SETTING AND RELATIVE MEANINGS
The play takes place in August of 1912 at the Tyrone’s summer home in New London Connecticut. The house is on the banks of the Thames. August, the fall season, is beginning for the family. This one day is the marking of the end of the summer of the family’s existence. By choosing 1912 O’Neill selects the year that these events were actually taking place in his life.
The world outside the house floats by them like the river in the fog, seeming to have no effect on the family. The world slips away as the fog becomes denser throughout the evening, and the drug and alcohol stupors increase.
Most of the action takes place in the living room. At the rear of the room are the two double doors. One leads to the front parlor that is set formally yet occupied rarely. The other door leads to the dark windowless back parlor. This is like a cross-section of the lives of the Tyrones. The rear parlor is the dark side of their lives where they hide and sulk in their failures of the past. The front parlor is where their hopes and dreams, what might have been and possibly still could be, are waiting for them (Gannon, 21).
O’Neill carefully describes the books that are in two different bookcases. On a small bookcase are the works of Balzac, Zola, Stendhal, Marx, Engels, and Nietzsche and others. These are the contents of Edmond’s library. The authors represent the philosophical and literary influences on not only the character Edmund but O’Neill himself. In the nice glass covered book case are Dumas, Hugo, Shakespeare, various histories and poetry books. The contents of this bookcase belong to James Tyrone. These authors not only represent different time periods, but also radically different philosophies. Yet both bookcases lack a bible or any religious content. This is understandable for Edmund who does not claim religion himself, and goes so far as to quote Nietzsche in Act 2 Scene 2, “God is dead: of His pity for man God is dead.” But for Tyrone who is a self proclaimed “bad Catholic” in the same seen, there is the possibility of him having something of faith or religion on his shelf. The exclusion of such material seems to have been purposefully done by O’Neill.
The only picture on the wall that is mentioned is not that of a religious symbol. It is not a man praying over his meal, or a representation of the crucifixion, or the Virgin Mary, which might be found in a devout Catholic’s home. It is instead Shakespeare. Tyrone’s church is the theater and his prophet is Shakespeare who is “Irish Catholic” according to Tyrone. He quotes Shakespeare like he is quoting the bible. His three volume set of Shakespeare is worn so that it is apparent that it has been read and reread.
O’Neill uses the selection of titles to show that the family is literary and highly educated. But, they are as devoutly religious as they are honest with each other. O’Neill uses this lack of religious material to show the hypocrisy of James Tyrone. This setting, however simple, has a profound amount to say about the characters lives.
