Background on Drama, Generally, and Applications to O'Neill's Play

        Drama or theater is often superficially covered in introduction to literature classes, introduction to literature textbooks, and sometimes in Humanities classes and textbooks. A principal reason for this superficiality is this genre's complexity, which is indicated by its usually being placed last in introductory textbooks: prose fiction, poetry, drama is the usual order for such textbooks, arranged from lesser to greater in complexity and difficulty. A play is not only a written piece of literature, and consequently possessed of all potential literary components of fiction and poetry, but also a script, which should require something physical of a particular theater or stage (setting, props, etc.) as well as of its actors (gestures, actions, blocking or grouping or composition on the stage). The word drama comes from Greek dran 'to do [something], perform a physical action,' which is indicative of its action orientation. If a literary author composes a work which does not mandate physical uses of setting, props, action, or other uniquely dramaturgical components, then the author might have more properly written a short story, novel, poem, or essay, none of which obliges us to go to a theater (or movie theater) to watch it: we could simply and only have read it.

        The particular elements of drama, its unique dramaturgical components, are as follows (the first three are designated with the terminology of Alan S. Downer, a perceptive literary scholar and student of drama, in his essay "The Life of Our Design: The Function of Imagery in the Poetic Drama" [Hudson Review 2 (1949): 242-260; and reprinted in many anthologies of critical essays on the drama and Shakespeare], as well as Downer's text-anthology of drama):

--nonverbal "language" of action (physical motion, gesture, composition or blocking: placement of the actors on the stage)

--nonverbal "language" of setting (actual, physical scenic elements of the stage, theater, or, in later drama, set design [e.g.,     tables, chairs, sofas])

--nonverbal "language" of props (actual, physical objects, which the props master or props mistress must furnish for the dramatic performance and are seen on stage)

--sound effects (e.g., screams, thunder, music)

[--lighting effects (available only later in drama, when indoor theaters developed; also in film)]

[--for film, a particular kind of drama, and covered by the screenplay of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion, reprinted in volume 2 of the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, 5th ed. or the screenplay of Marguerite Duras' Hiroshima Mon Amour in volume 2 of the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, 6th ed., and available for rental at some video rental stores, the following elements: (a) camera distance (long shot, medium shot, close-up); (b) camera angle (horizontal, up angle, down angle -- or aerial or crane shot, from a height); (c) camera motion (camera stationary and objects or people move into its view; camera moving and objects or people static -- a "pan" or dolly shot; zoom shot: camera zooms into a closeup of something or zooms out to a wide angle shot away from something; camera moving and objects or people moving, as in every "B" Western from the 1940's, with a camera on the back of a pickup, in front of the galloping hero or villain out in the wilds of Burbank or Northridge, California); (d) camera or film speed (normal motion, fast motion, slow motion); (e) special effects, the abbreviation "F/X" now immortalized in two (more to come?) films of this name]

        Many times stage directions for plays, indicating the above special dramaturgical elements, are indicated in printed texts of plays by square brackets, indicating that they have been supplied not by the author but rather by the translator or editor. Dramatists often do not bother indicating where and when a certain physical action should take place on stage, prop be supplied, or detail of setting be constructed, first, because the dramatist feels that the script or text "speaks" for itself, second, the dramatist is writing for professionals who will know how to proceed, and, third, supplying all such references would probably expand the script or text to twice its length or even more. Therefore, alert readers, who do not have the opportunity to see a drama on stage, must read the text like a director for a middle school play, realizing that the director is going to have to specify for the youngsters almost all motions, actions, gestures, props, and details of the set that are evoked by, indeed demanded by the language, the words, of the text. Here is where the playwright lives up to the meaning of the suffix of the name, wright, as a genuine maker. When stage directions have been supplied by the playwright or dramatist to indicate the languages of action, props, setting, or of sound effects, readers should, as with implied languages of action, props, setting, or sound effects, ponder what ideas or themes may be implied, particularly to a theatre audience viewing the play, often at a subliminal level.

