Gold : $b A play in four acts

"Gold: A Play in Four Acts" by Eugene O'Neill is a dramatic play written in the early 20th century. The narrative revolves around Captain Isaiah Bartlett and his crew as they find themselves marooned on a barren coral island in the Malay Archipelago after their whaling ship has sunk. Themes of desperation, madness, greed, and the moral consequences of their actions emerge as the characters grapple with the discovery of what they believe to be gold, leading to tragic decisions. The opening of the play introduces the dire situation faced by the characters, particularly focusing on the interactions between Abel, a young boy, and Butler, the ship's cook. As they lie in the oppressive heat and discuss their dwindling water supply, the tension builds around their hopeless environment. Soon, Captain Bartlett and his crew arrive, delirious with excitement over a treasure chest they have found. The air thickens with greed and suspicion as they debate the value of the items inside, leading to a volatility that hints at the potential for violence and betrayal. The conversations reveal not only their immediate struggles but also set up an exploration of deeper themes related to morality and the cost of ambition, establishing a tense atmosphere that propels the narrative forward. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.