The Iceman Cometh What Makes You Insane

What keeps you alive? In addition to air, water, and food, people require something to motivate them, to keep them going. These motivations are oftentimes dreams which others consider to be unrealistic or even impossible. So what are we to think of people whose very existences are predicated on their own delusions? By definition, a person who cannot separate their own delusions from reality is considered to be insane. By this measure, it is possible to be a person whose entire existence is predicated on their own insanity. In Edward O’Neill’s classic play, The Iceman Cometh, he creates a motley crew of such characters, whose misapprehensions are the only things that keep them going. Many of these characters have dreams which they will accomplish
Hickey tells Moran, “Oh, I want to go, Officer. I can hardly wait now. I should have phoned you from the house right afterwards. It was a waste of time coming here. I've got to explain to Evelyn. But I know she's forgiven me. She knows I was insane. You've got me all wrong, Officer” (Act IV). Once again, Hickey asserts that we’ve “got him all wrong,” which is exactly what O’Neill intended. After his arrest, most of the patrons pick up right where they left off with their pipe dreams. One of the most insightful assessments ironically comes from Hugo, who does not give many coherent thoughts throughout the play. Hugo says to Parritt, who has decided to kill himself, “Stupid fool! Hickey make you crazy, too… I'm glad, Larry, they take that crazy Hickey avay to asylum. He makes me have bad dreams. He makes me tell lies about myself. He makes me want to spit on all I have ever dreamed. Yes, I am glad they take him to asylum. I don't feel I am dying now. He vas selling death to me, that crazy salesman” (Act IV). This is ultimately why Hickey failed to eviscerate the patrons’ pipe dreams, because their dreams are who they are. Relinquishing these dreams, no matter how farfetched they are, would be akin to