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Harry Savill
The Iceman Cometh the conflict with oneself, truth, suffering

INTRODUCTION
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In The Iceman Cometh, the bar-dwellers are blinded by the the distorting lens of pipe dreams
(Jordan Miller, 1962)

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Though the characters outwardly seem content with their lives, internally, they are plagued by
the truth and use artificial highs as an escape from the harsh entrapments of reality
...


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Ultimately, the harrowing reality is that the two plays are, to an intense and intimidating extent,
autobiographical; for O Neill, they are works of mourning and represent his own admission and
ultimate acceptance of the truth
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The fact that both of the plays have autobiographical elements in them amplifies the emotional
impact for the audience
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The Preface to LDJN reiterates this
fact
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It was, according to Gelb, the year he
hit bottom (Barbara Gelb, 1985)

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O Neill s brother Jamie represented through several characters
Essentially, The Iceman Cometh begins and ends in his brother James, who appears in many
variations
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Like Jamie, he is both a learned young man, whose wit and
philosophy stands above anyone else
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Hickey: In another form, Hickey could well represent Jamie at his best, the spirited and eternally
bright Mercutio, who could keep life in a state of perpetual revelry (Michael Manheim, 1982)
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Rosa Parritt: Or indeed, the parallels to Rosa Parritt are perhaps even clearer, with each of the
women s addictions acting as an opponent to the care of their isolated sons
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SUBSTANCE AS A WEAPON AGAINST THE TRUTH
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There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now
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And this ethos
is very much applicable when analyzing the source of the pain that the characters feel failed
pipe dreams
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In The Iceman Cometh, O Neill uses substance abuse as a means to escape from reality
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It stimulates nostalgia, the very
thing which provides the unsteady foundations upon which all the anger and frustration is
based: there is no escape from experience
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However, in both texts, this intoxicated admission does not actually
represent their acceptance of it
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Hickey s Salvationist activities
Hickey s argument is that alcohol impedes the process of self-realization
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It is obvious by their
reaction to Hickey s Salvationist activity that they are not ready for this admission of truth; none

of Hope's regulars can bear to understand mourning, and therefore they resort to alcohol in
order to anaesthetize the pain they choose to renounce in favour of self-delusion
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O Neill is famous for leaving for leaving very little consolation: his plays manifest a constant search
for some redemptive element, but never the actual discovery (Joseph O Neill, 1963)

DRAMATIC TECHNIQUES
It is not only the intense and poignant sociological themes attached to O Neill s plays that mark him
out as one of America s most influential playwrights, but also his command of the mimetic artform,
the dramatic methods which serve to intensify the poignancy of the characters suffering
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The very best dramatic dialogue reveals not only the motives that determine what a character is
to do but suggests his very appearance, his metaphysical being as well as the grosser material
figure (Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 1960) and considering this definition as a marker for
characterization, O Neill can be considered one of the masters

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