The Study of Chronotope and Heterolgossia in Eugene ONeill's The Iceman Cometh

Chronotope and heteroglossia are two significant terms in Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogism. Although most of Bakhtin’s ideas are drawn into the study of novel, drama with its high potentiality for establishing dialogues between characters can create and maintain a new context for Bakhtinian studies. This article endeavors to use chronotope and heteroglossia as two analytical tools for studying Eugene O’Neill’s much-acclaimed play The Iceman Cometh and by doing so provides a Bakhtinian reading of this play. Through chronotope, we can investigate the significance of time and place and their reciprocal effect in order to explain the main concepts which Eugene O’Neill wished to deal with and convey. Also, heteroglossia shows why and how O’Neill brought all his characters with different and at times opposing backgrounds together in one single saloon and allowed them to have a voice of their own; a voice which even the playwright’s voice can’t control or suppress.