Emperor Jones Summary Pdf

[Gracia Bradshaw]

Thisdocument provides a detailed summary of the play The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill. It describes the plot, characters, themes, and context of the play. Specifically, it discusses that the play tells the story of Brutus Jones, a former train porter who becomes the emperor of a Caribbean island but must escape into the jungle during a revolution. As he navigates the forest, he experiences haunting hallucinations from his traumatic past. The themes explored include the impact of past trauma, the legacy of slavery, racism, the fall of a corrupt ruler, and Jones as a tragic hero.Read less

But first, the standard plot summary. Brutus Jones is an egotist, seeing his life mostly through his own reflection in mirrors. He has dreams of grandeur, going from the backwaters of Georgia before as a Pullman Porter on a line up to New York City. While he leaves his doting wife behind, Jones eagerly takes up with the voluptuous Undine (Washington) while his friend and her erstwhile boyfriend, Jeff (Frank H. Wilson), remains oblivious.

The stage play version had been told entirely in flashback, starting with when Smithers awakens Jones at the palace and going backwards in time to show what had brought him there. For the film, it was decided to render this story in a chronological fashion, which knocks the wind out of it and makes the very linear first half not quite connect up with the more fantastical second half.

As a porter, Brutus soon works his way up the ladder, all the while being almost greedy enough to have his pupils replaced by dollar signs. With the money comes temptation, and Brutus gets involved with another woman and an unsavory gambling hall.

After a scuffle at said gambling hall leaves a man dead, Jones finds himself on a chain gang. Unable to submit to the authority, he beats a guard to death and escapes, heading for the Caribbean as a coal shoveler. Seeing an exotic island and fearing arrest at whatever port the ships arrives at, Jones jumps out and swims ashore, only to be captured by some natives.

The original play actually only concerns Jones as he arrives on the island. He befriends a white trader, Smithers. who sells his wares to the tribe, and, seeing an opportunity, Jones quickly stages an incident involving a gun and some blank cartridges that he uses to declare himself God and emperor of the island.

Jones escapes into the jungle, with the beating of his pursuers drums a constant reminder of what might lay ahead for him. As he goes deeper into the jungle, he begins to see visions of the life he led and of all his wrong doing. Unable to cope, we watch Jones descend into frothing madness, unable to reconcile who he is with who he should be.

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