A Moon for the Misbegotten
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General Instructions: As published in the updatedReading Syllabus for ENG 1 03, by class time on Nov. 22, 1999, I am to receive a critical essay of about four pages on Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten.
The essay must reach me both as a traditional paper copy and as a Macintosh document in Microsoft Word 98. I have developed a Style Sheet, outlining the specific document conventions you need to observe when producing a printed, not typed, document, for your convenience. Be forewarned, you'll probably have to forget a few of the rules your old typing teacher taught you: the Mac is not a typewriter, and we should take advantage of its ability to reproduce the standards of the traditional print shop! Failure to meet all terms will result in a penalty, unless I can be persuaded to modify the terms. For additional information on revising papers, my grading policies, etc., click here.
The Issue: All the major characters in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten can be said to wear a mask, i.e., project an unflattering persona that eventually is replaced by an image of the 'true' character in question. Phil Hogan, who initially appears to us to be nothing but a brawling, drinking skinflint of a ( stage ) Irishman, a sorry excuse for a father who will do anything to bully or scam any other human being, including members of his own family, for a profit, turns out to be a loving father who has seen through his daughter all along. More shockingly, Josie Hogan, who is bruited about as a most promiscuous woman and insists on being acknowledged as such, turns out to be a bashful virgin who sacrifices her worldly prospects with Jim Tyrone, becoming a "madonna" to the child/man, instead. She quite properly calls what happens that moonlit night a "miracle." Though she begins the night with the idea of seducing him for selfish reasons, Josie ends up sacrificing all conventional prospects of personal fulfillment, offering a love to Jim that transcends common ends.
The Challenge: In a critical essay of ca. four pages based on a third play which has a woman as its protagonist, O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten,try to make sense of the paradox of the character of Josie Hogan: a woman, who goes out of her way to acquire and appears to relish the kind of reputation we usually would do much to avoid, who turns out to be bashful, pure and capable of a totally unselfish kind of love. Instead of the expected finale of witnessing the debauched man and the reputedly promiscuous woman seducing each other for selfish ends, we end up witnessing a scene that deliberately invokes and justifies its use of the image of the "Madonna and Child."In order to make sense of the seeming (?) contradiction sketched above, I suspect, you'll have to investigate very closely Josie's feelings for Jim and her notion of what he desires. His well-known track-record may turn out to be the key to unlocking the reasons behind Josie's choice of that shocking public persona. You might also want/have to examine the behavior of her father: is there a scheme behind his scheme when he tells her that Jim Tyrone has decided to sell the farm to Harder the next day? What might it be?
If you have questions or simply want to check out your ideas before you commit them to 'paper,' feel invited to see me. It usually helps a lot to start such a critical essay early.----Good Luck,cpb
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