FREE ESSAY ON THE ICEMAN COMETH

THE ICEMAN COMETH

Denial in The Iceman Cometh
Denial is the refusal to admit the truth. It is the refusal to accept or acknowledge the
reality or validity of a thing or idea. Many characters in The Iceman Cometh suffer from
denial and false hope. O'Neill places these characters in the appropriate setting in
which they are able to fantasize about their dreams. Amidst the drunken and misguided
characters, O'Neill presents a few that the reader builds hope and sympathy for. Each
character uses a pipe dream in order to be able to become blind to their downfalls and to
reality. In the bar setting, characters in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh portray the
theme of denial by embracing pipe dreams.
Harry Hope is the elderly owner of a saloon and rooming house. The narrow five-story
structure presents the ideal setting for self-destruction. The characters come here in
order to drink away their problems (O'Neill 597). All of the characters in the novel come
to Harry Hope's bar as an escape. They manage somehow to remain drunk and delude
themselves(Gagey 332), with a few harmless pipe dreams about their yesterdays and
tomorrows (O'Neill 620). They feel sheltered and protected from the real world while in
the bar. They do not have to face reality here. The dreamers have come to Hope's because,
ostensibly, they are failures in the outside world. What lies outside is a world without
value, a hostile society to which no man can possibly belong, and from which they must
take refuge (Bogard 54). The characters deny the fact that there is a real world out
there, in where they may succeed. They are much more content taking refuge in the bar,
where they do not have to strive for or work at anything. They can just wallow in their
sorrows and drink them all away. 
Each character has a separate pipe dream to face. The pipe dream allows the character to
live in a state of denial. It is a false belief or a false hope that the character holds
on to. This is 
Lessard 2
in order to blind them of reality. By embracing a pipe dream, the characters feel they do
not have to face the bitter reality that confronts them. The pipe dreams make life
tolerable for the time being (55). Rocky, the bartender at Hope's bar, denies the fact
that he is a pimp. Because he is a bartender, he believes he cannot be a pimp. He
blatantly disregards the fact that he takes money from two prostitutes and protects them
as well. He says to one of the prostitutes, 'What would you do if I wasn't around? Give
it all to some pimp' (O'Neill 603). The sad fact that O'Neill presents is that Rocky
truly believes that he is not a pimp. He has fooled nobody but himself, and doesn't even
realize it. He also holds a pipe dream of being able to open a bar of his own someday.
Margie and Pearl, the two prostitutes, have pipe dreams of one day getting married. They
are also living in a state of denial. Margie says, 'Anyway, we wouldn't keep no pimp,
like we was reg'lar old whores. We ain't dat bad' (603). These characters live their life
through blind eyes (Orr 90). They refuse to see who and what they really are (91). These
three characters deny who they are and refuse to accept it. Although they all have good
qualities, they do not acknowledge their imperfections and overlook their unhealthy
lifestyles.
Ed Mosher, Harry Hope's brother-in-law, was once a circus man. Pat McGloin was once a
police officer. Piet Wetjoen was once the leader of a Boer commando. Cecil Lewis was once
the Captain of the British infantry. James Cameron was a Boer War correspondent. Willie
Oban is a Harvard Law School alumnus. Joe Mott was once the proprietor for a Negro
gambling house. Although these characters seem to be permanent fixations at Harry Hope's
bar, they refuse to acknowledge that fact. They all retain the pipe dream of shortly
returning to their previous jobs. Joe Mott says, 'I'll make my stake and get a new
gamblin' house open before you boys leave' (O'Neill 600). All of these characters see a
very bright future up ahead for them. They are all fooling themselves because their pipe
dreams will never be realized. Their pipe dreams are just those, pipe dreams. The key
word is 'pipe dream.' It occurs a myriad of times 
Lessard 3
during the course of the play from the mouth of almost every figure even when, as is
usually the case, its existence is being vehemently denied (Orr 89). 
Larry Slade is just waiting to die. This is his pipe dream, although he may not realize
it. He thinks he has everything figured out. He knows he will never amount to anything,
and does not want to try. Rocky says, 'S'pose you don't fall for no pipe dream?' Larry
replies, 'I don't, no. Mine are all dead and buried behind me. What's before me is the
comforting fact that death is a fine long sleep, and I'm damned tired, and it can't come
too soon for me' (O'Neill 591). Larry has nothing to look forward to. Death is Larry
Slade's pipe dream. The alternative to the alcoholic pipe dream, the residue of the ideal
as O'Neill conceives it, is death (Orr 91).
Larry, along with all the other drunkards, is waiting for Hickey to show up. Hickey rolls
around about twice a year and indulges the drunkards by buying them free drinks. The
arrival of Hickey is awaited with great eagerness, not only because he has the money to
buy round after round of drinks, but because he has the knack of encouraging a drunken
camaraderie that the inmates of the saloon are too demoralised to generate of their own
accord (89). His arrival is highly anticipated by all of the characters, as it brings
joy, spontaneity, and free alcohol.
When Hickey finally arrives, he brings with him an unexpected attitude. All of the
roomers are expecting free drinks upon Hickey's arrival, but are disappointed. They are
surprised to see that Hickey is a changed man. He has given up alcohol. The reform of his
character, announced soon after his arrival, comes as a complete shock to them and
suggests an imminent confrontation. The hard-drinking narrator of dirty jokes appears to
