Abstract

From the dead mother and child at the end of The Fog to the Pietá scene in A Moon for the Misbegotten, O’Neill repeatedly depicted hopeless mother-and-son images reflecting modern materialistic, patriarchal Western culture. Autobiographical as it is, Long Day’s Journey Into Night is no exception, pursuing the theme of reinstating the Mother disrespected in that modern context. Mary’s illness is metaphorically a disease caused by patriarchal and materialistic values in combination, while Edmund’s tuberculosis evokes the spiritual crisis of modern mankind. Mary’s recovery is expected to be a harbinger of the spiritual rebirth of humanity by the empowerment of the Mother, and the play’s evocation of the swan maiden theme and its echoes of the Noh play Hagoromo give mythic foundation to this theme.

pdf