G1. The Nonverbal "Language" of Action  The nonverbal "language" of action isn't a character's exclusively verbal reference to some action, gesture, or motion. If a character on stage simply says "My husband made a mess of the kitchen floor" this reference does not constitute the language of action. However, a genuine or authentic dramatist or playwright (remember the spelling of the latter word, based on the suffix wright, meaning "a maker") instinctively writes words that require actions or gestures from the actor or actors. (An authentic or genuine dramatist, instinctively writing for the correct literary genre, will write words that demand physical embodiment on stage.) (G1a) For example, when Mrs. Rowland says to her husband (in the next room) "Look at the mess you've made of this floor -- cigarette butts and ashes all over the place" (speech 10), even if O'Neill had not supplied a stage direction, the actress and reader would know that the character is supposed to have made a head gesture or hand gesture (or both) toward the floor to indicate the mess.  (G1b) Since literature is the maximum meaning in the words and literary components used, any example of the nonverbal "language" of action will also be revealing about character, personality, human nature, or theme. What themes or aspects of personality and human nature are conveyed by this small part of Mrs. Rowland's comments (speech 10)? Mrs. Rowland's gesture (or gestures) towards the floor would indicate Alfred's general abandonment of order, elegance, and responsibility in his life, as well as Mrs. Rowland's generally negative approach to the marriage, always criticizing.

G1-1. Grammar and the Language of Action; Grammar and the Interconnection of the "Languages" of Action and Props or Setting

Instinctively or intuitively, true dramatists or playwrights are drawn to use certain grammatical constructions like "the demonstrative pronoun"--this, that, these, those--or "relative adverb"--here, there-- which evoke action on stage; in other words, grammar in the text that requires an actor's motion or gesture. (G1-1a) The demonstrative pronoun, whose grammatical function is the pointing to something in a sentence, virtually makes or forces an experienced actor or actress to point or gesture to something physical on stage. As already noted, Mrs. Rowland's speech including reference to the floor (see section G1, above) utilizes the demonstrative pronoun ("this floor") to connect the characters with the nonverbal "language" of setting, conveying various ideas about them, their relationship, life, and human nature. (G1-1b) Another example occurs when Mrs. Rowland slams the loaf of bread on the kitchen table in between saying "All we got this morning is bread and butter and coffee; and you wouldn't even have that if it wasn't for me sewing my fingers off" (speech 11) and "The bread's stale. I hope you'll like it. You don't deserve any better" (speech 12). Her physical action and the prop and sound all contribute to suggesting things about the Rowlands' economic status, Mrs. Rowland's emotional state, Mr. Rowland's commitment to work, and Mr. Rowland's life expectancy (an old saying is "bread is the staff of life").

G2. The "Language" of Setting The "language" of setting is not simply a character's reference to a place or detail of a place, unless that place or detail of place must be embodied onstage and seen by the audience. Besides a great deal of trouble and potentially expense (details of set and also props must be borrowed, rented, purchased, or constructed for the drama, whereas they can merely be verbally referred to in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction), the "language" of setting can be extremely important, since the setting remains in view of the audience for an entire scene, act, or perhaps the whole play. Though the audience may not be paying attention to details or aspects of the set, nevertheless they are seeing them all the time, and these details and their potential meaning or symbolism are registering on the audience's subconscious (perhaps conscious, for the more literarily experienced) for the whole scene, act, or play. As with its use in television advertising (e.g., the fancy restaurant and glamorous nighttime setting, including people in evening dress, all surrounding the automobile being promoted), the "language" of setting in drama, may have a powerful subliminal thematic symbolism. (G2-a.) As noted in the Supplementary Questions, below, a number of features of the setting, spelled out in detail by O'Neill in the stage directions have much symbolic application to the characters and play, though they might very well be forgotten by most readers a few paragraphs later (but could not be forgotten entirely by the audience): all the 2's in the set (beginning with the two-burner gas stove), the dish closet (which comes to symbolize by association aspects of Mrs. Rowland), the fire escape, the several potted plants dying of neglect, the oilcloth covering the kitchen table, the two chairs at the table versus the lone chair against the wall to the right of a rear door, the pegs of a man's and a woman's clothing, and the clothesline (apparently bisecting the set). How do all these elements of setting contribute meaning? (See the Supplementary Questions, below, for further hints.)

G3. The "Language" of Props A character's mere verbal reference to some physical object is not the "language" of props, unless that object must, as a consequence of the text, the script, be placed on stage. As with details of the set, props are extra trouble and expense in the drama; while the other, exclusively verbal literary genres (except for unusual writers like William Blake -- whose poetry, found in R&J -- is ordinarily  not fully represented because of how it was embodied in his own engraved pictures), can simply refer to objects (a bottle of gin, a drinking glass, a man's clothes hung on one peg and a woman's clothes on the other, a letter written from someone to someone else,  kitchenware plates, coffee cups, a loaf of bread, a broom) without physically providing them, the text or script of a play may require their placement and use onstage, involving rental, borrowing, purchase, or construction of the specific items. (G-3a) How do several of the props listed in G-3 convey visually, non-verbally, symbolism and various facets of the personalities and psychologies of the characters in the play, both individually and in relation to each other? For example, how do the bottle of gin (and glass), man's clothes hung on a peg, and letter written from someone come to represent secretiveness or deception in the wife's and husband's behavior and lives? (G-3b) Staging of certain aspects of a play involve more difficulty than a reader or viewer might think; for example, what are the numerous technical difficulties in staging a play, which will have multiple performances, that involves a character dsliding out from a dish "closet" (cabinet)  a hidden bottle of Gordon's gin and glass, disturbing the top dish "which rattles a little" (SD 1)?  The difficulties involved in such staging are one indication of how important, both for characterization and meaning, the nonverbal "language" of props is with regard to the chairs in this O'Neill play.

