Quest of Identity in Eugene O’ Neil’s The Hairy Ape

Abstract

Quest is one of the important Archetypes of literature. It is ubiquitous in literature from ancient times. The focus of the present article is to study the play “The Hairy Ape” written by Eugene O’Neill as a narrative of quest of belongingness and identity. The aim is to show how all the elements of quest narrative are present in the plot of this play. The play is the quest narrative in the backdrop of modern civilization. The sense of identity and belongingness is like the Holy Grail quest. All the elements of the quest plot are realistic in place of fantastic. Being expressionistic play all the depths of heart and mind are given an overt expression. This article tries to analyze the quest of identity in The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’ Neil