evening. Edmund is a believer in Nietzsche, who wrote that "God is dead" in
Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He ends the argument, however, by resolving to
speak with Mary about the drugs, and he exits upstairs.
After Edmund leaves, Tyrone tells Jamie that Doc Hardy say that Edmund
has consumption, "no possible doubt." However, if Edmund goes to a
sanatorium immediately, he will be cured in six to 12 months. Jamie demands
that Tyrone send Edmund somewhere good, not somewhere cheap. Jamie says
that Tyrone thinks consumption is necessarily fatal, and therefore it is
not worth spending money on trying to cure Edmund since he is guaranteed to
die anyway. Jamie correctly argues that consumption can be cured if treated
properly. He decides to go with Tyrone and Edmund to the doctor that
afternoon then exits.
Mary reenters as Jamie leaves, and she tells Tyrone that Jamie would
be a good son if he had been raised in a "real" home as Mary envisions it.
She tells Tyrone not to give Jamie any money because he will use it only to
but liquor. Tyrone bitterly implies that Mary and her drug use is enough to
make any man want to drink. Mary dodges his accusation with denials, but
she asks Tyrone not to leave her alone that afternoon because she gets
lonely. Tyrone responds that Mary is the one who "leaves," referring to her
mental aloofness when she takes drugs. Tyrone suggests that Mary take a
ride in the new car he bought her, which to Tyrone's resentment does not
often get used (he sees it as another waste of money). Mary tells him that
he should not have bought her a second-hand car. In any case, Mary argues
that she has no one to visit in the car, since she has not had any friends
since she got married. She alludes briefly to a scandal involving Tyrone
and a mistress at the beginning of their marriage, and this event caused
many of her friends to abandon her. Tyrone tells Mary not to dig up the
past. Mary changes the subject and tells Tyrone that she needs to go to the
drugstore.
Delving into the past, Mary tells Tyrone the story of getting addicted
to morphine when Edmund was born. She implicitly blames Tyrone for her
addiction because he would only pay for a cheap doctor who knew of no
better way to cure her childbirth pain. Tyrone interrupts and tells her to
forget the past, but Mary replies, "Why? How can I? The past is the
present, isn't it? It's the future too. We all try to lie out of that but
life won't let us." Mary blames herself for breaking her vow never to have
another baby after Eugene, her second baby who died at two years old from
measles he caught from Jamie after Jamie went into the baby's room. Tyrone
tells Mary to let the dead baby rest in peace, but Mary only blames herself
more for not staying with Eugene (her mother was babysitting when Jamie
gave Eugene measles), and instead going on the road to keep Tyrone company
as he traveled the country with his plays. Tyrone had later insisted that
Mary have another baby to replace Eugene, and so Edmund was born. But Mary
claimed that from the first day she could tell that Edmund was weak and
fragile, as though God intended to punish her for what happened to Eugene.
Edmund reenters after Mary's speech, and he asks Tyrone for money,
which Tyrone grudgingly produces. Edmund is genuinely thankful, but then he
gets the idea that Tyrone may regret giving him money because Tyrone thinks
that Edmund will die and the money will be wasted. Tyrone is greatly hurt
by this accusation, and Edmund suddenly feels very guilty for what he said.
He and his father make amends briefly before Mary furiously tells Edmund
not to be so morbid and pessimistic. She begins to cry, and Tyrone exits to
get ready to go to the doctor with Edmund. Mary again criticizes Doc Hardy
and tells Edmund not to see him. Edmund replies that Mary needs to quit the
morphine, which puts Mary on the defensive, denying that she still uses and
then making excuses for herself. She admits that she lies to herself all
the time, and she says that she can "no longer call my soul my own." She
hopes for redemption one day through the Virgin. Jamie and Tyrone call
Edmund, and he exits. Mary is left alone, glad that they are gone but
feeling "so lonely."
Act III
The scene opens as usual on the living room at 6:30 pm, just before
dinner time. Mary and Cathleen are alone in the room; Cathleen, at Mary's
invitation, has been drinking. Although they discuss the fog, it is clear
that Cathleen is there only to give Mary a chance to talk to someone. They
discuss briefly Tyrone 's obsession with money, and then Mary refuses to
admit to Edmund's consumption. Mary delves into her past memories of her
life and family. As a pious Catholic schoolgirl, she says that she never
liked the theater; she did not feel "at home" with the theater crowd. Mary
then brings up the subject of morphine, which we learn Cathleen gets for
her from the local drugstore. Mary is becoming obsessed with her hands,
which used to be long and beautiful but have since deteriorated. She
mentions that she used to have two dreams: to become a nun and to become a
famous professional pianist. These dreams evaporated, however, when she met
Tyrone and fell in love. She met Tyrone after seeing him in a play. He was
friends with her father, who introduced the two. And she maintains that
Tyrone is a good man; in 36 years of marriage, he has had not one
extramarital scandal.