G4. Music and Sound Effects Music and sound effects are acoustic trouble in the drama, insofar as the text of a play, a script, requires their actual implementation (versus mere verbal references to them in the exclusively verbal literary genres). Not only do these components have to be physically produced, but, as with props and set, they increase the possibility of errors or mishaps in actual stage productions (e.g., a missed cue for the music or sound effect). Aristotle in his treatise The Poetics refers to them in the ancient Greek drama, and they have been used subsequently in drama and in film. For example, John Williams, following the lead of classical composer Richard Wagner, composed specific melodic motifs for each of the characters in the Star Wars trilogy, and each time the character appears or is mentioned (as in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungs) the melody is heard in the soundtrack. An example of thematic music -- an aural or auditory symbolism -- represented in the drama and found in R&J occurs in Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie. (G-4a) How in O'Neill's play must the sound of a dish rattling "a little" (SD 1) be handled by a stagehand offstage, and what meaning or characterization does the sound effect help convey? (G-4b) What various meanings do the sound effects have of the bread slamming, the sound of a straight-edge razor being "stropped," Alfred's first exclamation of pain, "the noise of a chair being overturned, and something crash[ing] heavily to the floor" (SD 30)?

       Quite a few more of Eugene O'Neill's plays have been turned into feature films than the one listed in the introduction by R&J -- Long Day's Journey Into Night (film version, 1962): Anna Christie (film version, 1930); Strange Interlude (film version, 1932); The Emperor Jones (film version, 1933);   The Long Voyage Home (film version, from several short O'Neill plays, 1940); The Hairy Ape (film version, 1944); Mourning Becomes Electra (film version, 1947);  Desire Under the Elms (film version, 1958); The Iceman Cometh (film version, 1973). Film stars in these movies have included John Wayne, William Bendix, Greta Garbo, Paul Robeson, Sophia Loren, Jason Robards, and Jeff Bridges.

        Eugene O'Neill himself becomes a main character, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, in the epic motion picture (featuring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton), based on real persons in the early 1900's, titled Reds (1981). The film includes an appearance by one of the great contemporary American novelists (an emigré from Poland) -- Jerzy Kosinski -- author of, among other novels, Being There (turned into a major motion picture with several film stars in 1979).

Supplementary Questions (to R&J) on O'Neill's Before Breakfast

1. (a) How is the number 2 emphasized (subliminally for the audience) in the set for the play, as described in the opening and later stage directions? (b) How is this number thematically appropriate to the Rowlands?

2. (a) What is the practical difficulty in presenting repeated performances of a play over time that specifies (S.D. before the first speech) a view of "several potted plants . . . dying of neglect"? (b) How could this practical difficulty be solved in 1916? (c) What might the symbolism of the plants -- in view of the audience for the whole play -- be as applied to the Rowlands?

3. What might be the symbolism, as applied to each of the Rowlands, of the nonverbal "language" of setting in the fire escape specified in the stage directions before the first speech? (As a sidelight, Tennessee Williams makes a comment about the potential symbolism of fire escapes in the setting of his play The Glass Menagerie in the opening description of the play's set; the comment and play may be found in Ch. 29/"Visions of Dramatic Reality and Nonreality" in R&J.)

4. Given that the function of an "oilcloth" -- one of the components of the nonverbal "language" of setting specified in the stage directions before the first speech -- on the kitchen table is to prevent liquid or dirt from penetrating or getting to the table, what might the symbolism of this be as applied to the Rowlands?

5. What might the symbolism or significance be, as applied to the Rowlands and the history of their relationship, that is conveyed by the nonverbal "language" of setting of two chairs at the table with another standing by itself against the wall, as specified in the stage directions before the first speech?

6. (a) What are the practical difficulties in staging multiple performances when having a set with the specification (in the stage directions before the first speech) of "a clothes line . . . strung from the left corner, rear, to the right wall forward"? (b) What might the symbolism or significance be, as applied to the Rowlands, that is conveyed by this component of the nonverbal "language" of setting?

