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About The Emperor Jones

The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill is a play in eight scenes, published in 1921. It chronicles the fall of Brutus Jones, who has escaped from prison and exchanged the US for an unnamed Caribbean island. With the aid of Henry Smithers, a Cockney adventurer, Jones persuades the illiterate, uneducated and superstitious islanders that he’s a powerful magician, whereupon they crown him emperor. As his secret foreign bank account grows, Jones abuses and exploits his subjects. When he hears a rumor of an impending uprising, he flees into the jungle, taking a gun loaded with six bullets with him. There his demons emerge to taunt and torment him with nightmarish hallucinations. He makes the mistake of shooting at them, which alerts his pursuers to his whereabouts....