Lesson Overview:

At first glance, Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire do not seem to have anything in common. Close scrutiny, however, reveals several provocative parallels. This lesson provides a variety of options for conducting comparative analysis between the plays.

Length of Lesson:

Four 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 11-12, and AP or IB classes.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• gain increasing awareness of how societal issues can be the centerpiece for themes and forms of drama.
• further probe specific ways philosophical and psychological theories shape themes and forms of drama.
• explicate and appreciate the power of visual and auditory expressionistic elements to help shape set design, narrative, characterization, and theme in the building of dramatic scripts.
• exercise skills of explication. craft essays of critical analysis and creative writing scripts.
• recognize elements that build artistic tension in dramatic scripts.
• expand skills of comparative analysis.
• participate in special projects.
• experience growth in the writing process, oral skills, skills of research, contextual analysis and collaboration.
• compare and value the work of two of America’s most gifted and valued playwrights.

Supplies:

• Audio equipment for tapes/CD’s
• VCR equipment
• Video tape: The Birth of the Blues
• O’Neill, Eugene, The Hairy Ape
• Williams, Tennessee, A Streetcar Named Desire

Instructional Plan:

Tell students that you will be comparing two masterpieces of American Theater, Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Assign the class to read both plays. (Note: See the related ARTSEDGE lessons Uncivil Civilization in The Hairy Ape and Exploring A Streetcar Named Desirefor suggestions on teaching each play.) Students should also be familiar with the Biographical Information handouts of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller.

After both plays have been read, ask the students whether they see any commonalities between the plays.

In a thoughtfully constructed essay, develop a comparative analysis of how each play is structured around the concept of "belonging". Consider, for instance:

• the perception each of the protagonists has about what he or she "belongs" to.
• what major societal forces have contributed to the erosion of these "anchors" of "belonging"?
• how each of the two plays is structurally designed in a pattern of encounters that gradually strip away the initial "self image" of each protagonist to expose to the audience the glare of "truth" and the consequence of the destruction of the protagonists’ "pipe dream" of "belonging".

Arthur Miller, in his essay, Tragedy and the Common Man, argues that the modern "tragic hero" has "nobility" and that this "nobility" builds "optimism" about the human condition. Develop an essay in which you take a position about whether or not you perceive Yank, in The Hairy Ape, and Blanche, in A Streetcar Named Desire, to be "tragic heroes" in accordance with Miller’s definition. Draw specifics from each text to support your position.

In Eugene O’Neill’s play, The Hairy Ape, Mildred calls Yank a "filthy beast" which Yank perceives as an "ape" image; in Tennessee Williams‘ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche makes a passionate declaration that Stanley is an "animal", "not quite to the stage of humanity yet" and notes that on "poker night", the "party of apes" comes out. Expressionistic "jungle" images are threaded throughout both plays.

In a free response essay, explore some ideas that you think explain the dramatists’ use of "ape/jungle" images. Draw evidence from the plays to clarify your position. For instance, is the mindset behind the images one that argues that "civilization" is evolutionary "progress" built on refined manners, "proper" behavior and dress, certain attitudes toward sex, etc. Is evolutionary "progress" defined in terms of technological discoveries and material wealth?

Carl Jung argues the position that Modern Man, under the stress of modern life, deprived of the spiritual connections of the past and unable to forge true spiritual connections in a world where the "Dynamo" and materialism prevail as "gods" and communication with others is lost, will be gradually stripped of "civilization", evolving backwards into "savagery".

Do the plays support Jung’s theory?

