Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O'Neill
"Beyond the Horizon" is a pivotal play by Eugene O'Neill, marking his first full-length production that garnered critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. Set on a rural farm, it explores the contrasting lives and dreams of two brothers, Robert and Andrew Mayo, who embody different aspirations and temperaments. Robert is the idealistic dreamer yearning for adventure beyond the confines of the farm, while Andrew is the pragmatic, hard-working farmer. The narrative unfolds as Robert unexpectedly confesses his love for Ruth Atkins, engaged to Andrew, leading to a series of life-altering choices that shape their futures.
The play portrays themes of ambition, unfulfilled dreams, and the burdens of responsibility, culminating in the deterioration of the farm and the characters' lives over time. O'Neill employs a traditional three-act structure, utilizing both interior and exterior scenes to illustrate contrasts between hope and decay. Although the play faced criticism for its pacing and structural choices, it resonated with audiences for its authentic exploration of American life and emotional complexity. While "Beyond the Horizon" may be overshadowed by O'Neill's later works, its significance lies in its innovative approach to domestic realism and its reflection of the post-World War I era's search for a genuine American voice in theater.
Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O'Neill
First published: 1920
First produced: 1920, at the Morosco Theatre, New York City
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: 1920
Locale: The Mayo farm, overlooking the sea
Principal Characters:
James Mayo , a farmerKate Mayo , his wifeCaptain Dick Scott , her brotherAndrew Mayo , oldest son of James and KateRobert Mayo , younger son of James and KateRuth Atkins , the woman who becomes Robert’s wifeMrs. Atkins , her widowed motherMary , daughter of Robert and Ruth
The Play
Beyond the Horizon was Eugene O’Neill’s first full-length play to merit production. Set in and around the Mayo farm, the play chronicles the story of Robert and Andrew, two brothers closely allied to each another but totally disparate. Andrew is the born farmer, “husky, sun-bronzed son of the soil,” while Robert is the dreamer with a “touch of the poet about him, delicate of feature and refined.”
As the curtain rises, Robert is sitting on the property’s fence line contemplating the horizon in the distance. He has long dreamed of leaving the farm and traveling so he will not take root in any one place. This, in fact, is his last night on the farm, as he will embark the next morning to sail with his uncle, Captain Dick Scott, on the bark Sunda, finally having the opportunity to visit the exotic places that he has only dreamed and read about. A brief interchange with Andrew solidifies the established roles each brother has assumed in the family. Clearly each has different dreams and aspirations respectfully supported by the other. Ruth Atkins now appears. Although Ruth is engaged to Andrew, Robert confesses his love for her on the eve of his departure. Likewise, Ruth confides that she has also loved him for many years and was only settling for Andrew because it seemed that Robert was not interested in her. Reassured that “love” must be the “secret calling him from over the world’s rim—the secret beyond every horizon,” Robert decides that their love is “sweeter than any distant dream.” He will stay and work the farm with Ruth at his side.
The next scene reveals to the family the recent events between Ruth and Robert that the audience has just witnessed. Andrew, upset and jilted, makes the hasty decision to accompany his uncle in Robert’s place. The father, James Mayo, diligently attempts to persuade his oldest son not to go as he believes Andrew is defying his own nature and will be sorry if he proceeds. Andrew defies his father, leaves with his uncle, and yet harbors no ill will toward his brother.
The remaining two acts of the play depict the deterioration of the farm, the relationship of Robert and Ruth, and Robert’s health. There is an eight-year lapse between the end of act 1 and the beginning of act 3. Not having the skills for farming that his brother possesses, Robert is not successful in his efforts, as hard as he tries. In the two years since James Mayo’s death, the farm is heading for ruin. Mrs. Mayo says Robert cannot help this deterioration, but Mrs. Atkins, Ruth’s mother, retorts that there is no point in Robert’s working hard if his hard work does not accomplish anything. Moreover, in these three years, Ruth has discovered that all that charmed her about her husband no longer holds the same allure. Mary, their daughter, is as irritable and sickly as Robert. Ruth, now seeing his “true self,” insists that if she could have seen it earlier she would have killed herself before she would have married him. This revelation embitters Robert even more, and he continues to let the farm deteriorate.
With hope, each looks to the homecoming of Andrew. Having finished his three-year apprenticeship on the Sunda, Andrew wants to help but has lost money on ill-advised land speculation and must travel to Argentina to recoup his losses. He promises that once that is accomplished he will return and help restore the farm to its former glory. In spite of Ruth’s pleading, he sets sail on the first available ship heading south.
