Long Day’s Journey into Night Complete Summary
Long Day’s Journey into Night was written by the American author, Eugene O’Neill, in 1956. This American drama is autobiographical. Yes, the tragic play is based on the true events of the author’s life. The whole drama revolves around a single day of the Tyrone family in August 1912 within their Connecticut home. And, in today’s article, you will learn the act-by-act summary of Long Day’s Journey into Night so that you can understand its plot details.
The Play’s Act-By-Act Summary:
The following are the summary points that I gained after reading the drama, Long Day’s Journey into Night:
Act 1 Summary:
It’s morning in the Tyrone family house. The time is 8:30 a.m. in the morning. The whole family spends their Summer days in their Connecticut house. James Tyrone and his wife return to the living room after having breakfast. James is 65 years old and a matinee actor who spends time talking with his wife, Mary Tyrone, who is 54 years old and has returned from a sanatorium recently. James says he’s delighted to see her improvement and encourages her to continue improving. Mary seems anxious. She tells him that she couldn’t sleep the previous night for long due to a nearby foghorn that continued its work until the morning.
After some time, Jamie, their elder son, enters the living room from the dining room. He’s a good-looking man of thirty-three years and lacks the energy level for his age due to the signs of premature disintegration. His younger brother, Edmund, also enters the room. He is 10 years younger than Jamie, and he looks sickly and thin. As soon as the family settles inside the room, their conversation fluctuates between playfulness and complete scorn. This fluctuation happens repeatedly, especially when James accuses his sons of passing objectionable fun-oriented remarks behind his back. After the argument, Edmund moves out of the room. He feels exhausted by the manner in which James scolds him and Jamie for having no work ethic. Jamie is shown as a failed actor despite having talent for acting because of his destructive habits, and Edmund is shown as an aspiring poet, experienced sailor, and previous journalist in the play. Then, Mary says that James should not criticise Edmund harshly because he is suffering from a summer cold. At this, Jamie says that Edmund is really sick; it’s not a meagre cold that he’s having. But Mary gets irritated by his response and tells him that he always imagines things, and Edmund is not seriously ill. It is just a cold that’s disturbing him. Then, James intervenes and says that Jamie is only saying that it might be something else that’s causing his cold. According to Mr Tyrone, Dr Hardy told him that it might be malarial fever that Edmund is suffering from because of his working in the tropics. However, Mary disregards the doctor’s statement by saying that Dr Hardy is not reliable because he offers his services at low rates.
When Mary leaves the room, James strongly criticises Jamie for conversing on the topic of Edmund’s health. He says that this is the topic he should never speak about in her presence. Then, both men agree that Edmund might have tuberculosis. At this point, Jamie states that Edmund could not have been so sick if Tyrone had sent him to a real doctor instead of saving money by hiring Doctor Hardy for his treatment. In defence, Tyrone says that Hardy is a respectable doctor. However, he admits that he avoids hiring expensive doctors because they’re only costly and do not necessarily provide better treatment than Dr Hardy. Afterwards, Tyrone says that Jamie does not know the worth of a dollar and mockingly criticises him for wasting his professional life by drinking excessively and visiting whores in place of working like a disciplined actor on Broadway. As per Tyrone, Jamie only leads the life of a wannabe actor there. In response, Jamie tells him that he did not want to become an actor and was forced by him in the field of acting. Tyrone also accuses him of teaching his little brother his wicked ways that Edmund couldn’t implement properly for being different from him physically. But both Jamie and Tyrone agree that the wide-ranging sailing adventures of Edmund did not prove to be fruitful for him.
James also expresses his sorrow that Edmund is sick when the time is difficult for Mary who used to control her nerves well before his sickness. At this, Jamie responds that he heard Mary going into the guest room in the middle of the night last night. As Jamie was about to complete his line related to the sign of her guest room stay, Tyrone interrupts him by saying that she went into that room to avoid his snoring. Then, they argue about who is responsible for Mary’s addiction. Jamie suggests that the cheap quack who was hired when Edmund was born is probably responsible for Mary’s addiction. As Tyrone refuses to admit Jamie’s point, they quickly change the topic of their conversation because Mary enters the room. Afterwards, both father and son go outside their home to trim the hedges in order to avoid Mary.
