Before Breakfast (Summary)

 “Before Breakfast” is a melodrama. The Playwright Eugene O ‘Neill was born in New York City. ” Before Breakfast” is one of the finest one-act plays, which O’ Neill wrote during the early days of his career as a dramatist. The play depicts the mutual tension and strained relationship between Mrs. Rowland and her poet husband, Alfred.

 

‘Before Breakfast’ starts with depicting the tension in the married life of Mrs. Rowland and her husband, Alfred. The play contains little action and yet it is charged with conflict. The plot is simple and straightforward- a wife onstage berates her offstage husband throughout the play. The conflict between them is long-standing and bitter. This is resolved in the play’s horrifying conclusion. The play is a monologue in which the entire speaking part is performed by Mrs. Rowland. Her husband does not appear on the stage and remains in the bedroom. However, through the monologue of Mrs. Rowland, we come to know that there is a great tension in their married life.

 

Through the speech of Mrs. Rowland we come to know that she married Alfred thinking him to be a rich man. His father was supposed to be a millionaire. But after marriage, she finds that he was heavily under debt. Alfred does not do any work to earn his living. He is an artist and spends most of his time in the company of artists& poets. Mrs. Rowland criticizes him for the poverty of the house. She says that she has to support the family by doing the sewing work.

Mrs. Rowland rebukes her husband because he has pawned most of the items of the houses. The last thing that he pawned was his watch. He drank wine with the money he got by pawning it. She says that if she did not work, the family would starve. She is preparing a simple breakfast. She says if she does not do the job of sewing even this simple breakfast will not be possible. In the end, her husband is so much upset by her sharp comments that he commits suicide. In this way, the play reveals tension in married life.