Long Day's Journey Into Night

Edmund blames Tyrone’s frugality for Mary’s addiction, but Tyrone says he has spent a lot trying to cure her. Edmund specifies that a good home and support would improve Mary’s condition, but Tyrone is hopeless. He blames her for isolating herself early in their marriage, and Edmund says Tyrone should have kept them together as a family more. Tyrone says Mary would not have become addicted if Edmund had not been born, and Edmund sadly agrees. Tyrone corrects himself, saying that both he and Mary love Edmund, and Edmund says he loves them, too, despite their issues.

Tyrone tells Edmund not to worry about his illness. Edmund thinks he is going to die, and he thinks Tyrone believes it, too, noting how cheap the hospital is. Tyrone denies it, but Edmund reveals that Jamie met with Dr. Hardy, discovering Tyrone asked for a cheap hospital. Edmund says Tyrone owns about $250,000 worth of property and just bought more from McGuire. Tyrone tries to deny it, noting that he is generous when he is drunk, and he claims Edmund has had an easy life. Edmund confesses that he considered suicide at one point, saying his own thoughts bother him when he is sober.

Tyrone admits his father may have died by suicide, praising his mother for her hard work. Tyrone says his upbringing made him frugal, and he tells Edmund he can go to any hospital within reason. Tyrone admits that his frugality is excessive, and he tells Edmund how he purchased the rights to a play to make a fortune. Playing a part in that play repeatedly ruined his ability to perform other parts. Tyrone recalls how he was once one of the few talented young actors in New York. Another famous actor, Edwin Booth, said Tyrone could play Othello, a character from Shakespeare’s play Othello, better than himself. Tyrone says that he kept Booth’s praise written down but does not know where it is. Edmund notes it might be with Mary’s wedding dress, which she looked for earlier. Edmund tells Tyrone about his travels at sea, describing lying on a ship at night. He becomes poetic, describing himself as a stranger and wishing he were born an animal instead of a human. Tyrone is impressed by his language, but he calls Edmund morbid. They hear Jamie stumbling at the door, and Tyrone leaves the room.

Jamie comes in drunk and stumbling, and he pours himself a drink from the whiskey on the table. Edmund goes for a drink, too, but Jamie stops him, citing Edmund’s illness. Edmund does not believe Jamie cares, and Jamie is offended. Edmund explains that he will stop drinking the next day, but he is too stressed tonight and needs the drink. Jamie criticizes their father’s frugality, but Edmund defends Tyrone. Jamie reveals that he was at a brothel, and he quotes Oscar Wilde to elevate the act artistically. Jamie tells Edmund that he spent the evening with a sex worker of large stature named Violet, whom the operator of the brothel wanted to fire. They talk for a while, and Jamie jokes that he will join a circus as a robust performer’s lover.

Jamie becomes sad, and he notes that he has no future. Edmund tells him to cheer up, and Jamie asks if the “hophead,” meaning Mary, is asleep, which leads to Edmund punching Jamie in the face. Jamie apologizes for what he said, and Edmund apologizes for hitting him. Jamie explains that he believed Mary was improving, and he thought that her beating her morphine addiction would mean that he could beat his own addiction to alcohol. Jamie cries, and he tells Edmund how much he loves him. He notes that he has started thinking of the worst outcomes because everyone expects him to be cynical and pessimistic. For a moment, Jamie criticizes Edmund, saying he has no future as a writer, but he changes his tone and praises Edmund, saying that Edmund’s success reflects positively on how Jamie raised him.

Jamie tells Edmund that he will recover from his illness, but Jamie also affirms Mary and Tyrone’s warning that Jamie is a bad influence on Edmund. Jamie says he was a bad influence on purpose, claiming that he hates Edmund for being Mary and Tyrone’s favorite child and the fact that Edmund’s birth led to Mary’s addiction. Clarifying, Jamie says he loves Edmund more than he hates him, but he says that Edmund needs to be careful. Citing Oscar Wilde again, Jamie says that part of him tries to hurt everyone so that they are as miserable as he is. Edmund tells Jamie to stop talking, and Jamie says that he feels better having confessed his feelings to Edmund. Jamie takes a last drink before passing out at the table.

Tyrone enters and tells Edmund to heed Jamie’s warning, noting that he had high hopes for Jamie, making his failure a disappointment. Jamie wakes up and insults Tyrone with quotes from Rossetti, a poet Tyrone dislikes. Tyrone gets angry, but Edmund breaks them apart and tells Jamie to fall back to sleep. Tyrone wishes he could go to sleep, but he will not so long as Mary is awake. Tyrone falls asleep mid-sentence, and Edmund hears Mary coming downstairs. Tyrone and Jamie both wake up as Mary begins playing the piano in another room. After a moment, she comes into the living room. Jamie calls Mary Ophelia, referencing a tragic character from Hamlet, by Shakespeare, leading Edmund to slap him in the face. Jamie breaks down into sobs, and Tyrone tries to comfort him.

Mary laments her fingers, acting as though she is still in school as a child, and she is carrying her wedding dress, which Tyrone takes from her. Mary is then confused by the gown, saying she wants to be a nun. She is looking for something, but she cannot remember what it is. Jamie tries to stop her, but he gives up and recites Swinburne’s “A Leave-taking.” Edmund tells her that he has tuberculosis, and she is shocked for a moment before returning to her fantasy of being a child destined for a convent. The men resolve to have another drink, but they pause to listen to Mary. She recalls speaking with the Mother Superior at her school as a young woman, and the Mother Superior told her to wait to become a nun until she had a lived a year or two as a normal girl. Mary says she was shocked by the Mother Superior’s advice, and she says that she knew no harm would come to her so long as she kept her faith in the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the mother of Jesus in Christian tradition. Then she struggles to remember what happened next, and she remembers that she married Tyrone and “was so happy for a time” (169).