The Great God Brown: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Great God Brown" is an expressionistic play that explores the complexities of identity and the struggles of its major characters within a materialistic society. Central to the narrative is Dion Anthony, a once-promising artist and architect whose creative spirit is crushed by his descent into alcoholism and gambling. His duality is symbolized through the mask he wears, reflecting both a youthful rebellion and a later bitterness that marks his decline. Another key character is William A. (Billy) Brown, a prosperous architect who harbors feelings for Dion's wife, Margaret. Brown's betrayal of Dion, as he takes credit for his designs, highlights themes of ambition and moral failure. Margaret, caught between her husband's deterioration and her own societal role, attempts to maintain a façade of normalcy while her inner turmoil grows. The interplay between these characters raises questions about authenticity, sacrifice, and the cost of success in a world dominated by superficial values. The play invites reflection on the masks people wear to navigate their lives and relationships, revealing deeper truths about human vulnerability and resilience.
The Great God Brown: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Eugene O'Neill
First published: 1926, in The Great God Brown, The Fountain, The Moon of the Caribbees, and Other Plays
Genre: Play
Locale: The East Coast of the United States
Plot: Expressionism
Time: The 1920's
Dion Anthony, a talented but failed artist and architect. Dion's dilemma is that of the creative and sensitive artist in the crass, materialistic world. In his youth, he starts on the course of ruination through drink and gambling. His dissipation is reflected in the mask this character sometimes carries and sometimes wears throughout this expressionistic play. In the opening scene, his mask shows the defiance and rebelliousness of a “sensual young Pan” and hides the more spiritual, poetic qualities of Dion's face. Seven years later, his mask has hardened into an image of a bitter, mocking Mephistopheles, and his face has become more aged and strained but also more ascetic. At this point, Dion's wife, Margaret, obtains a position for Dion as an architect with Billy Brown, a childhood friend. Although Dion produces successful designs, his disgust over selling out to materialism, to the Great God Brown, helps to complete the ravages on his face and mask. He dies seven years later, his face that of a martyr but his mask completely diabolic in its picture of cruelty and evil.
William A. (Billy) Brown, a successful architect, a good-looking, well-dressed, prosperous businessman. He has always loved Margaret and employs Dion at her request. Brown, however, takes credit for Dion's ingenuity and designs, a betrayal that contributes to Dion's decline. Dion dies in Brown's home, and when Margaret arrives, Brown conceals the body and garbs himself in Dion's clothes and mask. For the next three months, he deceives both Margaret and office draftsmen by wearing his own Billy Brown mask of the smiling, successful executive at work and by wearing Dion's mask at the Anthony home. His own face, however, now shows the strain of living with the demon in Dion's mask, and he comes to realize that he has failed in stealing the mask to acquire the creative spirit of Dion.
Margaret Anthony, Dion's wife. Young and pretty when she marries, she grows increasingly worried over Dion's dissipation. At home, she reveals her face to her husband, but when she goes to Billy's office to ask him to hire Dion, she covers her anxiety with the mask of her character: that of the innocent, hopeful matron. Margaret is thereby able to pretend that things are better at home than they really are.