Expressionistic Technique in Eugene O’ Neill the Emperor Jones

Abstract

There is no doubt that Expressionism is a new technique of drama developed in the 20th century as the Stream of Consciousness technique is a new technique in fiction. Expressionism in literature arose as a reaction against materialism, complacent bourgeois prosperity, rapid mechanization and urbanization, in pre-world war first in Europe society. It was the dominated literary movement in German during and immediately after world war first.

Expressionism is a dramatic technique with the help of which a dramatist depicts the ‘inner reality’, the soul or psyche of his personages. The emphasis shifts from the external to the internal reality. The action moves background and forward freely in space and time in harmony with the thought processes of the character concerned. There is a deeper and deeper probing of the sub-conscious, action is increasingly internalized, and what goes on within the soul becomes more important than the external action.