have turned into a moral crusader exhorting them to give up their alcoholic ways and make
the effort to return to their former more productive lives (89). When offered a shot of
whiskey, he only drinks the chaser. He also discourages the others to drink. This new
attitude stuns the roomers. Hickey walks into the saloon with a mission to challenge
every single one of the roomers to face and 
Lessard 4
crush their pipe dreams. This brings about many arguments and fights. This is something
the roomers do not expect to have to deal with and do not want to deal with. 
Hickey begins with Harry Hope. Since the death of his wife, Harry Hope has taken refuge
in his bar. He has never left in twenty years. Hope constantly talks about his pipe dream
of taking a walk and being able to leave his bar. He believes that if he would walk in
public, people everywhere would recognize him because of his previous popularity in the
community. The truth, though, is that Hope is terribly frightened about taking a walk and
about having to go outside. When trying to offer others an explanation to why he has been
unable to succeed, Hope would provide an exaggerated story of almost being run over.
Hope's problem with denial lies in the fact that he believes he is somewhat famous. Hope
says, When I'd wave my hand, people everywhere would run to say hello to me (O'Neill
614). He does not acknowledge the fact that he has rarely left the bar in twenty years.
He still expects to be highly recognized by all of the townspeople. Hope's true fear is
not of passing cars, it is of having to face the reality that he is not as popular as he
thinks, because of the alcoholic he has turned into. Hope blinds himself from the truth
(Orr 88).
The reader is delighted when informed of Hickey's new attitude. He seems to have
everyone's best interests in mind. He is presented as the hero of the story who will make
everything better. Then, the reader comes to the realization that Hickey does not truly
have everyone's best intentions in mind. 
Beneath Hickey's evangelism is a hidden dimension which makes
it apparent that the crusade is part of a strategy, at best a ruse to 
help reveal to the inmates a more fundamental aspect of their 
existence. For Hickey expects each of them in turn to fail to come
to terms with the outside world, and to return one by one to the 
Lessard 5
backroom bar, dejected and defeated. It then becomes clear that 
Hickey is not the reformed salesman of the American Dream but 
something more sinister. The prophet of the ideology of individual
self-help and success emerges as the very opposite, a harbinger of 
destruction who by his action unmasks the very ideology to which
he appears to bear allegiance (89).
Hickey wants to crush their pipe dreams of a better tomorrow because he himself has
already been forced to do so. Hickey wants the roomers to make an effort to get over
their pipe dreams only to allow them to see how difficult it really is. Hickey says to
the roomers, 'I know you'll become such a coward you'll grab at any excuse to get out of
killing your pipe dreams. And yet, as I've told you over and over, it's exactly those
same damned tomorrow dreams which keep you from making peace with yourself. So you've got
to kill them like I did mine' (O'Neill 635). Hickey wants to rip off their masks and free
them of the torture of hope (Bogard 57).
At the climax of the play, the reader is startled to find that Hickey's new attitude has
been brought about because of a death. Hickey killed his wife, Evelyn. He reveals the
story of their marriage. Evelyn always forgave Hickey in spite of his frequent moral
lapses. She deluded herself into thinking that every lapse was the last and Hickey would
reform. This was her pipe dream. She chose to deny the fact that Hickey would never
change. According to Hickey, the only way he could give Evelyn the peace she always
wanted and to free her from her pipe dream of reformation was to kill her (Gagey 332). He
insists he committed the murder with love, not hate, in his heart. But suddenly, in the
course of his recital, Hickey comes to the unexpected realization that he too has been
deluding himself, that he really killed Evelyn because he hated her (332). When Hickey
realizes this, it becomes too much for him. Instead of facing the issue, 
Lessard 6
Hickey denies he would have really killed his wife out of hate. He therefore excuses
himself as being insane. Hickey says, 'I was out of my mind. Evelyn was the only thing on
God's Earth I 
ever loved! I'd have killed myself before I'd ever have hurt her' (O'Neill 640). Hickey
denies he killed his wife out of hate. 
In conclusion, in the bar setting, characters in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh
portray the theme of denial by embracing pipe dreams. Each of the characters in the play
had a pipe dream to face. The pipe dreams of O'Neill's characters have the same function:
they make life tolerable while the dreamers wait for Hickey or Death (Bogard 55). The
characters use pipe dreams in order to be able to become blind to their weaknesses and
downfalls. They deny and refuse to acknowledge the grim reality that surrounds them. They
are more content by drinking their sorrows away in Harry Hope's bar.
Bibliography
Bogard, Travis. The Door and the Mirror: The Iceman Cometh. Modern Critical
Interpretations 
Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. Ed Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 
1987. 49-57.
Day, Cyrus. The Iceman and the Bridegroom. Modern Critical Interpretations Eugene
O'Neill's 
The Iceman Cometh. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 9-17.
Gagey, Edmond. Eugene O'Neill. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol.6. 332.
O'Neill, Eugene. The Iceman Cometh. Masters of Modern Drama. Ed. Haskell M. Block et. al.

New York: Random House, 1962. 587-644.
Orr, John. The Iceman Cometh and Modern Society. Modern Critical Interpretations Eugene 
O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 87-
93.