Mary is left alone in the living room. Soon, Edmund comes there and starts conversing with his mother who complaints that her husband never provided the family members with a permanent home. Actually, as Tyrone remained a famous actor during his young days, his family had to travel a lot with him and stay in second-rate hotels. According to Mary, her sons were not able to meet respectable women as they didn’t have a presentable house where they could entertain their guests. Mary tells him that she has always felt so lonely and untethered because of this lifestyle that she misses her convent days a lot when she was getting educated to become a nun or concert pianist as a young girl.
During the conversation between Edmund and Mary, he makes references to his mother’s addiction. She tries to stop his son from conversing on the topic of addiction and tells him that it is so difficult for her to remain in this environment where she is constantly doubted. However, Edmund says, last night, he heard her go into the guest room that made him doubt her condition. At his response, Mary shames him for his doubting, but she also accepts that she understands why Edmund feels that she might relapse. Then, she changes the topic and suggests Edmund to go outside to have a good effect on his health. After her son leaves the room, Mary sits in a nervous manner and fidgets with her hands. Then, Act 1 ends.
Act 2 Summary:
During Act 2 Scene 1, at 12:45 p.m., in the afternoon, Edmund drinks a glass of whiskey with his brother, Jamie, while sitting in the living room. Both brothers wait for lunch, and Tyrone has a conversation with a passing neighbour. Then, Mary comes from the upper portion, and it becomes clear that she has used morphine. Jamie understands the fact of her morphine use immediately after seeing her, but Edmund takes longer to understand this. The reason is Mary doesn’t look into Edmund’s eyes while she’s there. After some time, Mary exits the room, and James enters there. He enjoys a glass of whiskey too along with his sons and claims that a moderate amount of whiskey is beneficial even for a sick individual like Edmund. Then, Mary reenters the room and converses with a sense of detachment with her family that James comprehends immediately as a symptom of relapse. And when she sees Edmund’s glass on the table, she anxiously tells her son that he should not drink. She asks him whether he remembers her father or not who had consumption but didn’t give up on drinking and ultimately died early.
After some time, James says that he is stupid because he believed in Mary. Although his wife behaves as if she does not comprehend what he is conversing about, she finally says that she tried hard to get rid of the morphine addiction. But it was all in vain. In response, James says that there is no use talking on this topic now. The bitter conversation between the husband and wife begins after the family’s lunch at 13:15 P.M. in Act 2 Scene 2. Mary, in the same detached state, blames James for never providing her with a suitable home. She also criticises Tyrone that he fears dying in a poorhouse despite being rich.
At last, the telephone rings, and James answers the call since he is expecting a call from Doctor Hardy regarding the condition of Edmund. When he returns to the room, he informs his family that the doctor wants to ensure that Edmund meets him that afternoon. After hearing James’ response, Mary says that she wants to go to the upper portion. And it’s clear that she intends to use more morphine. Accepting his defeat, he tells her to go immediately to the upper portion. After she leaves, Edmund tries to convince his brother and father that they should not leave Mary on her own. But they say that it is useless to try to improve her condition after her relapse. However, Edmund does not listen to them and moves to the upper portion to argue with his mother. When he leaves the living room, Tyrone informs Jamie that the doctor told him over the phone that Edmund has consumption. And he will have to move to a sanatorium. Then, Tyrone asks his son to take his brother to the doctor’s office but also instructs him not to make the journey an excuse to have any alcoholic drink.
