails to do so. Finally, he tells Parritt he ought to commit suicide to atone for turning his Mother in. Rocky Pioggi is the night bartender at No Chance Saloon who maintains Pearl and Margie as prostitutes but maintains that he is not their pimp. Pearl prefers to consider herself a tart while Margie insists that she is not a whore. Chuck Morello is the day bartender at Saloon. He is elderly and wishes to marry Cora an older prostitute and move to a farm in New Jersey.
Theodore Hickman is an attractive successful traveling salesman who visits the saloon every year and offers free drinks and dinner for the inmates. He tells jokes and brings a new sense of life to the bar. However, when he appears this year, he is a changed man who claims he doesn’t drink as he has realized his potential. He urges other people to get rid of their pipe dreams and endeavor to make them real. He pushes them to try to get rid of their delusions and face the reality as is it and make out of it. He urges them to become self-aware and accept their potential. Later on, it comes out that he is the most delusional one and tries to hide his guilt of murdering his wife Evelyn Hickman who according to him was a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman who always turned a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loved him unconditionally.
Summary of The Iceman Cometh
The drama is set in 1912. No Chance Saloon is owned by Harry Hope and it is situated on the west side of downtown Manhattan. Harry Hope hasn’t left the saloon since his wife died 20 years ago. His patrons, including his brother-in-law Ed Mosher, McGloin, Willie, Captain Cecil, General Piet, Joe, Jimmy, and Larry are sitting idly in the bar. Hugo is drunk enough to sleep quietly on the chair. It is the day when usually Theodore Hickman or ‘Hickey’ arrives every year and offers free drinks and dinner for his friends in the bar. Everyone is waiting for him as he brings a party-like mood along with him and makes everyone smile. Everyone is waiting for him to visit the bar. It is Harry's 60th birthday and they hope to begin the party as Hickey arrives.
All of them are drinking, snoozing, and bickering among themselves. Occasionally, one can hear a slight laughter of the two girls Pearl and Margie sitting among the men. A young man arrives and rents a room in the Saloon. He sits among the people. He is a good-looking young handsome man but he seems disturbed as he sneers around. He looks towards Larry and claims that he knows Larry Stadle from the old days when they both were part of the Movement. Larry feels a little uncomfortable and tries to ignore him. The young man says his name is Don Parritt and soon he starts talking with the group. The topic of his discussion is his Mother whom he says he loves too much but shows his anger and frustration for her too. He exclaims how good and caring mother she has been and then he explains how often she was not there for him when he needed her most because she was devoted to the IWW Movement. His contradicting talks disturb Larry more and he moves away from him. Parritt informs that he is in New York on the run from police as the police got some anonymous tip and arrested many of the Movement radicals, including his Mother.
As the people of No Chance Saloon accept Parritt as their new inmate, Theodore Hickman arrives. However, everybody notices a change in him. He is not as noisy and raucous as he used to be. He still appears cheerful and jovial but he appears soberer than ever before. He announces that he has given up alcohol as he had a sudden realization that he can be a better man. He claims that now he has given up all his pipe dreams and rather is interested in making his dream come true in reality. He claims that now he is at peace with himself as he is now self-aware and knows his potential which he is working to increase. He says that he is willing to help everyone in the saloon, who are his friends, to get rid of their pipe dreams and accept their real selves and lead a better life. The group isn’t too happy with Hickey’s speech. They were hoping for fun and drinks from him but what he brought is a challenge to get rid of their pipe dreams. The party begins to celebrate Hope’s 60th birthday but he is very upset as Hickey is especially pushing him to get up and have a walk outside the saloon, which has been his pipe dream. Hope doesn’t feel he is prepared for that.
Larry is observing all of them and soon he realizes that Hickman is causing troubles in their minds. Larry himself has no delusion about himself, but he realizes that the breaking of the dreams of his mates may cause serious damage to their personal selves. He tries to dissuade Hickman from his trick and asks him what happened to him. He reminds of the joke Hickey used to tell about catching his wife in bed with the iceman but is quickly shut down when Hickey announces serenely that his wife is dead. Hickey pushes everyone to get rid of their idle self and push themselves to make their dream come to reality.
