55 pages • 1 hour read
Eugene O'NeillA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act Summaries & Analyses
Act I opens with a set description; the play takes place in the Tyrones’ summer home in August 1912, with a range of English and European literature on the shelves. The family has just finished breakfast, and the narrator introduces James and Mary. Mary Tyrone is 54 years old, and she looks younger except for her knotted fingers. She is self-conscious about her fingers, and she dresses plainly. James Tyrone, called simply “Tyrone” for the duration of the play, is 65 years old, and he also looks younger than he is. He is an actor, and his demeanor is deliberate and performed as such, but his clothes are also plain and worn.
The two move to the living room, and Tyrone comments on Mary’s weight gain, which he encourages. The two wonder why their sons, Jamie and Edmund, are still in the dining room, and Tyrone speculates lightly that they are scheming against him. Mary chastises Tyrone’s business deals with a man named McGuire, but the two resolve not to argue. Hearing coughing in the other room, Mary comments on Edmund having a cold and needing more food. Tyrone tells Mary to worry about herself, referencing how she just “came back.
By Eugene O'Neill
All God's Chillun Got Wings
All God's Chillun Got Wings
Eugene O'Neill
A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Eugene O'Neill
Anna Christie
Anna Christie
Eugene O'Neill
Beyond the Horizon
Beyond the Horizon
Eugene O'Neill
Desire Under the Elms
Desire Under the Elms
Eugene O'Neill
Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra
Eugene O'Neill
Strange Interlude
Strange Interlude
Eugene O'Neill
The Emperor Jones
The Emperor Jones
Eugene O'Neill
The Great God Brown
The Great God Brown
Eugene O'Neill
The Hairy Ape
The Hairy Ape
Eugene O'Neill
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
Eugene O'Neill
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection