The Emperor Jones is a play by Eugene O'Neill about a Black American man who becomes dictator of an island and oppresses the local Blacks much as he has been oppressed. When they stage an uprising he flees into the jungle, only to be confronted--and ultimately defeated--by the ghosts of his past. The play explores the ideas of hierarchy, origin, and identity, and uses the memorable device of a drumbeat, which grows faster and louder throughout the play to the climax, to create a terrifying atmosphere.

The Emperor Jones

Emperor Jones Comments

• A Play By Eugene O'Neill

• Brutus Jones

Henry Smithers

Natives

Old Native Woman

Lem

Soldiers

Phantoms

The Little Formless Fears

Jeff

Negro Convicts

Prison Guard

Planters

Auctioneer

Slaves

Congo Witch-Doctor

The Crocodile God

Setting

"An island in the West Indies as not yet self-determined by white Marines."

Plot Summary

Scene 1

In this first scene we meet the Emperor, a Black man from the United States who, having learned about "big thievin'" by listening to white people as a porter on a Pullman train, is now resourceful and crooked enough to become emperor of an island in just two years. His cruelty has sparked a native revolt: all of his servants have fled to the hills to plot his downfall, and he has decided to leave the island, cash out his foreign bank account and live a rich life elsewhere. He explains to Smithers that the natives will not dare harm him--according to a legend that he spread himself, only a silver bullet can kill him. As he saunters off into the jungle with only his clothes, his hat, and his revolver (which holds five lead shots and one silver bullet), a drum begins to beat in the distance at the average pace of a human heart. The drum continues throughout the entire play.

Scene 2

Nightfall

In the jungle, Jones begins to realize that his escape will not be easy when he cannot locate a box of food he had hidden for just this occasion. We see the first signs of supernatural activity when "The Little Formless Fears" surround him--small beings of indeterminate shape, dark in color. Startled by them, Jones fires his first shot into their numbers and runs away into the jungle. The drum-beat increases its pace.

Scene 3

Nine o'clock

We hear the measured sound of a pair of dice being thrown and retrieved as Jones stumbles into another clearing, only to be confronted by Jeff, a man he killed in America over a dice game. Frightened by this phantom, Jones shoots again, wanting to make sure that Jeff remains dead this time. As he runs away into the jungle again, the drum begins to beat faster.

Scene 4

Eleven o'clock

In a clearing with a glimmering, insubstantial road, Jones stops to rest, only to have the Convicts and their Guard descend upon him. The Guard forces him into the chain gang to work on the road and Jones relives the circumstances of a second murder. When the Guard whips him, he attempts to brain him with a shovel, only to discover that he has no shovel; he instead shoots at him with his revolver and the forest closes on him. The drumming increases in speed and volume.

Scene 5

One o'clock

Jones comes to a clearing and collapses on a tree stump, offering a prayer for forgiveness. As he rests, the figures of Southern planters and their wives surround him. The Auctioneer enters and puts a line of slaves on the stump next to Jones. When he tries to sell Jones, the emperor rebels, and again pulls his revolver. As he runs into the forest "crying with fear," the drum begins to beat faster and louder.

Scene 6

Three o'clock

Jones, now in tatters except for a breech cloth, feels his way into another dark clearing. The lights raise enough that we see rows of slaves, sitting as if chained to the trees. Jones has stumbled into the belly of a ship in the Middle Passage. The slaves begin to moan and then to wail, frightening Jones. He begins to wail as well and joins in their posture. Their sound fades with the light, and he continues to wail as he escapes into the jungle again. The drum increases its pace and volume.

Scene 7

Five o'clock

Jones comes at last to a clearing where the trees and stones resemble a church with an altar. Jones recognizes the place as a fearful one and cowers, hysterical with fright. The Congo Witch-Doctor appears and begins to dance and chant a summoning. His dance becomes the story of Jones, fleeing from a pursuing evil, becoming more and more frantic as the evil draws closer. Hypnotized, Jones joins his keening and stamping. Evil demands a sacrifice; the Witch-Doctor indicates Jones and calls the Crocodile God up from the river. The ensorcelled Jones squirms toward the waiting jaws of the Crocodile God, all the while screaming for mercy. He fires the last bullet--the silver one--at the Crocodile God and the apparitions disappear.

Scene 8

Dawn

Smithers, Lem, and some native soldiers meet at the edge of the forest. The natives insist that they will now capture Jones; Smithers does not believe that they can do so simply by waiting there, rather than hunting Jones in the forest. Lem sends his troops in when he hears footsteps; they fire shots in the jungle. Lem explains that the natives have spent the whole night cooking down their money to make silver bullets that can counteract Jones's invincibility charm. The soldiers return, carrying Jones's body, and the natives exit. Smithers is left onstage, scoffing at their magic.

