39 pages • 1-hour read
The Emperor Jones
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Character Analysis
Brutus Jones
Brutus Jones is the central character in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. From the outset, he is portrayed as a cunningly ambitious man. Having escaped prison in the United States, he arrives on a remote Caribbean island and quickly establishes himself as emperor. His ambition knows no bounds, and he employs brutal tactics to maintain control over the inhabitants. The protagonist’s own name, “Brutus,” reflects this ruthlessness, and Jones becomes a symbol of tyranny and oppression. O’Neill draws a parallel between Jones and one of Haiti’s former leaders, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. Like Jones, Sam met his tragic fate at the hands of the very people he oppressed. In drawing from this historical event, O’Neill crafts his play as a cautionary tale about the perils of authoritarianism and the possible reckoning that awaits those who abuse their power.
In his quick rise to power, Jones fabricates a myth around his mortality. By convincing the islanders that he is immune to lead bullets and can only be harmed by a silver bullet, Jones perpetuates an illusion of invincibility. This deception underscores his cunning and manipulative nature, as well as his ability to exploit the islanders’ superstitions to instill fear and obedience in the islanders.
Jones’s ambition, however, is intertwined with hubris, as he shares the islanders’ belief in his invincibility. He revels in his perceived omnipotence, emphasizing his superiority over the islanders. This hubris is a driving force in his character—by distorting the truth and creating a false persona, Jones ironically creates the circumstances for his demise at the hands of the islanders, who turn his myth against him by killing him with a silver bullet.
As the play unfolds, Jones is forced to confront his guilt through a profoundly challenging psychological quest. His past crimes weigh heavily on his conscience, manifesting in the form of vivid hallucinations and haunting visions. These confrontations with guilt represent a pivotal aspect of his character development, as Jones grapples with the moral consequences of his actions. His false bravado only temporarily obscures these inner conflicts, and they eventually contribute to his downfall. In many ways, Jones’s story arc resembles that of a tragic hero, as his moral flaws ultimately bring about his fall from grace.
Jones’s characterization is fraught with racially insensitive elements. His cunning and manipulative character plays into the harmful trope of a typical “brute,” while O’Neill’s stage descriptions in Scene 1 imply that his “uncivilized” nature is natural to him due to his race. While O’Neill intended Jones to represent a universal everyman, embodying the complexities of the human condition, Jones’s character is based on racial caricatures that reinforce harmful stereotypes of primitivism and exoticism. While Brutus Jones was one of the first Black characters with a more complex story arc at the time O’Neill published The Emperor Jones, he is a problematically reductive representation by today’s standards.
Henry Smithers
Henry Smithers is a white Cockney sailor with a cunning and manipulative disposition. He is a bald, blue-eyed man of tall stature with a round-shouldered posture and his face has suffered the effects of the tropical climate, as it is now a “sickly yellow” hue. Smithers’s physical description carries symbolic weight. His expression of “unscrupulous meanness, cowardly and dangerous” highlights his exploitative nature and willingness to engage in unethical actions for personal gain (148). In contrast, his stooped posture points to his cowardice and subservience to Jones.
Smithers plays a crucial role in Jones’s journey to becoming emperor, employing him as a laborer when he first arrives. In this way, Jones gains a foothold on the island, eventually rising to a position of authority. However, Smithers is resentful of Jones’s ascent to power and the fact that a Black man has become more powerful than him. He often treads cautiously in Jones’s presence, avoiding confrontation or open criticism. While he may maintain a facade of camaraderie, his true views are evident in his internal monologue: “A bloomin’ charm, wot? (Venomously.) Well, you’ll need all the bloody charms you ’as before long, s’ ’elp me!” (156-57). His reluctance to openly challenge Jones reflects his fear of potential consequences. Smithers recognizes that Jones wields authority on the island, and this fear of retribution stifles any overt resentment he might have. He is willing to tolerate Jones’s rule and even support him when it serves his own interests.
Smithers’s overt racism is evident in his interactions with Jones and the islanders. He often employs derogatory language when discussing them, using racial slurs for both groups. After trading with the inhabitants for over 10 years, his persistent refusal to learn the Indigenous language reflects a disregard for their culture and practices. Even when Lem claims they’ve captured Jones, Smithers remains unconvinced, underestimating the islanders’ abilities. His derogatory remarks about their efforts reveal his continued sense of superiority:
That’s where ’e went in right enough. Much good it’ll do yer. ’E’s miles orf by this an’ safe to the coast, damn ’s ’ide! I tole yer yer’d lose ’im, didn’t I?—wastin’ the ’ole bloomin’ night heatin’ yer bloody dram and castin’ yer silly spells! (192-93).
He may be helping the islanders, but he still views them as superstitious and foolish. His change in allegiance is not the product of a sudden change of heart or a newfound sense of justice. Instead, he is looking out for his own well-being. Recognizing that Jones’s fall from power is imminent, he sides with the islanders to secure his protection.
An Old Native Woman, Lem, and the Witch-Doctor
The Old Native Woman is the first character introduced in the play. Dressed in humble attire, barefoot, and with a red bandana covering her head, she is vulnerable and fearful, contrasting sharply with Smithers’s domineering presence. Her hesitant and furtive movements in the throne room reveal the oppressive atmosphere created by Jones’s rule and emphasize the power he wields over the islanders.
Lem is a leadership figure among the island’s inhabitants and Jones’s main foil. Lem’s role in Jones’s failed assassination reveals the islanders’ longstanding efforts to end his tyrannical rule, and Lem ultimately personifies the Indigenous population’s quest for liberation and justice. In Scene 8, as islander soldiers enter the forest to capture Jones, Lem is revealed as the orchestrator of the revolt. Believing in Jones’s immortality, Lem had his army make silver bullets and ordered his assassination. This narrative choice, while being the event in the play that brings about a sense of poetic justice, depicts Indigenous peoples as superstitious and prone to irrational beliefs. Adding to this, the description of Lem is laden with racial stereotypes and derogatory language. O’Neill’s use of the term “ape-faced” is particularly egregious; degrading animalistic descriptions such as this have historically been used to justify racial subjugation. Referring to Lem as a “savage” further reinforces the racist belief that Indigenous populations are uncivilized and inferior to European cultures. O’Neill’s characterization choices reduce the complexity and diversity of Indigenous peoples and cultures into a single, simplified image that aligns with racist preconceptions.
Another exotified Indigenous character is the Witch-Doctor, who appears in Jones’s main vision. The “Congo Witch-Doctor” is supposed to represent an Indigenous religious figure. He symbolizes the consequences of Jones’s oppressive rule, and his sacrificial ritual manifests Jones’s inner turmoil and guilt. The scene’s climax occurs when the Witch-Doctor attempts to sacrifice Jones to a crocodile god, symbolizing Jones’s fall from godlike status. The Witch-Doctor’s characterization is a distorted appropriation of African religious practices that links Indigenous religious rituals to demonic forces. The character’s sinister and supernatural presence, coupled with the use of the term “Congo,” plays into stereotypes of primitivism and exoticism.
O’Neill reduces his Indigenous characters to one-dimensional figures, stripped of agency and complexity. O’Neill’s use of derogatory language, racial stereotypes, and dehumanizing descriptions portray Indigenous peoples as superstitious, primitive, and easily manipulated, thus perpetuate limiting, racist tropes. His portrayal ultimately reinforces colonial-era prejudices about Indigenous peoples’ inferiority.
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