A Brief Summary Of Eugene O' Neill's Famous Play Thirst

                            

The Dramatist

Eugene O' Neill ( 1888 - 1953 ) was an American Dramatist who wrote about 50 plays . ‘Thirst’ , a one act tragedy that bears the testimony of Neill’s efficiency and potentiality was published in 1914 . O’ Neill’s forte is tragedy and his tragedies are more concerned with the deeper psychologic matters of human life . Some social issues like racial biasness , capitalist exploitation , oppression etc. are manifested in his literary creation . A sense of insecurity is resonated in some of his plays . It is likely for the instability in his boyhood when Neill had to accompany his father James O’ Neill on  long acting tours . The tragic vision of life of Eugene O' Neill was shaped as he had to undergo a number of shocking experience in his early life . This prolific dramatist Eugene O' Neill was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936 . 

Brief Summary 

After a shipwreck  three passengers: A Gentleman, A Dancer and A West Indian Mulatto Sailor somehow manage a steamer's life raft. The raft is floating on the tropic sea in extremely hot , writhing atmosphere, far out of the beaten track of steamers. The Dancer and the gentleman are extremely tired and thirsty, but the Sailor  is a little better of them. On the still surface of the sea some fins of sharks are seen surrounding the life raft. The Dancer who is in the middle and the Gentleman are engaged in talking while the West Indian Mulatto in blue uniform of a sailor croons a  monotonous negro song which the Sailor says a charm to control the sharks. The Sailor's round eyes follow the sharks' fins cutting circles around the raft. They are extremely thirsty: "How my throat burns!" says the Gentleman. Gradually they  lose their physical strength, mental power and hope for rescue. Though the Mulatto Sailor is the companion of same misfortune, the other two suspect that the former had stolen some water and kept it  hidden under his jersey and for occasional drinking the Sailor is stronger than them. They call him name with severe dirty terms like thief, pig, murderer etc. establishing the instance of dominating behaviour of the White over the Black. 

The Gentleman and the Dancer  are desperate to have some water from the Sailor. The Dancer offers the Sailor her diamond necklace of five thousand dollars for a little water. Being a failure she offers her beautiful body as the cost of a draught of water, but of no avail. The  scorching heat, terrible thirst and horrible pelagic atmosphere gradually snatch their sanity. The Dancer, almost in a frantic way starts dancing on the raft, tears  down her dress and the Gentleman plays the role of orchestra by clapping hands. The Dancer  dies and her almost naked body lies on the raft. Seeing the dead body the silent Sailor with all anthropophagous nature sharpen his knife and says:  "We  shall eat. We shall drink." The Gentleman makes out that the sailor is going to be a cannibal very soon  but he does not allow it and pushes the dead body into the sea. The Sailor stabs the Gentleman who falls backward in the sea, but somehow clutches the jersey of the Sailor who also plunges headlong after the Gentleman. All the three who were on the raft are now in the water and at the mercy of the sharks. This gluttonous creatures which were waiting for such a long period quench their thirst and leave the place. The raft is floating in the silent sea with the diamond necklace on it sparkling. 

  The flashback of the play provides us with some information  
about the wrecked ship  and about  the  getting of these three 
passengers on the raft. They were in the salon of the ship and 
a concert  was going on.The   Gentleman says that the Dancer 
was singing a song. A woman beside the Gentleman was prais- ing the unparalleled beauty of the Dancer :"How pretty she is ! I wonder if she is married ?" Everybody of the assemblage was in a gay mood and suddenly the tragedy happened. All present there were thrown forward on the floor of the salon due to the massive jerking of the crash. Screams. oaths and fainting started following a stampede. The Gentleman says that he was on the deck fighting in the midst of the crowd for a place on the life-boat. He somehow managed a place on a boat but it was swamped because of being overloaded. He swam to another but the passengers on that boat hit him with the oars and he failed to get on it. That boat was also swamped. Something huge rushed by the Gentleman who understood that it was a shark. He became livid with terror and swam desperately beating the cold water with hands. He suddenly found a white thing before him, he clutched it and climbed on this raft. No, not in normal position ,he fainted then, moaning ... The Gentleman says : " It is strange that you and he should be on a raft alone when so many died for lack of a place." The 
Dancer could not say anything about her rescue on this life-boat :"Everything in my memory is blurred."She only provides the information that  the Second Officer of the ship, the tall handsome young Englishman, loved the dancer and he kissed her. The Gentleman becomes certain that it was the Second Officer who tried to save the life of the Dancer and placed her on this raft.