7. (a) What are the practical difficulties in staging multiple performances when the text or script specifies what Mrs. Rowland does with regard to what she keeps and removes from the dish closet, according to the stage directions in speech 1? (b) How could these difficulties be solved when putting on the play in 1916? (c) What ideas about Mrs. Rowland and her relationship to Mr. Rowland are conveyed by the nonverbal "languages" of action and setting or props in this particular detail?

8. What several ideas about Mrs. Rowland, Mr. Rowland, and their relationship are conveyed by the nonverbal "language" of props in the letter Mrs. Rowland retrieves and reads?

9. (a) Given what happens at the end of the play, what might be the verbal symbolism (in contrast to the nonverbal "languages" of action, props, setting, and sound effects) of Mrs. Rowland's reference to Mr. Rowland's having pawned his watch (speech 5)? (b) How is Mrs. Rowland's exhortation to Alfred to "beg, borrow, or steal" money somewhere (speech 8) in contradiction to Mrs. Rowland's comparison of her father to  Alfred's (speech 16)? What is revealed about Mrs. Rowland's character or personality or thinking through this contradiction? (c) What several instances of dramatic irony occur in the text of the play, including Mrs. Rowland's statement to Alfred "You'd better give it [shaving with a straight razor] up. One of these mornings you'll give yourself a serious cut" (speech 24)? (d) What is ironic about Mrs. Rowland's criticism of Alfred's drinking (speech 14)? What personality or behavioral trait or traits of  Mrs. Rowland might be revealed here?

10. (a) People can make various kinds of criticism of others; what kind (including its very general implication) does Mrs. Rowland consistently make of Mr. Rowland, as suggested by the last sentence of speech 5 ("The last valuable thing we had . . . ")? (b) What are the applications of this point to parents as well as to lovers?

11. How does Mrs. Rowland's address to Mr. Rowland recall the same use of the nonverbal "language" of setting in Anton Chekhov's play The Bear, including the subject touched on?

12. How do both sound effects and the nonverbal "language" of props, relative to Mrs. Rowland's handling of the loaf of bread (speech 11), convey not only the Rowlands' socioeconomic status, but also aspects of Mrs. Rowland's personality or psychology?

13. What might be the ironic verbal symbolism in the identification of Mrs. Rowland's occupation -- e.g., its application to the relationship between the Rowlands (speech 11)?

14. (a) What are the practical difficulties in staging repeatedly a play that calls for taking a "broom and commences to sweep viciously, raising a cloud of dust" (speech 15, s.d.)? (b) How could the difficulty be solved in 1916? (c) What might the symbolism or significance be of this component of the nonverbal "language" of setting?

15. How, exactly, do several of the details Mrs. Rowland refers to in speech 22 ("What makes you . . . ") indicate that Mr. Rowland at this point for the first time is contemplating his death?

16. How is Mrs. Rowland's concern about Mr. Rowland's cut (speech 24) ironic in the play?

17. What several sound effects are used symbolically in the play besides those already noted?

18. (a) An old radio show -- a comedy -- about a disagreeing husband and wife was entitled The Bickersons (1946-1947; 1951); how does similar onomastic symbolism apply to the Rowlands? (b) What connotations does the first name or forename of Mr. Rowland have (i.e., would O'Neill have been more advised to name him Elmer)? (c) What is Mrs. Rowland's first name or forename, and what is the significance of this detail, with regard to what she wanted when she first met Mr. Rowland?

Vocabulary (asterisks indicate use of a word in a sense that may be unfamiliar to some readers)

slovenly (S.D. 0); toilet* (S.D. 0); drab (S.D. 0); inclined* (S.D. 0); accentuated (S.D. 0); stoutness (S.D. 0); nondescript (S.D. 0); spiteful (S.D. 0); vent* (S.D. 0); exasperated (S.D. 0); starts* (speech 1, s.d.); sulky (speech 1, s.d.); animated (speech 2, s.d.); vindictive (speech 2 , s.d.; speech 6, s.d.); stealthily (speech 2, s.d.); malignity (speech 4, s.d.); position* (speech 7); huff* [noun] (speech 10); D.T.'s (speech 15); somberly (speech 17, s.d.)

SAMPLE ESSAY ON EUGENE O'NEILL'S PLAY BEFORE BREAKFAST FROM R&J, THIRD AND FOURTH EDITIONS

        [1] In the one-act play Before Breakfast, Eugene O'Neill dramatizes the suicidal crisis of a worsening husband-wife relationship. The story is clear: Mrs. Rowland, when still a young girl, was naive and opportunistic. She used her sexuality to seduce and then marry Alfred Rowland, who was the heir of his father's millions. Her resulting pregnancy ended in stillbirth. As if this were not enough, Alfred's father died not a millionaire but a pauper deeply in debt. During the years of these disappointments, it is clear that Mrs. Rowland has lost whatever pleasantness she once possessed, and has descended into a state of personal neglect, alcoholism, and bitter selfishness. To bring out these traits early in the play, O'Neill relies heavily on negative descriptions and stage directions.

