The Hairy Ape is a 1922 expressionist play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. It is about a beastly, unthinking laborer known as Yank, the protagonist of the play, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich. At first, Yank feels secure as he stokes the engines of an ocean liner, and is highly confident in his physical power over the ship's engines and his men.
However, when the rich daughter of an industrialist in the steel business refers to him as a "filthy beast", Yank undergoes a crisis of identity and so starts his mental and physical deterioration. He leaves the ship and wanders into Manhattan, only to find he does not belong anywhere—neither with the socialites on Fifth Avenue, nor with the labor organizers on the waterfront. In a fight for social belonging, Yank's mental state disintegrates into animalistic, and in the end he is defeated by an ape in which Yank's character has been reflected.
Yank has died in search of his identity. He was in his comfort zone and the white lady has broke it. He was eager to know his belongingness. He is in search of his existence. When he find out that he does not belongs to any human community, he goes to the zoo for finding his belongingness. He thinks that he belongs to the ape in the zoo. He opens the cage to live inside it. He hugs the ape and ape killed him. So at the end also he died without identity.
This play shows us that one can not live without belongingness. One need the identity. Here we can see existentialism. Yank has failed to understand meaning of his existence and at the end he dies.
Thank you.
However, when the rich daughter of an industrialist in the steel business refers to him as a "filthy beast", Yank undergoes a crisis of identity and so starts his mental and physical deterioration. He leaves the ship and wanders into Manhattan, only to find he does not belong anywhere—neither with the socialites on Fifth Avenue, nor with the labor organizers on the waterfront. In a fight for social belonging, Yank's mental state disintegrates into animalistic, and in the end he is defeated by an ape in which Yank's character has been reflected.
Yank has died in search of his identity. He was in his comfort zone and the white lady has broke it. He was eager to know his belongingness. He is in search of his existence. When he find out that he does not belongs to any human community, he goes to the zoo for finding his belongingness. He thinks that he belongs to the ape in the zoo. He opens the cage to live inside it. He hugs the ape and ape killed him. So at the end also he died without identity.
This play shows us that one can not live without belongingness. One need the identity. Here we can see existentialism. Yank has failed to understand meaning of his existence and at the end he dies.
Thank you.
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