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| Character | Edmund Tyrone | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Young Adult (20-35) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Depressed, Frustrated, Rejoicing/Excited, Reminiscing life story/Telling a story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1956 | |
| Period | 20th Century | |
| Genre | Family, Drama | |
| Description | Edmund reminisces his life on the sea | |
| Details | ACT 4 | |
Summary
The play is set in the summer of 1912 in the house of the Tyrone family. The monologue is delivered by Edmond, the 23 year old son of James Tyrone and Mary Tyrone. Edmond has spent several years traveling abroad on a merchant ship. He has just come back home and has just found out he has contracted tuberculosis. His father is a retired actor and appears to be very stingy, preferring to spend his money in real estate rather than help his son regain his health. Mary Tyrone has also a medical problem as is addicted to morphine. His older brother, Jamie, is an actor like his father but not as successful. All the three men of the family are alcoholics. The play takes place in a day and follows this dysfunctional family as they argue, fight, accuse each other and so on.
In this scene we find Edmond with his father. They just had an argument where Edmond accuses his father of being responsible for his mother's addiction to morphine. They also express their frustrations as Edmond's dad tells his son of a mistake he made in the past that prevented him from becoming very famous. Edmond also confesses that he is afraid he will die of tuberculosis.
They finally come to peace with each other and relax. Edmond starts telling a story from his life on the sea and remembers how happy he used to be. He concludes his long speech saying how he "will always be a stranger who never feels at home, who does not really want and is not really wanted, who can never belong and who must always be a little in love with death...".
In this scene we find Edmond with his father. They just had an argument where Edmond accuses his father of being responsible for his mother's addiction to morphine. They also express their frustrations as Edmond's dad tells his son of a mistake he made in the past that prevented him from becoming very famous. Edmond also confesses that he is afraid he will die of tuberculosis.
They finally come to peace with each other and relax. Edmond starts telling a story from his life on the sea and remembers how happy he used to be. He concludes his long speech saying how he "will always be a stranger who never feels at home, who does not really want and is not really wanted, who can never belong and who must always be a little in love with death...".
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| EDMUND: "You've just told me some high spots in your memories. Want to hear mine? They're all connected with the sea. Here's one. When I was on the Squarehead square rigger, bound for Buenos Aires. Full moon in the trades. The old hooker driving 14 knots. I lay on the bowsprit, facing astern, with the water foaming into spume under me. Every mast with sail white in the moonlight - towering high above me. I became drunk with the beauty and singing rhythm of it - and for a second I lost myself, actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved into the sea, became white sails and flying spray - became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky. I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of man, to Life itself! To God if you want to put it that way. Then another time, on the American line, when I was lookout in the crow's nest on the dawn watch. A calm sea that time. Only a lazy ground swell and a slow drousy roll of the ship. The passengers asleep and none of the crew in sight. No sound of man. Black smoke pouring from the funnels behind and beneath me. Dreaming, not keeping lookout, feeling alone, and above, and apart, watching the dawn creep like a painted dream over the sky and sea which slept together. Then the moment of ecstatic freedom came. The peace, the end of the quest, the last harbor, the joy of belonging to a fulfillment beyond men's lousy, greedy fears and hopes and dreams! And several other times in my life, when I was swimming far out, or lying alone on the beach, I have had the same experience. Became the sun, the hot sand, green seaweed anchored to a rock, swaying in the tide. Like a saint's vision of beatitude. Like the veil of things as they seem drawn back by an unseen hand. For a second you see - and seeing the secret, are the secret. For a second there is meaning! Then the hand lets the veil fall and you are alone, lost in the fog again, stumbling on toward no where, for no good reason! it was a great mistake, my being born a man. I would have been much more successful as a seagull or fish. As it is, I will always be a stranger who never feels at home, who does not want and is not really wanted, who can never belong, who must always be a little in love with death." |