When Mary returns from the upper portion, she looks even more separated from her present reality. Jamie moves out of the house. Tyrone tries to convince his wife that she should go outside too for some time. But Mary refuses to go by saying that she doesn’t like being driven around. When Edmund returns from the upper portion, Tyrone gives his son some money and instructs him not to share that money with the other son who will spend that money on alcoholic drinks only. After instructing Edmund, Tyrone leaves the room. Before leaving for the doctor’s visit, Edmund deeply requests his mother to stop using morphine. But she pretends she does not know what he is conversing about. Then, Mary says that she can understand why he does not believe in her permanent recovery. Edmund feels defeated, and he departs. Mary is left alone in the room, and Act 2 ends.
Act 3 Summary:
In Act 3, at 6:30 p.m., Mary converses with her housekeeper, Cathleen, in the living room. Mary gives Cathleen some whiskey and tells her nostalgically about her convent days when she was learning to be a nun. She also tells the young housekeeper about how good she was at playing the piano. Mary tells her that she really wanted to become a nun, but she went to one of the shows of James Tyrone and became highly impressed with his personality. So she went to Tyrone’s dressing room the same night, and they fell in love with one another. Since that time, she has been travelling with him for his acting shows.
At last, Edmund and Tyrone return home. Then, Mary disrespectfully talks about Jamie, who is out of the house for drinking, because Edmund gave him some money on the way. Mary’s condition worsens with high morphine use. She cannot resist conversing about the past life that she believes was affected due to James and Jamie, so she blames them for her issues many times. Mary also converses about Eugene. He was born after Jamie, and he died soon as a baby due to measles. Mary claims that Eugene would not have been affected by Jamie’s measles if Tyrone had not asked Mary to come on the road with him and leave Jamie with her mother. Mary also says if she had stayed inside the home that day, Jamie would not have had any chance to come into the baby’s room, and her baby would not have been infected with the disease. Then, she says that the cheap doctor whom Tyrone hired after the birth of Edmund did not treat her properly. And his improper treatment is the cause behind her morphine addiction. As Mary’s condition was complex after Edmund’s birth, the ill-trained doctor gave her morphine as her treatment. And as she utters these horrible words, Tyrone and Edmund move inside and outside the room to avoid hearing her words. Then, Act 3 ends.
Act 4 Summary:
In Act 4, around midnight, Tyrone sits in the living room alone. He is drunk at an extreme level, and he is playing cards with himself. During his playing, Edmund, who is intoxicated as well, enters the room. James, in an extremely emotional state, tells his son that he regrets the commercial success that he got at the expense of his artistic fulfilment. He also tells him about the top points of his acting career. In response, Edmund tells his father about the top points of his career as a sailor. He also shares that he felt remarkable freedom in the loneliness of the sea. When both men hear Jamie stumbling inside the home, Tyrone decides to move to the side porch to avoid an argument with him. On Jamie’s arrival, both brothers converse with one another. During their conversation, Jamie scolds Edmund for drinking when he is already suffering from consumption. Then, he becomes soft again with his brother. At a certain point, Jamie insults Mary while talking about her drug addiction. Because of his insulting words, Edmund punches his face immediately. After the punch, Jamie accepts his mistake and becomes grateful to his brother for making him realise his mistake. Shortly after that, Jamie sleeps due to being heavily drunk, and his father returns to the room.
After Jamie gets up, the three men pour whiskey into their glasses and are about to toast when Mary comes in the doorway while dragging her wedding gown and wearing a detached look on her face. They instantly forget their drinks and watch her as she walks while talking to herself without noticing the family members. She converses like her younger version under the effect of morphine. During her conversation, she regards herself as a student of the convent and says she is looking for something. But she can’t remember what the thing is at present. In a distracted state, she mentions her relationship with one of the nuns and sits in front of the audience and stares into the distance. Her family sits too in an uncomfortable manner near her and watches her with acute sadness and disappointment. Then, Act 4 ends.
Conclusion:
So that is all what I have to share with you regarding Long Day’s Journey into Night summary. I hope you found my piece quite useful. Please do share my post with others so that they can learn the summary of the play’s plot as well. Plus, if you have some time, comment under my post to inform me about your feedback on today’s post.