A Psychoanalytic Study of Tragic Fall in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones: Jones and His Defence Mechanisms

Abstract

This paper analyses Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones (1920) as a drama in which the fall of Brutus Jones unfolds inside the mind rather than on the stage of political events. The analysis is rooted in Freudian psychoanalysis, especially the functioning of repression, denial, and projection, and follows a close reading of Jones’s behaviour, speech, and hallucinations. The study traces how the image of the emperor becomes a shield he builds for himself—one that hides his guilt, fear, and memory of his violent past. As the play progresses, this carefully constructed identity begins to crack, and the forest hallucinations appear as pieces of the unconscious mind rising to the surface.
The findings show that every vision Jones encounters marks the weakening of his ego and the return of what he once pushed away. Instead of fate or divine punishment, O’Neill presents a tragedy shaped by the mind itself—a collapse triggered by fear and the failure of the very mechanisms that are meant to protect him. In this sense, The Emperor Jones mirrors Arthur Miller’s idea of modern tragedy, where the downfall grows from within the protagonist. Jones’s journey reveals that the real tragedy lies not in losing power but in losing the inner balance that once held his identity.