Before Breakfast" by Eugene O'Neill: The Saga of an Unhappy Wife

O’Neill is a well known American dramatist who won four Pulitzer Prizes and also one Noble Prize for literature. He took the drama very seriously and wrote on a variety of subjects and themes depicting the problems of the family relationships, the marginalized sections of society, the addictions, repression, the revenge and so on. The present research paper focuses on the play “Before Breakfast” by O’Neill which is a story of a tortured relationship of a married couple where the wife suffers mainly because of the indifferent and irresponsible behaviour of the husband when the family is marred by poverty also. The play portrays Mrs. Rowland as the victimized wife who passes through various psychological stages when it is about her relationship with her husband Alfred. Sometimes, she is sad, fearful and irritated; sometimes she is revengeful and happy; sometimes she is frustrated and hopeless, at other times, she is bold and capable. The play is all about her unhappy journey with her husband.