The Tragic Hero in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones and The Hairy Ape In the Light of Karen Horney’s Theory of Neurotic Pride

Abstract

This dissertation proposes to study the tragic hero in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones and The Hairy Ape in the light of Karen Horney's theory of neurotic pride. It attempts to verify whether Jones - a black character - and Yank - a stoker - in The Emperor Jones and The Hairy Ape respectively, who were subject to rejection because of their belonging to marginalised groups, could not develop into their real selves and reach self integrity. Instead, both protagonists, to feel worthy and secure, develop neurotic pride which causes them to mould themselves into their illusory idealised selves as an immortal emperor and a divine stoker. In Horney's view, both characters will grow into alienated beings who exist both as their actual selves in the real world (conscious) and their idealised selves in their fantasy world (unconscious). The encounter between conscious and unconscious anticipates the heroes' downfall.

Therefore, the choice of a psychoanalytical criticism suits the subject of our research as it addresses the mind, i.e., conscious and unconscious functioning. In fact, it sheds light on the heroes' psychic conflict which is the main cause of their tragedy. Among a number of psychoanalysts' theories we have opted for Horney's theory in particular because it presents a social view of the psyche, placing emphasis on social factors and their contribution to forming the unconscious. In other words, it shows how lack of warmth and love in Jones's and Yank's environment have made of them victims of neurotic pride whose only obsession is finding security.

After trying to bring evidence from the text that Jones and Yank are victims of neurotic pride as explained by Horney, this research attempts to redefine the link between O'Neill's personal experience and his fiction. In other words, it tries to investigate whether the playwright's interest in depicting neurotic characters such as Jones and Yank stems from his personal experience of neurosis. Here appears the second reason for choosing a psychoanalytical approach. In fact, in addition to the character's psyche, psychoanalysis also addresses the author's mind.

The last concern of our dissertation is exploring the stylistic aspect of both plays, Expressionism in particular. We argue that O'Neill's choice of Expressionism as the dominant style in the two plays is linked with his interest in dramatising his characters' neurotic conflict and perhaps also his own. Indeed, Expressionism seems to suit the topic of our research as it brings into light the hidden neurotic conflict.