        [2] O'Neill's descriptions of Mrs. Rowland's personal neglect emphasize her loss of self-esteem. The directions indicate that she has allowed her figure to become a "shapeless stoutness," and that she has left her hair a "drab-colored mass." This neglect of her physical person is capped off, according to O'Neill's description, by her blue dress, which is "shabby and worn" and "formless" (0.1 s.d.). Clearly, the shabbiness and excessive wear may result from poverty, and thus show little about her character, but the formlessness of the dress indicates a characteristic lack of concern about appearance, also shown by her present physical condition and the miserable attention she gives her hair. This slovenly image shows how she wants to appear in public, because she is dressed and ready to go to work for the day. O'Neill's uncomplimentary descriptions thus define her absence of self-respect.

        [3] Similarly uncomplimentary, O'Neill's directions about her sneaking, furtive behavior reveal her dependence on alcohol. A serious sign of distress, even though it might also be funny on stage, is the direction indicating that she takes out a bottle of gin, which she keeps hidden behind dishes in a "dish closet" (speech 1, s.d.). With this stage direction, O'Neill symbolizes the weakest trait of the secret drinker, which he also shows in the direction that Mrs. Rowland brightens up once she has taken a stiff jolt of gin:

The large dose of alcohol she has taken has an almost immediate effect. Her features become more animated, she seems to gather energy, and she looks at the bedroom with a hard, vindictive smile on her lips. (speech 2, s.d.)

It is safe to assume that these stage directions, on the morning of the play's action, would also have applied to her behavior on many previous mornings. In short, O'Neill is telling us through the stage directions that Mrs. Rowland is a secret alcoholic.

        [4] The furtiveness of her drinking also shows up in her search of Alfred's clothing, which also shows her selfishness and bitterness. When she methodically empties his pockets, and uncovers the letter that we soon learn is from his mistress, the stage directions show that she unhesitatingly and underhandedly reads the letter through. Then O'Neill directs the actress to form "a cruel smile on her lips" as she thinks about what to do with this new information (speech 4, s.d.). As with the drinking, we see Mrs. Rowland rifling through his things only this once, but the action suggests that this secretive prying is a regular feature of her life. However, it is her discovery on this morning -- before breakfast -- which is the key to the action, because her extensive monologue against her husband, which constitutes most of the play, allows her to vent all her hatred by reproaching him about his lack of work, his neglect of her, the time he spends with friends, his love affair, and so on.

        [5] While O'Neill uses these early stage directions and descriptions to convey a character portrait of Mrs. Rowland's unpleasantness, he provides a certain balance in her speeches and additional actions. He makes her a master of harangue, but there is nothing either in the directions or in her speeches to indicate that she wants to drive Alfred to suicide. Indeed, her horror at his suicide is genuine -- just as it concludes the play with an incredible shock. In addition, on the positive side, her speeches show that despite her alcoholism and anger she is actually functioning in the outside world -- as a seamstress -- and that it is she who provides the meager money on which the couple is living (speech 6). In addition, she is working despite the fact that she has been feeling ill for a period of time before the play's action (speech 20). She also has enough concern for Alfred to bring him hot water for shaving (speech 14, s.d.).

        [6] It is clear that O'Neill wants us to conclude that if Mrs. Rowland were a supportive person, Alfred might not be the nervous alcoholic who cuts his throat in the bathroom. However, the play does not make clear that he ever could have been better, even with the maximum support of a perfect wife. Certainly, Mrs. Rowland is not supportive. The stage directions and speeches show that she is limited by her weakness and bitterness. With such character traits, she has unquestionably never given Alfred any support at all, and probably never could. Everything that O'Neill tells us about her indicates that she is petty and selfish, and that she originally married Alfred expecting to receive and not to give.

        [7] As things stand at the beginning of the play, then, Alfred is at the brink of despair, and Mrs. Rowland's bitter and reproachful speeches drive him into the pit of suicide. With all the spitefulness that O'Neill attributes to her character through the stage descriptions and directions, however, it is not possible to say that she is the only cause of Alfred's suicide. O'Neill shows that Mrs. Rowland is an unpleasant, spiteful, and messy whiner, but conclusions beyond this characterization remain somewhat complicated and speculative.