Cathleen then exits to see about dinner, and Mary slowly becomes
bitter as she recalls more memories. She thinks of her happiness before
meeting Tyrone. She thinks that she cannot pray anymore because the Virgin
will not listen to a dope fiend. She decides to go upstairs to get more
drugs, but before she can do so, Edmund and Tyrone return.
They immediately recognize upon seeing her that she has taken a large
dose of morphine. Mary tells them that she is surprised they returned,
since it is "more cheerful" uptown. The men are clearly drunk, and in fact
Jamie is still uptown seeing whores and drinking. Mary says that Jamie is a
"hopeless failure" and warns that he will drag down Edmund with him out of
jealousy. Mary talks more about the bad memories from the past, and Tyrone
laments that he even bothered to come home to his dope addict of a wife.
Tyrone decides to pay no attention to her. Mary meanwhile waxes about
Jamie, who she thinks was very smart until he started drinking. Mary blames
Jamie's drinking on Tyrone, calling the Irish stupid drunks, a comment
which Tyrone ignores.
Mary's tone suddenly changes as she reminisces about meeting Tyrone.
Tyrone then begins to cry as he thinks back on the memories, and he tells
his wife that he loves her. Mary responds, "I love you dear, in spite of
everything." But she regrets marrying him because he drinks so much. Mary
says she will not forget, but she will try to forgive. She mentions that
she was spoiled terribly by her father, and that spoiling made her a bad
wife. Tyrone takes a drink, but seeing the bottle has been watered down by
his sons trying to fool him into believing that they haven't been drinking,
he goes to get a new one. Mary again calls him stingy, but she excuses him
to Edmund, telling of how he was abandoned by his father and forced to work
at age 10.
Edmund then tells Mary that he has tuberculosis, and Mary immediately
begins discrediting Doc Hardy. She will not believe it, and she does not
want Edmund to go to a sanatorium. She thinks that Edmund is just blowing
things out of the water in an effort to get more attention. Edmund reminds
Mary that her own father died of tuberculosis, then comments that it is
difficult having a "dope fiend for a mother." He exits, laving Mary alone.
She says aloud that she needs more morphine, and she admits that she
secretly hopes to overdose and die, but she cannot intentionally do so
because the Virgin could never forgive suicide. Tyrone reenters with more
whiskey, noting that Jamie could not pick the lock to his liquor cabinet.
Mary suddenly bursts out that Edmund will die, but Tyrone assures her that
he will be cured in six months. Mary thinks that Edmund hated her because
she is a dope fiend. Tyrone comforts her, and Mary once again blames
herself for giving birth. Cathleen announces dinner. Mary says she is not
hungry and goes to bed. Tyrone knows that she is really going for more
drugs.
Act IV, Part One
The time is midnight, and as the act begins a foghorn is heard in the
distance. Tyrone sits alone in the living room, drinking and playing
solitaire. He is drunk, and soon Edmund enters, also drunk. They argue
about keeping the lights on and the cost of the electricity. Tyrone acts
stubborn, and Edmund accuses him of believing whatever he wants, including
that Shakespeare and Wellington were Irish Catholics. Tyrone grows angry
and threatens to beat Edmund, then retracts. He gives up and turns on all
the lights. They note that Jamie is still out at the whorehouse. Edmund has
just returned from a long walk in the cold night air even though doing so
was a bad idea for his health. He states, "To hell with sense! We're all
crazy." Edmund tells Tyrone that he loves being in the fog because it lets
him live in another world. He pessimistically parodies Shakespeare, saying,
"We are such stuff as manure is made of, so let's drink up and forget it.
That's more my idea." He quotes then from the French author Baudelaire,
saying "be always drunken." He then quotes from Baudelaire about the
debauchery in the city in reference to Jamie. Tyrone criticizes all of
Edmund's literary tastes; he thinks Edmund should leave literature for God.
Tyrone thinks that only Shakespeare avoids being an evil, morbid
degenerate.
They hear Mary upstairs moving around, and they discuss her father,
who died of tuberculosis. Edmund notes that they only seem to discuss
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