Abortion

by Eugene O'Neill

A classic one-act play by Eugene O'Neill, author of The Iceman Cometh.

Genres: Plays

25 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 31, 2008

About the author

American playwright Eugene Gladstone O'Neill authored Mourning Becomes Electra in 1931 among his works; he won the Nobel Prize of 1936 for literature, and people awarded him his fourth Pulitzer Prize for Long Day's Journey into Night , produced in 1956.

He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism that Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg pioneered to Americans and first used true American vernacular in his speeches.

His plays involve characters, who, engaging in depraved behavior, inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote Ah, Wilderness! , his only comedy: all his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.

Reviews

[Zygmunt]

As an exercise in excessive stage direction with particular attention being paid to making it almost unreadable in published play format, it's a brilliant success. As a play, well, at least it's just one act.

[Kalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it's a Free ebook on an app I have. It was a very quick read which was nice and I think this was the first 1 act play that I've read. It works well as a one act play but I can see it as a multi act, longer play as well.
One thing I didn't like was the amount of description of the characters facial expression, movements and actions. This made the flow of reading the play rather choppy.

[Colin Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

O'Neill effectively develops an engaging, pathos-riddled narrative in such a short amount of space. This indeed reads like an early play since so much of the subtlety of his later efforts is missing.

[noe · Rating 4 out of 5]

love when stories can be short and concise

[Summer Winterberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and easy read, though the play deals with sensitive issues that affect the content's palatability. The characters are a bit one dimensional and rely on some stereotypes, but the author doesn't resort to overly predictable story arcs (no spoiler review so I won't elaborate). Overall it's interesting to see how such an old (1914) play's message still applies today with regards to class dynamics and the struggles of abortion.

[وائل المنعم · Rating 2 out of 5]

لم تعجبني كثيرا ولم تكن في مستوى باقي مسرحياته. رغم أن تيمة المسرحية تثيرني دائما - الغليان أسفل السطح الهادىء - ورغم إثارة عرض الموضوع من قبل الأب إلا أن النهاية بدت مبالغ فيها، وحوار أخو الضحية لم يكن على المستوى.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was not good.

[Justin Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short one-act that, despite the succinct subject of the title (it is, in fact, literal; no metaphors here), carries a surprising amount of emotional weight.