Develop an essay in which you explore Jung’s theory as it comes through one of the following aspects of Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desireand/or O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape:

• Williams’ characterization of Stanley Kowalski. Does Stanley represent the "new man" of the Modern world? Explain your position with specifics from the text.
• What do you think, is the main contributing factor in the "destruction" of Yank? Rethinking the entire play is important in handling this question, but consider giving Paddy’s long speech in Scene I and the development in Scene V special attention.
• Compare the two playwrights’ views of the "primitive". For instance, do both view aspects of the "primitive" as negative? What, in your perception of each play, do the playwrights, through different levels of nuance, support as true values of being "civilized"?
• A central tension in both The Hairy Ape and A Streetcar Named Desire grows out of the "insult" of a female character referring to a male character as a "beast", an ape-like" animal". In fact, both plays can be perceived, at one level, as "revenge" plays; a main thread of development in each play is the drive of the male character to get "revenge" on the female who had "insulted" him.
• A complexity relating to this basic pattern of "insult" and "revenge"—one that adds much dramatic force to both plays—is the nature of each of the females who initiated the "insult". Both Mildred and Blanche project, at surface level, the "civilized" trappings of material wealth and "breeding". Both perceive themselves to be "superior" to the "savage” males. Both lament the loss of the past, but from different perspectives. But both are described by the playwrights as being "self-conscious" and "nervous".
• What has modern life done to Mildred and Blanche? What do they value that they think justifies their use of "ape" images in reacting to the two males? How does each author portray, through dialogue and expressionistic devices, that modern life has “stripped” Mildred and Blanche in some way?

Special Projects: Ask students to focus on one of the following school references: a classroom wall clock, the “passing bell” that signals the end of a class, a row of lockers, a crowded hall, the cafeteria at lunch time, the auditorium stage, football, soccer, lacrosse, or basketball practice, a room filled with students taking a difficult exam.

While focusing on one of these references, students should:

• objectively describe, in written prose, close detail of the object, place, or situation they have selected.
• then describe the same object, place, or situation in expressionistic terms (distorted lines, bold colors, exaggerated elements, heightened and/or “interpretative” sounds; music). Encourage students to build in both visual and aural expressionistic effects.
• develop a brief dramatic script using the object, place, or situation as the central framework of action. Integrate visual and aural expressionistic devices into the script to help structure, characterize, enhance setting, and/or highlight action.
• share the scripts and select one or two to be developed for performance, including the staging of the expressionistic devices.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on their:

• level of serious and cooperative participation in research and collaborative assignments.
• level of discernment in contributions from research and to collaborative work.
• substantive contributions to class discussion and special projects.
• range and depth in analysis.
• evidence of creative thinking.
• organization, meaningful substance, rhetorical skill, and poise in formal oral presentation.
• thoughtful response in pre-writing, and pre-discussion “brainstorming” activities.
• seriousness of purpose in following through on creative and expository writing assignments.
• solid preparation for performance activities.
• alignment of written performance with good practices of the writing process.
• willingness to volunteer for special activities.
• general level of engagement in all activities and assignments.

Extensions:

Students could be encouraged to compare the thematic use of "ape/jungle" images in the two plays to the theme and images T. S. Eliot builds in his "Sweeney" poems and to the theme and characterization of the "Sweeney" figure in Stephen Sondheim’s musical, Sweeeny Todd. William Butler Yeats poem, Second Coming, also could add a provocative element to the discussion of the thematic implication of the use of "animal/beast/ape" images in modern drama.

Seniors could be encouraged to investigate the influence of D. H. Lawrence’s fiction on the work of Tennessee Williams.

Ask students to share the details of any other literature they might have read that uses a "locomotive" device as a "cover-up"—(Faulkner, for instance).

Sources:

Print:

• Falk, Signi Lenea. Tennessee Williams, New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1961 (Revised 1978)
• Gunn, Drewey W.: Tennessee Williams: A Bibliography
• Gelb, Arthur and Barbara: O'Neill (Revised edition, 1973) a bibliography
• Shaw, Irwin: “THEATER: Masterpiece” The New Republic, CXVII (December22, 1947) – a review of A Streetcar Named Desire
• Background readings on Expressionism, particularly the Expressionistic drama of Bertold Brecht
• Readings in theories of Friedrich Nietzche, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer

Authors:

• Jayne Karsten, English, Grades 9-12
  The Key School
  Annapolis, MD US