844 O’Neill, Eugene
aLIenatIon in The Iceman Cometh
Most if not all of the characters in Eugene O’Neill’s
drama The Iceman Cometh would generally be con-
sidered social outcasts—prostitutes, a pimp, a traitor,
unemployable bums, and even a murderer—who
represent a class of people who are alienated from
more polite society. However, within the context of
the play, as these outcasts all congregate at Harry
Hope’s No Chance Saloon, they are unified in their
unsavory reputations. As a result, if alienation is
largely considered to be the separation of an indi-
vidual from his or her natural surroundings, then the
primary source of alienation within in The Iceman
Cometh is the protagonist, Hickey.
Hickey, a traveling salesman, comes to the saloon
once a year to celebrate the proprietor’s birthday.
This year, however, he is a changed man. Usually
praised by the other dregs of humanity who patron-
ize Harry Hope’s for his prowess both with alcohol
and the ladies, Hickey returns for his annual visit
sober and apparently rehabilitated. Newly reformed,
he tries to play the part of savior by rescuing his
friends from pipe dreams, which are a worse demon
in this play than alcohol. Hickey says:
I know now, from my experience, they’re the
things that really poison and ruin a guy’s life
and keep him from finding any peace. If you
knew how free and contented I feel now. I’m
like a new man. And the cure for them is so
damned simple, once you have the nerve. Just
the old dope of honesty is the best policy—
honesty with yourself, I mean.And while Hickey’s efforts at advocating salva-
tion alienate him from his friends, “the bughouse
preacher escaped from an asylum” (as they refer to
him) has a hard job being honest with himself and
tackling his own demons; when he does, it destroys
him.
Near the end of the play, Hickey—also referred
to, quite appropriately, as “de old Foolsopher”—
finally begins to practice what he has been preach-
ing. He admits that he murdered his own “nagging
pipe dream,” his adoring wife Evelyn, who always
forgave him no matter what he did. When Hickey
finally does face the truth about himself, he coun-
terattacks it with another illusion or pipe dream,
claiming that he must have been insane when he
killed Evelyn. He says:All I want you to see is I was out of my mind
afterwards, when I laughed at her! I was a
raving lunatic or I couldn’t have said—Why,
Evelyn was the only thing on God’s earth I
ever loved! I’d have killed myself before I’d
ever have hurt her!This statement illustrates that not only has Hickey
alienated his cohorts in the bar, but he has even
become alienated within himself. Like someone
experiencing a psychological trauma in which they
cannot escape from what they have done, Hickey
contends that he could only have killed Evelyn if he
was crazy, a claim that is, in all probability, another
pipe dream, as Hickey appears to be completely sane.
When Hickey is led away in handcuffs, the
audience is left without a clue as to his final fate,
but it is presumably the electric chair for murder.
Whether this is the punishment for alienating his
once-faithful followers or not, Hickey does become
a martyr, and nothing really changes at Harry
Hope’s; the rest of the derelicts return to their “pipe
dreams” and to their alcohol, which has miraculously
gotten its “kick” back—all of them, that is, except
the suicidal Parritt, and Larry, who claims that he is
the only “real convert” Hickey made and that he will
“be a weak fool looking with pity at the two sides of
everything till the day I die!”
As for Hickey’s fate, on the surface, O’Neill
seems to be suggesting that giving up on self-
delusion can make one mad. Obviously, this is ironic
given that most people would initially assume the
opposite to be true. In addition, O’Neill seems to
be asking the audience to consider whether the
risks we take when standing up for a cause or to
challenge others’ belief systems are worth the price
of alienation to which we are likely to be subjected.
However, perhaps the primary message of The Ice-
man Cometh is to consider, before we risk everything
for martyrdom, whether we truly believe in the cause
ourselves. After all, are pipe dreams so damaging if
they keep you safe, hopeful, and (above all) sane?
Trudi Van Dyke