By act 3, the farm has fallen into disastrous ruin. In the five years that have elapsed since act 2, Mary and Robert’s mother have died, and Robert is failing fast with tuberculosis. Robert attempts to be hopeful, but in vain. When Andrew returns, once again penniless due to illegitimate trading, he brings a doctor to treat his brother, but it is too late. At the end of the play, Robert Mayo, a broken man who can never realize his dream, drags himself one last time to the hilltop so he can at least see the beckoning horizon and imagine the promised adventures that he was unable to experience.
Dramatic Devices
The three-act play follows a traditional climactic play structure with each of the three acts separated into two scenes: one exterior and one interior. Although O’Neill received criticism for this device, his basic aim was to illustrate the two opposing forces at work on Robert Mayo. The interior scenes provide visual reinforcement of deterioration and decay manifested by Robert’s inability to orchestrate successfully the management of the farm. The main reason the critics faulted the scenic changes was that they interrupted the flow of the dramatic action and, according to American drama critic Alexander Woollcott, exterior scenes are not always as visually stimulating in practice as they are in the mind of the playwright. Eugene O’Neill, much like Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, wrote stage directions that exhaustively describe the environment in which his dramas should be set. Although a lofty idea to juxtapose the beauty and illusiveness of the “horizon” with the eventual decay of the interior farmstead, the playwright’s vision was not realized at the Morosco Theatre.
Another difficulty with the structure of the play is that the endings of acts 1 and 2 seem too abrupt, with little foreshadowing of potential action in the next act, as if O’Neill has not quite escaped the format of the one-act. This difficulty also adds to the interruption of dramatic flow, especially with the extended periods of time lapsing between acts. In addition, though the audience is watching the action unfold over eight years, some critics argue that the deterioration of both Mary’s and Robert’s health in that amount of time is unrealistic.
Equally impractical is the suggested age of the daughter, Mary, if one considers the demands of both stage time and dialogue that O’Neill affords to the role in act 2. A role played by an actor near the age of two would be quite a stretch. Hence, believability for the character would surely be compromised with an older child delivering the dialogue as written.
When first produced, the play was labeled a tragedy by critics. It certainly has tragic elements, but it does not hold to classical standards of tragedy for the simple reason that neither Robert nor his brother battles against a fate they cannot control. On the contrary, at the opening of the play they are both embracing their fate, ready to follow their “true nature.” At that initial point of stasis in the play, they each make decisions that irrevocably shape the rest of their lives.
Critical Context
Beyond the Horizon won for O’Neill critical acclaim as well as a Pulitzer Prize in 1921, establishing him as one of the foremost playwrights in the United States. While critics pointed out the technical flaws in the crafting, they were enamored nonetheless with the truly “American” subject matter. It is safe to say that in the critical context of the time, the American theater was so diligently searching for a native voice that no matter how ill-crafted this first offering by O’Neill was, the critics generally embraced it for his effort. The play was significant for its fresh and thought-provoking themes, true in their portrayal and their message at a time when the Broadway stage was largely cluttered with trivial and worn-out theatrical endeavors. The post-World War I era was ready for a modern voice.
Beyond the Horizon was soon overshadowed by O’Neill’s subsequent offerings, not only his next experimental period, which yielded The Emperor Jones (pr. 1920, pb. 1921) and The Hairy Ape (pr., pb. 1922), but also his more mature domestic realist works such as A Moon for the Misbegotten (pr. 1947, pb. 1952) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (pr., pb. 1956). The legacy of Beyond the Horizon, though a significant play at the time, exists in the shadow of O’Neill’s impressive canon.
Sources for Further Study
Black, Stephen A. Eugene O’Neill: Beyond Mourning and Tragedy. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Eugene O’Neill. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.
Carpenter, Frederic I. Eugene O’Neill. Boston: Twayne, 1964.
Floyd, Virginia. The Plays of Eugene O’Neill: A New Assessment. New York: Ungar, 1987.
Gelb, Arthur, and Barbara Gelb. O’Neill. New York: Harper Brothers, 1962.
Harding, Helen Elizabeth, ed. Tragedies Old and New, Including Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Sophocles’ “Electra,” and O’Neill’s “Beyond the Horizon.” New York: Nobel and Nobel, 1937.