Psychoanalysis , Repression , Oedipus complex

Mary

The members of the family are not happy within their respected slots.
Long Days Journey can be regarded as a play of fate, where the family is encompassed by forces of resentment, lust, blame and remorse.
The bewailing attitude of the family members hardly allows them to
recognize their love for each other. For any family to be happy it is imperative that the roots remain strong in order to strengthen the entire family, but here we have a family where the mother finds contentment in relapsing into her past through her morphine addiction. She
blames her husband for her present unhappy condition. Mary always
thinks of her blooming youth when she got married to a handsome
Shakespearean actor, giving up her intense ambition of being a nun
to serve the divinity. Psychologically, she is under the firm grip of her
subconscious that doesn’t allow her to come out of her past blooming youth. Mary feels that her ambition is not fulfilled and desires to
roll back from her present life. This sense of sacrifice ruined her family
relationships. There is disproportionate Ego (her reality) and Id (the
world of her own) within Mary. It is also seen in the drama that her innate state of denial doesn’t allow her to accept the fact that Edmund
was suffering from tuberculosis. Mary, a product of Electra Complex,
knew within herself that confiding to the fact would put her in a similar state as before, when she witnessed her father’s death due to the
same disease. Desperately trying to escape the similar pain for the
second time, she deliberately chooses not to accept the disease of
Edmund as being Tuberculosis, but terms it as a normal cold. She is
happy to live in a fake world of denial rather than facing the painful
reality.

• James Tyrone 

The father of the family is eager to save money in every way possible. He is positioned in a precarious situation within the family. Trying
to balance his attitude of money saving with the needs of his family,
James is driven by the so called American Dream. It was his childhood
desire to become super rich within a very short span of time. Such a
penny pinching attitude of the father, leads to many complications
within the Tyrone family. His wife Mary is addicted to drugs, courtesy of the cheap doctor that was hired by James during Mary’s pregnancy, who prescribed her to inject morphine for the temporary relief
of her labor pain, which then became a lifelong habit. The character
of James Tyrone was suffering from a dual – personality disorder. On
one hand, he is desperate to understand the feelings and emotions
within his family, by comforting everyone, despite continuous blame
and regret. On the other hand, he is a penny pincher. He intends to
admit Edmund into a cheap sanatorium for his cure from Tuberculosis.
He also hired a cheap doctor for his pregnant wife who had injected
morphine as a curative relief from the pain. He is materialistic in action, but contrary through his intention. James Tyrone can be termed
as a character with a shade of Schizophrenia. The Psychological imbalance of “Id” and “Ego” within his psyche is evident. The unconscious
impulse of the characters is unsuccessful in negotiating with their
present situation, due to the unconscious repositories that are actively functioning within their psyches.

• Jamie Tyrone

The elder son, Jamie Tyrone is a product of the Oedipus complex. His
acute oedipal repression searches leeway in the form of incestuous
relations, with mistress’s of his mother’s age. He tries to corrupt his
younger brother, by trying to lead him in his immoral ways, because
he senses his mother’s affection for Edmund which becomes intol￾erable to him. Jamie says to Edmund,” But don’t get me wrong, kid. I
love you more than I hate you” (O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey into Night,
1984, p. 166)

• Edmund

The Author had found his character in the character of Edmund. He
is the only character, seen with a ray of hope within the Tyrone fami￾ly. O’Neill had desires for his mother and his intense oedipal complex
searched for the love of his mother in his three wives. The author sub￾consciously yearned for his mother’s love, which is portrayed through
his characters in all his major plays like Mourning Becomes Electra,
Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, and many others. One can
say that O’Neill was trying to relive his emotional frustration through
his dramas unintentionally.



Work Citation


Fathima, Sabreen. “The Consequence of Psychological Imbalances in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.” Academia.edu, www.academia.edu/29094520/The_Consequence_of_Psychological_Imbalances_in_ONeills_Long_Days_Journey_into_Night.