Analysis

Themes

• Hierarchy

This encompasses several smaller themes: Race and ethnicity, Class, and Power. There is a decided hierarchy that is set at the beginning of the play and then shifted as the play goes on and the power is transferred. Jones, as a Black man, is lower than the white men in America and other countries where whites have sovereignty. But by virtue of his sovereignty on the island, and by virtue of his violent charisma and self-sure authority, he has dominion over Smithers--a white Englishman, albeit a very low-class one--and all the Blacks on the island, who are natives. As a more (arguably) sophisticated and/or civilized American Black man, he claims superiority over the natives, to whom he refers as "woods-niggers." Jones has initiated his own social mobility by observing the practices of the class in power and imitating their authority. Jones reveals this as the secret of his success:

"Dere's little stealin' like you does, and dere's big stealin' like I does. For de little stealin' dey gits you in jail soon or late. For de big stealin' dey makes you Emperor...If dey's one thing I learns in ten years on de Pullman ca's listenin' to de white quality talk it's dat same fact. And when I gits a chance to use it I winds up Emperor in two years."

And yet, regardless of all the power he has stolen, he cannot ultimately escape the power of natives on their native soil.

• Identity

In addition to the question of race, this theme also questions the validity of made identity versus inherent identity. Jones oppresses the Blacks on the island on the basis of ethnicity, not race; rather than seeing them as Blacks like himself, he looks down upon them for their primitivism and suffers no qualms about forcing them into servitude, as was done to his own people. Also, though Jones sees himself as smart, resourceful, powerful, and more sophisticated than the islanders, he still speaks in a dialect of English that suggests he is still ignorant and lowly: the identity he has built is not consistent with his (at this time) inherent identity. As the play progresses and the islanders gradually usurp power through their magic, Jones is stripped of his imperial identity as he takes a trip back through his own past, and then the racial past of his people, and in the end is even more primitive than the islanders, crawling through the jungle in a breech cloth.

• Origin/Past

This theme addresses the conflict between natives and intruders, the idea of racial past, and of past sins. Jones is an outsider on the island, and uses this to his advantage to climb to the position of Emperor. He forces outside, imperial rule on the natives and acts as a dictator for his own personal gain--essentially a kleptocracy. But when the natives stand united against him on their native soil, the very forest turns on Jones, disoritenting and attacking him until the natives can capture him at dawn. As Jones runs through the forest, he faces the phantoms of his own past, and then his racial past. His sins--the murders--are presented to him first. And though he begs God for protection, mercy and forgiveness, he cannot escape being thrown into his racial past as well--the auction block, the Middle Passage, etc. Against his will, we see him join in the wailing of slaves in transit to America; this past is rooted in him strongly, and though it is heightened by fear and magic, he cannot escape its pull. Jones asks forgiveness for his sins, but cannot escape punishment for them. It seems that his God does not rule the island any more than he does, and he must be sacrificed to appease the justice of the island, symbolized by the Crocodile God.

Symbols and Devices

• Drumbeat

The constant drumbeat serves to heighten the anxiety and terror of the production, and also tracks Jones's own terror. It is this sound sent out by the natives that alters his mood and sends him into a panic gradually; it is a symbol of their power that changes along with their plight against Jones. It is "insistent" (I.i) and then "more insistent, triumphant" (I.vi). It is "fierce" and "exultant" in I.vii at Jones's impending doom, and at the end of the scene "somber" with "a baffled but revengeful power."

• Mobile Set

The mobile set suggested by O'Neill's stage directions also symbolizes the power of the natives, and Jones's status as both a stranger, and a man stripped of power. The set is different in each scene, but always somewhat insubstantial, suggesting the forest as an almost sentient force, bent on punishing Jones for his crimes. In Scene Five, it even closes on him blatantly once he fires his shot, revealing itself as something beyond his control now that it has been roused against him--much like the natives themselves.

• Clothes

Jones's clothes are the symbols of his office and rulership; his coat and shoes, spurs, and other accoutrements are decorations that set him apart from the natives, who appear in "rag-concealed nakedness" and "palm-leaf hats" (I.viii). These clothes also distance Jones from his racial past, from the stripped slaves chained in the belly of a ship. As he starts into the forest with confidence, he wears all the trappings of his office, as well as a hat--a luxury--and is sure of his authority. As he loses his way and his confidence, his clothes are gradually taken from him (whether lost in the jungle or removed because of the oppressive heat) until he is just as stripped as the natives he oppressed. As his symbols of office are ripped from him, his power is taken away from him and transferred to the natives.

Criticism

The New York Times called the play "One of the sensations of the season" and stated that it was "Attended largely...by professionals."

--New York Times Dec. 10 1920

The production was also called "Exciting and terrifying," and

Gilpin's performance "Amazing and unforgettable" --New York Times Dec. 28 1920

Sources

O'Neill, Eugene. The Emperor Jones . Toronto: Random House, 1964.

Woollcott, Alexander. "The Play." The New York Times . Dec. 28, 1920.

Woollcott, Alexander. "Second Thoughts on First Nights: The New O'Neill Play." The New York Times . Nov. 7, 1920.

"To Close Sunday Theatre." The New York Times . Dec. 10, 1920.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_Jones