Gradually, everyone is preparing to get up and move out to try to work for their dreams to come true. The bartender is cleaning up the tables. Joe prepares to go out and see if he can open his gambling den; McGloin, Mosher, and Jimmy seek their old jobs back; Willie plans to go to the D.A. to start practicing law; the Captain and the General try to get a job so they can make money to pay their fares back home; Chuck and Cora head out to get married; Rocky decides not to be a bartender anymore and be a real pimp to Margie and Cora; Hugo mumbles about making the proletariat his slaves; and the Hope grudgingly steps out to take his walk.
As Hope goes out, Rocky wonders if he will be able to come back. Hickman ascertains him that everything will be all right. Outside, Hope stands awkwardly on the curb and gradually starts walking into the middle of the street, he takes two or three steps and then turns around and rushes back into the saloon in fear. He reaches the bar and takes a heavy drink down his throat.
Larry tries to soothe Hope and then he confronts Hickman and asks him what lead him to this madness. Rocky suggests that maybe his wife committed suicide. Hickman confirms that his wife was recently murdered. He says that was a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman who always turned a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loved him unconditionally. He claims that it is good that she got murdered and got rid of him.
Soon everyone who went out to try working out their dreams and achieve them in real, return to the salon. All of them are confused, depressed, and sad. They look at Hickman with suspicious complaining eyes. Hickey is particularly upset about Hope who actually went out and fulfilled his dream of walking in the street. He wonders why Hope is not content now and why every one of them wishes to continue their suffering.
Two police officers enter the saloon as they see Hickman talking to the people, they wait and stand at the door of the saloon in patience. Hickman continues to address the pipe-dreamers. He says that his wife was a charming lady while he was always a troublemaker. Despite all his atrocities and adultery, she kept loving him and remained loyal. She loved him through every transgression, every absence, every mistake. She had this dream that one day, Hickman will be a better man, more responsible and true to her, and to himself. Gradually, Hickman started feeling the guilt of being with such a pious woman. He had two options, either to improve and be the better man that he should be or to get rid of his wife. He contemplated divorcing her, or leaving her and never visiting her again, but that would have hurt her more than he didn’t wish. So he decided to murder her. He says that his act brought her the peace she deserved because loving him was more torturous than death. He pauses for a moment and then says that he cursed her after killing her. But how could he curse her? She was the most pious woman he knew and if he cursed her, it only suggests that he is insane. He then looks towards Hope and implores with his eyes to agree with him. Hope thinks for a while and it reminds him how Hickman forced him to go outside. He looks at the policemen and exclaims that yes, Hickman is crazy. Everyone else thinks that if Hickman is crazy, then all his efforts to shatter their pipedreams were a consequence of his craziness and they are not bound to ruin their pipedreams. Thus, everyone harangues the police and claims that Hickman is insane.
The policemen lose their patience. One of them shouts at the saloon inmates that they should stop protecting Hickman, he is a murderer who will definitely get a death sentence. Hickman smiles at Hope and says that he doesn’t care about death and the police take him away. Meanwhile, Don Parritt confronts Larry and says that he has something to confess. Larry tries to ignore him again but Parritt insists. He says that the anonymous tip to the police that resulted in the arrest of many radical Movement supporters including his mother was given by him. He says that he had nothing against the other radicals but he hated his mother and wished her to suffer. He looks at Larry as if he hopes to be condemned, scolded, and abused by him so that he may get rid of the guilt that is building in him. Larry remains calm though. Ultimately, he says that Parritt will never attain peace this way, he urges him to end his life as this can be the only way to end his torture. Parritt smiles and goes towards the room that he recently booked. He jumps off the window of the room and commits suicide. Larry meanwhile realizes that he has a huge bag of his own torture but unlike Parritt, he cannot get relief so soon as he fears death as much as he hates his life.
Meanwhile, the other inmates are back to their own selves now when Hickman is out and away from their life. They embrace their pipe dreams again and start enjoying their indolent and inebriated life.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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