| Character List
Edmund Tyrone: Son of Mary and James Tyrone. Brother of Jamie Tyrone. Edmund is Eugene O'Neill's double, a sensitive young man who has sailed around the world but now is sick with consumption. Edmund, as a part, has no more stage time or lines than any of the other Tyrones. But he is nonetheless the center of the play: his forgiveness of his brother and father are the play's climax. He has aspirations of becoming a writer.
Mary Tyrone: Wife of James Tyrone. Mother of Edmund and Jamie Tyrone. Mary is a morphine addict, and throughout the course of the day we watch as she sinks farther and farther into a morphine-induced fog. Her hands are nervous, and they reveal her constantly agitated state. She is in deep denial about Edmund's illness. As the play progresses, she retreats farther and farther into the past.
James Tyrone: Husband of Mary Tyrone. Father of Edmund and Jamie Tyrone. James Tyrone is a Broadway actor and alcoholic. He is a religious Catholic, although he no longer attends Church. He is appallingly stingy, and his miserliness has lead to many problems for the Tyrone family over the years.
Jamie Tyrone: Son of Mary and James Tyrone. Brother of Jamie Tyrone. Jamie is a dissolute alcoholic whoremonger. He is ten years older than Edmund, but he has never amounted to anything. He spends his days in New York chasing whores and drinking.
Cathleen: One of the servants. She is largely oblivious to the troubles of the family for whom she works. She provides comic relief in Act Three by becoming drunk.
ClassicNote on Long Day's Journey Into Night
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