The Iceman Cometh Lesson Plan

Discuss the pacing of Act II as it contrasts to Act I.

Act II accelerate significantly - it has to, since Act I was quite slow, and the inciting incident occurred right before the curtain fell. Now that there's momentum, a series of conflagrations compound on each other to drive the drama forward.

O'Neill's use of pacing is entirely thought-out; the party itself bounces between celebration and terror, like an accelerating metronome. By controlling the tempo in this way, he's able to drive the action to its breaking point: Hickey's revelation. At this point, the act ends.

What is the significance of the iceman joke?

The key to understanding the iceman is in the moment...